Rugby Australia respond to WAGs send-off scandal after Wallaroos uproar
Rugby Australia have admitted they have a "way to go" to improve conditions for the Wallaroos and have pledged to keep players involved in their plans.
Australia's 15-a-side women's rugby team presented a united front on Sunday in taking to social media with a statement lashing the sport's governing body.
They claimed there were inequities between the investment and resources in the women's and men's national programs and said their team had been lied to.
A spokesman for RA responded to the Wallaroos, saying the governing body was "taking steps" to invest in the women's game, with Australia hosting the women's World Cup in 2029.
"Rugby Australia will continue to involve the Wallaroos playing group, through RUPA (Rugby Union Players Association), in all planning and developments regarding investment in Women's Rugby," the RA statement said on Monday.
"We are taking steps towards a fully professional future for the Wallaroos and investing more broadly in women's rugby across national and community competitions - and we know we have a way to go.
"In line with RA's commitment to incorporate players on this journey, RA will continue to meet with the elected Super W representatives from each Super W team, the RUPA Women's Player Director, and the Wallaroos leadership group to listen and work together, to support our female athletes and their coaching and support teams."
Among the complaints from the the Wallaroos, the players said RA told them there was no money for full-time playing contracts at the time they were recruiting league star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii on a multi-million dollar deal.
The women said they were still waiting for their school teacher coach Jay Tregonning to be made full-time, while Wallabies coach Eddie Jones had six assistants at next month's World Cup.
The women criticised travel arrangements, saying they recently flew economy to Canada for two matches while their male counterparts enjoyed business class on their long-haul flights.
The Wallaroos were also angered by the World Cup "send-off" for the men's team, who flew out to France last week.
The collective social media statement was believed to be prompted by a TikTok video that showed partners of the male players being flown to farewell them in Sydney.
Wallaroos star Georgie Friedrichs commented on the RA post: "Rugby Australia ... @wallabies WAGs getting more funding than the Wallaroos team."
The funding of women's rugby in Australia is significantly lower than leading nations such as New Zealand and England, whose top players are fully professional.
The Wallaroos made the quarter-finals of the Women's Rugby World Cup last year in New Zealand and have qualified as one of the world's top six teams for the new WXV1 competition in October.
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All of these media pundits always miss the obvious whenever they analyse what is ailing or assisting the game. Rugby always has contentious points for debate when picking apart individual games and finding fault with itself. All this focus and scrutiny on “speeding up the game”, “high ball in play” etc is all contextual to the fan. As a tv viewer, if you’re absorbed into a game, regardless if your team is playing or not, more ball in play time and action are all byproducts of the contest. A good contest subliminally affects your memory in selectively remembering all the good aspects. A poor contest and your brain has switched off because its a blowout and the result is never in doubt or it’s a real chore to watch and remain engaged throughout. The URC, Top 14 and English premiership are all competitions that feel like there’s real jeopardy each week. The dominance of Super rugby by NZ teams was unhealthy from a sustainable interest perspective. You can’t fault those teams or the players, but the lack of competitions won by SA and Australian teams long term was always going to test the faith and patience of die-hard and casual fans from those regions. SANZAR took their eye off the fans and fans voted with their feet and subscriptions. They were so concerned about expanding their product they forgot the golden rule about broadcasting live sport. Viewers tune in more when there’s an atmosphere and a true contest. You need to fill stadiums to create one, host unions need to do more to service ticket buyers, and this year proves the other, there’s more interest in Super rugby this year only because more games are competitive with less foregone conclusions. All these micro statistics bandied about, only interest the bean counters and trainspotters.
Go to commentsIt’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
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