Recently, Chris Callaway has written a number of thought-provoking articles including one which questioned whether Womens Rugby and its participants are still being treated like second class citizens in the rugby world. Liz Entwhistle provides her views on this situation as her Stars 7’s team gear up for the Las Vegas 7’s. This article is shared with Liz’s kind permission, and I thank her for her ongoing support of the team here at Last Word.
3 Weeks Out – More Roster Changes and Observataions on the 7s Gender Gap
Over the past week we’ve had numerous roster changes with players being added/dropped (despite a final roster being released last week. I suppose we’ll wait on capital F final until the tournament starts). With only 19 days until games kick off there are still many more changes to come! Such is the nature of rugby!
Our pools for USA 7s have yet to be set which is preventing some additional trip finalization. Only the Stars, Atlantis, Canada and Mexico are currently registered in the Elite Women’s bracket of the tournament though rumour has it that Japan and Trinindad & Tobago will also both be bringing sides. Sadly the USA Women will not be attending the tournament despite having the IRB Atlanta 7’s in February (and that is only minorly showcased the USA Rugby landing page, relegated to a small, lower square than the main feature frame. The fact that the current Eagles 15’s women’s assembly in Florida isn’t even featured is another travesty – #workforit is one thing, how about we #knowaboutit).
This seems a huge shame – failing to attract more domestic fans, missing the chance to inspire and interact with young female ruggers, to advance the #tryiton initiative, to showcase the 3rd Place Rugby 7’s World Cup finishers (a repeat of the 2009 RWC 3rd place finish in Dubai), to grow the game and just to develop the team further seeing as they slipped at Dubai 7’s with a 7th place finish. The USA Women’s Rugby 7’s have been the most successful of any USA Rugby program in the last 5 years; the women’s 15’s team has dominated at the Rugby World Cup reaching finals/winning the title in the early years and placed 5th in 2010. Yet despite this success and having more tournaments, roster changes, more camps and news to share the women’s 7’s section of the USA website hasn’t even been updated since August 2013. A huge shame indeed.
The total lack of women’s elite teams speaks to part of the reason I feel this team is so vital to continuing the development of women’s rugby. In the US there exist a multitude of well run elite men’s programs with Tiger Rugby, Atlantis, the Olympic Developmental sides (notably the Northeast ODA which has travelled well and taken several titles), Serevi Selects and high performance teams like the Chicago Lions, Seattle/OPSB, San Francisco Golden Gate, New York, and 1823 that draw 7’s specialists to year-round training sessions; SFGG and New York also had the chance to travel to the World Club 7’s Championships in London in 2013 and Tiger Rugby took on a tour to China, Atlantis and the Northeast ODA to Tobago, Serevi Selects to Fiji. Unfortunately however, very little exists for the women in comparison; while more and more rugby academies are sprouting up around the US few are including women’s programmes as part of the club. It’s great that Atlantis is growing but it seems the women’s team rosters reveal more of a “reunion” team than a developmental team that showcases young talent; there is some women’s Serevi activity as well but we still lack a defined Eagles pathway or the ODP opportunities that the men can boast.
If anything, based on press releases I’ve seen, it seems the USA Women’s 7’s team is focusing on crossover athlete camps rather than developing the rugby talent that currently exists. Where are the dedicated Collegiate Women’s All Americans 7’s, HSAA camps? Where is the U-19 Eagles Girls’ 7’s team when the boys HSAA get to enter 2 sides in Las Vegas?
Additionally, the caliber of club play at the Rugby 7’s National Championships can attest to a strong men’s domestic base but a lack of women’s commitment. The quality of 7’s rugby on display at the Nationals for the men was high, featuring several upsets and close scorelines. But when you look at the women’s side it becomes a much different story – women’s 7’s Nationals was reborn after roughly a 10 year hiatus just 3 years ago. In 2011 around 8 women’s teams convened to play off for a title. In 2012 in San Francisco there was to be a 16-team field but at the last minute several teams baulked leaving just a 13-team playoff (including some clubs’ B-sides to boost the numbers). 2013 saw a full field of 16 women’s teams play towards a Championship in Pittsburgh whilst the concurrent women’s Eagles 15’s Nations Cup assembly decimated certain programs (it seems that moving the women’s 7’s Nationals to a different weekend could have easily solved that problem). The differences between the top 8 and lower 8 teams was also pretty severe; plus there was some scrambling in the run-up to the tournament with some teams not accepting their bids whilst others such as the Atlanta Harlequins weren’t either expecting or training for the Nationals.
I am lucky compared to most women rugby players. I live in the Midwest where we run a competitive 7’s circuit and said circuit was kept alive while women’s Nationals lay dormant. Firehouse 7’s, Lakefront 7’s, Rock N Roll 7’s and Rock Hard 7’s make up a qualifier schedule in which teams compete for points towards making Nationals. In the last few years we’ve seen the creation of the Youngbloodz women drawing 7’s players from Minnesota, the Chicago Lions women compiled of competitive players from around the Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana areas, and Detroit Women have also stepped up to the plate. Each of these teams travelled to each qualifier in 2013 (and the Lions and Youngbloodz played a de facto 4 game scrimmage during the men’s qualifier at the Minnesota 7’s as no other women’s sides entered the open bracket) and each team made Nationals; the top 2 teams were to advance but USA Rugby opened as 3rd seed for the Midwest. We saw Wisconsin Women, the Pittsburgh Angels and even NOVA from Virginia full in the 4 or 8 team brackets this summer, too. We had steady competition each weekend, hence why NOVA and Atlanta both travelled to Lakefront 7’s, and had committed coaching. The Lions and Youngbloodz both benefitted greatly from training with Championship-caliber men’s clubs and sharing resources but not every team has such a luxury.
This same style format continued each summer despite the lack of Nationals (with even more social tournaments like Whorefest in Rockford, IL, Jailbreak 7’s in Joliet and Madtown 7’s in Madison). Women in the Midwest do have opportunities to play; and it’s been wonderful to see the game grow. When I first started playing 7’s in the summer of 2001 after my sophomore year of college at Northwestern, Chicago North Shore had the dominant program in the Midwest. The opportunity to play with them led to multiple Midwest 7’s crowns. We were extremely fortunate to have Mark Santiago, then USA 7’s Assistant Coach, as our Head Coach. (In fact I can count only one coach I have ever had that hasn’t been an Eagles National Team coach at some point in their career. All my collegiate, club 15’s, club 7’s and U-23/Senior All-Star coaches have been affiliated with elite USA programming. Chicago is blessed in that regard – there is a huge rugby community with a wealth of talent and a fantastic depth of knowledge). Our region boasted numerous 7’s studs like Pam Kosanke, Christy Riggenberg, Teena Mastrangelo, Kate Turpin, Jackie Limberg, and Jen Sinkler that helped inspire more women’s ruggers and multiple programs ultimately benefitted from their experience.
At that time, we played qualifiers to *make* the Midwest finals where 8 teams would play off for the Championship although there were years in which only 3 women’s team would make the MW finals trek. The men consistently had 8-team finals brackets and for years the Chicago Lions, Chicago Griffins Grand Rapids Gazelles and Milwaukee Rugby Club dominated and made it to Nationals. They even had the opportunity to win prize money some of the years with the Lions winning big cheques at the Lakefront 7’s and the Las Vegas CRC.
If memory serves, 2000 was the last year that women’s clubs went to the 7’s Nationals as the ITT/NASC (Inter Territorial Teams/National All-Star Championships) teams became the focus for women’s players. As all-star teams began dominating regional tournaments, fewer women’s clubs thrived. All the best players were rostered with their respective all-star sides and in the game of women’s 7’s, lacking 2 (or more) elite players with true knowledge of the game can wreck a club side. This is especially true in the South where there is only 1 WPL side in Atlanta and no other D1 club teams. Collegiate rugby in the South has greater geographical restraints than in the Midwest where we boasted over 75 D2 women’s sides back when I was competing – and surely that number has grown. The access to women’s coaches, elite play, and the opportunity for development in the South and West are far behind that of the Midwest, Northeast, and California. The disparity continues if you look at the collegiate 7’s Championships where far less women’s teams have participated – or even known *how* to participate and qualify – as compared to the men. The men also boast CRC opportunities and a fairly full collegiate bracket for the LVI with the women less so (and with most of the women’s collegiate programs being Canadian entries).
So the Stars seek to bridge some gaps, to inspire more players, more coaches, to get more 7’s played. We are seeking to grow this team to eventually include a men’s side but women will ultimately come first. Plans are afoot to continue tournament travel to Calgary Stampede 7’s in July, to Central Coast 7’s in Australia in October, and Tobago 7’s in December. USA 7’s, Stampede and Tobago should remain permanently on the schedule with one major overseas tournament to rotate between Australia, Hong Kong, Dubai, Amsterdam and Shanghai. As a player and a coach I firmly believe that the only way to get better at rugby is to play more rugby. Thus the only way to get better at 7’s rugby for the women’s game is to play more 7’s and seek the opportunities around the world that our European counterparts, the Canadians, and of course the men currently take advantage of.
(Note this is all based on my personal playing/coaching experiences from 2000-now. In a delirious flu-like state, I may have some facts/dates wrong and I did very little editing. I do have a tournament to prepare for after all. Sleep and recovery beckon, – Liz)
Keep up with what Liz and the Stars 7’s are doing here at her blog, and follow Liz here on her Twitter feed. Thanks again to Liz for her willingness to discuss this relevant and interesting topic.
Thanks for reading, you can follow me on Twitter @lastwordkyle; as well as our fellow LWOS rugby writers –@TheSaxonCoach @richfergie, @LWOSPerrineR and @Daniel_Ford_1. Give the site a follow while you’re at it – @lastwordonsport and please take a moment to like our Facebook Page.
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Main Picture Credit: Liz Entwhistle via Twitter
