January 2018 saw England Rugby roll out the next phase of its ‘Inner Warrior’ female participation programme.
A year on from the launch of the ‘Meet Your Inner Warrior’ initiative aimed at getting more women involved in contact rugby (see case study), the latest wave of work revolves around a ‘New Year, New You’ theme and aims to encourage women to kick start a fitness routine for the new year and challenge themselves to take up a new sport.
New Year, New You
England Rugby launches next wave of Warrior Camps, starting next week https://t.co/M3VwuQjh4A #InnerWarrior pic.twitter.com/Bhu4j4u6E2
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) January 2, 2018
The new 2018 phase revolves around a series of Warrior Camps, which will run for two weeks in January, with 185 rugby taster sessions taking place at clubs across the country.
Strength Inner Toughness Challenges Find your nearest Warrior Camp and free your #InnerWarrior https://t.co/D6XgAwG1P1 pic.twitter.com/cgJKucH2mB
— England Rugby (@EnglandRugby) January 2, 2018
The ongoing objective is to encourage more women and girls to play contact rugby primarily through participating in sessions that teach key introductory skills and drills for rugby within a ‘non-committal, social and fun environment’.
The 2018 Warrior Camps (which can be found online here, or by emailing innerwarrior@rfu.com)
start on 12 January and run until 28th January and are promoted through an integrated England Rugby digital campaign – on both the bespoke Inner Warrior channels and England Rugby platforms – that encourages women and girls to ‘Show Their Warrior Face’ on social media using the #InnerWarrior hashtag.
England women’s players kick-started the campaign by showing their warrior faces online and encouraging others to follow suit.
Girls in school years 7 to 11 (ages 11 to 16) if you've ever thought about giving rugby a try now's your chance …
Sunday 21st Jan 18 1pm@ConsettRFC will host an Inner Warrior Session
Spread the word#innerwarrior #crfcblackandyellow #notjustforboys pic.twitter.com/MFbJZNDPSG— Lynsey Cummins (@no1lollipoplane) January 3, 2018
“It can be hard to stay motivated to get fit during winter. Team sports, such as rugby, provide support and encouragement, making fitness fun and social,” said England international Katy Daley-Mclean.
“The Warrior Camps give women the opportunity to try rugby, often for the first time, and it’s fantastic to see so many feeling inspired to take up rugby.”
Joanna Manning-Cooper, RFU digital, marketing and communications director, said “Our ambition is to challenge perceptions of women’s rugby, urging women to step out of their comfort zones and try the sport for the first time this new year. We want to appeal to females of all ages, shapes and sizes, providing an easy point of entry for them to pick up a rugby ball and hopefully join their local club. The success of the Red Roses has already inspired many women to get involved and the RFU is committed to giving women every opportunity to play rugby.”
Comment:
England Rugby itself says that since Inner Warrior’s launch last year more than 10,500 women have attended Warrior Camps (of whom 3,500 had never picked up a rugby ball before) and 41 new female contact rugby club teams were established in 2017.
The ‘Inner Warrior’ campaign and camps are a core pillar in the RFU’s commitment to grow female participation as part of its ‘Women’s and Girl’s Action Plan’.
Female participation in rugby has increased 215% since 2013 making it one of the fastest growing team sports for women in England.
“As part of the 2017-21 funding agreement with Sport England and our new Women and Girls’ Action Plan, the RFU is looking to significantly expand the number of women and girls participating in grassroots rugby across England, and the Warrior Camps are instrumental in supporting this growth,” said Steve Grainger, the RFU’s rugby development director.
The new year ‘Inner Warrior’ work also rolled out in parallel with teaser content for a new ‘Fit For Rugby’ partnership between England Rugby and Virgin Active.
Links:
Inner Warrior
https://www.facebook.com/MeetYourInnerWarrior
https://twitter.com/search?q=%23innerwarrior
England Rugby
https://twitter.com/EnglandRugby
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialEnglandRugby/
https://www.instagram.com/englandrugby/
https://www.youtube.com/user/officialRFUTV
