It was only for the second time after 2010 that England is again host of the largest women’s event in rugby. For the tenth edition, the field of participants was again increased to 16 nations as in the 1998 and 2002 tournaments. With Brazil, a South American team is part of the party for the first time. The six -time world champions from New Zealand compete as defending champions.
Clear favorites, because number one in the world, are the “Red Roses” from England, who want to secure the crown for the third time after 1994 and 2014. The English have been unbeaten for three years and won 57 out of 58 international matches. The last defeat was piquantly the World Cup final in Auckland in 2022 when the “Black Ferns” powered out by their fans in a dramatic game with 34:31.
Thanks to the European Championship title of footballers and the view of revenge, the rugby euphoria is similar to before the Men’s World Cup 2015. With over 375,000 maps sold from London to York, which corresponds to 80 percent of the tickets set up, the previous record of 150,000 fans 2022 has already been powdered. The opening game on Friday between the hosts and the USA will take place in front of 40,000 fans at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland. The final on September 27th increases in the Rugby Mecca Twickenham, which is sold out with almost 82,000 fans.
“It is definitely the fabric from which dreams are,” said Gill Whitehead, the chair of the organizational committee, “we are very confident that it will (the final, note) will be the most visited women’s game in history.” A year ago, 66,000 fans had made a pilgrimage to the Stade de France near Paris for the final of the Sevens format.
Bumpy premiere
The organizers of the first tournament in 1991 would not even have dreamed that the tenth World Cup final takes place in front of such a record setting. Because of today’s framework conditions in England, they were far away. The twelve participants were not final for a long time, the French OK only came about a few minutes before the draw.
The game was played in and around the Welsh capital Cardiff – and that at a rapid pace from April 6th to 14th with five games in nine days for the finalists. Some teams had no international experience before, such as Japan. Like the Soviet Union, the Asian women also lost all games to zero. In the final in front of around 3,000 fans in Cardiff Arms Park, the United States surprisingly crowned the first world champions in history with 19: 6 over England.
In addition, due to the lack of sponsors and TV revenue, the first World Cup was a financial loss of £ 36,000 for the size of the tournament. Only private patrons and the English Association then iron out the deficit. The event was only considered an official World Cup in 1998 after the international association had subsequently recognized the premiere and the following tournament in Amsterdam in 1994.
Quartet prevails
The fact that there was a World Cup 34 years ago was particularly thanks to the persistence of a quartet. Deborah Griffin, Sue Dorrington, Alice Cooper and Mary Forsyth of the Richmond Women’s Rugby Club prevailed as organizers against the resistance of the then International Rugby Board (IRB) – today World Rugby. Griffin took on the leading role as OK boss.
The Englishwoman is inseparable from the history of sport among women. In 1978 Griffin was part of that team of the University College London who played the first women’s rugby game in history against King’s College. Eight years before the World Cup she organized as chairman, the pioneer was co -founder of the Women’s Rugby Football Union. In 2014, Griffin was the first woman to be elected to the board of the English Association RFU. Since 2018 it has also belonged to the Council of the World Association.
Historical presidency
At the beginning of August, Griffin wrote history again in front of the World Cup in his own country by voting the first president in the 154-year history of Rugby Football Union. “It has always been my passion to inspire even more people for sport, whether women or men. There was so much (rugby, note) in my life, so I would like to give something back,” the manager said when she started.
Griffin, which was raised in 2011 for the Officer of the British Empire (OBE), the preliminary stage for the title Lady, is not the most prominent woman at the head of the association. Because since February 2022 the royal patronage of the RFU has been back in female hands. Princess of Wales Catherine followed her brother -in -law Harry. He took over from his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II in December 2016. The Queen, who died in 2022, had been in the RFU since the beginning of its reign in 1952.
