Currently, there is a great debate going on within the women’s game as to how best to get them onto television. Whilst this often proves a contentious issue with broadcasters who have taken some persuading to even start showing the internationals live, there is a disappointment that the RFU isn’t trying to do more. Having said that, it is no surprise that more isn’t being done when Premiership Rugby Ltd is now responsible for the distribution rights of all the Premiership matches. It appears that all of the commercial rights that the governing body of rugby in England for the leagues which sit under its control, have been stolen off them with barely a fight, and now a very self-interested representation of the clubs is now trying to determine that future, not only for rugby in England but for all Europe (the latter appearing to be a battle they have now humiliatingly lost, which will now see all English clubs not playing in any sort of European Championship next season).
Rant about PRL over and back on with my point.
Not so long ago there was an opportunity to tie the distribution rights of the men’s leagues with the women’s and, therefore, insisting that whoever was responsible for airing the men’s game had to air the women’s game as well as part of the agreement. Unfortunately, no such deal was done – what a surprise – because the RFU still isn’t really sure what it is doing with the women’s version of the game. It does appear that the decision to close the WRFU and integrate it into the RFU hasn’t really had the effect and support that people were hoping for.
Given the impact women’s sport had during the Olympics, and the general hype that was created during and after the games with a general demand to get more women’s sport on TV, rugby has made little head roads into this. Clearly, they made little attempt to do see this happen because clearly if they had, there was clearly demand at the time and they should have been able to do so with some success.
So where does that leave the top flight of the women’s game? Essentially it leaves them without the much-needed revenue from commercial investments as a result of being on TV. The women’s version of the game is always going to be under-funded and as a result, the players are always going to be putting in far more of their own time and expense that really has to be fair.
If we take a step back for a second and we start to analyse viewing trends particularly in the 16 to 24 market, one significant trend has appeared: this age group now finds their primary source of recorded video content online as opposed to terrestrial TV. So then applying this information to the problem, the question should be “Why do we need a traditional broadcaster to get women’s rugby on-air?”
What if the collective came together and signed an agreement that effectively signed them all up to a broadcasting deal with them owning their own online channel? They would then have complete control of their own broadcasting media, how that was shared globally online and how they were then able to commercialise this new asset. Isn’t this possible? What could, or would, the RFU say or do about it when clearly they have no control or desire to exercise control over PRL? Surely imposing controls over the women would just be hypocrisy and sexism of the worst sort, not that rugby as a whole needed encouraging in this area. Why can’t women start to become masters of their own destiny?
