Tickets to the Women’s Rugby World Cup final sold out in seconds. The Women’s Six Nations breaks viewing records every year. The news is firmly in: women’s rugby is entering a golden age. And it’s not just a huge rise in spectatorship that we’re seeing – there was a 33.9% jump in registered players from 2023 to 2024. I’m here to go beyond the statistics and offer you 5 extremely compelling reasons to hop on board the rugby train.
1 . You will stop saying sorry
Sorry! Not sure if this is relevant but – Apologies! No worries if not! Recognise this grovelling, sheepish language? Perhaps from your emails?From how you speak at meetings or to colleagues, maybe even your friends? Rugby will teach you to stop over apologising. My first ever rugby training session was soundtracked by a stream of ‘sorry!’s as we politely bumped in to each other like a herd of Roombas. This was no surprise, as a woman you are taught from birth to apologise, to be gentle and appeasing.
Rugby rewires your brain – you are encouraged to make hard hits without remorse. Your team mates need you to be strong. To run fast. Tackle hard. Push, don’t fold. Two weeks later and the choir of incessant apologising had ceased. We no longer felt sorry about pushing through or felt like we wanted to hold back, and I want every woman to experience that freedom. Although if you accidentally sit on someone’s head on a cold and wet January evening you should consider apologising.
2 . You will worry less about your body
Another beautiful freedom! And a handy defence in our current climate: rugby may be on the rise but so too is negative body image. Algorithms push harmful weight loss content to impressionable audiences. Skinny is ‘in’. But when you play rugby, your body stops being merely aesthetic. You treat your body like a tool, admire it for what it can do rather than how it looks. As a student who struggled emotionally with weight gain, rugby was a real solace to me. Rugby redirected my focus to body functionality. If I wasn’t eating enough, then I would be too weak to play. Simple as.
If you watch rugby, as any player worth their salt should, then your on screen heroes are women praised for their strength rather than their beauty. Terms like hip dips or shelf bum become distant and horrible memories. Rugby is so size inclusive, there’s a real range of body types in the Premiership and yet they all belong to athletes at the top of their game. If you want to free up your mind from the constant of weight obsession, then rugby is the sport for you.
3 . You’ll make a diverse group of friends, and fast
No faster way to make a friend than by having your face mashed into their bum cheek. Friendship is basically forced upon you by the physicality of the game. If you’re a nervous fresher plagued by endless small talk, then I prescribe to you rugby. If you’ve moved cities or simply want to make new friends, I prescribe to you rugby. If you’ve renewed the lease on your childhood bedroom and need a social life thats not an episode of Midsomer Murders and a biscuit, then I definitely prescribe to you rugby. At any stage of your life, rugby will provide you with friends of different ages and backgrounds and unite you by giving you a common purpose.
4 . You won’t be so taken in by wellness culture
Pilates, endless running, no alcohol and 9pm bedtimes. There’s been a definite shift in our culture to a very purified kind of wellness. It’s very healthy but isn’t it all a bit … boring? All exercise is valid, but the uptake in gym memberships is, in my opinion, fuelled by an obsession with aesthetics. Gym and running are extremely popular right now, yet as forms of exercise they can be isolating and inward looking. It’s just not as fun as rugby. Rugby is an amazing way of reintroducing play into your adult life. There’s banter, there’s camaraderie, there’s a common enemy. Chasing someone down will make you feel like an animal. Playfulness is encouraged. Social connection is essential. If you’re someone who wants the benefits and structure of exercise without the drudgery and isolation of routines like the 75 hard, then rugby offers you balance.
5 . Pub will become a necessity
Want to go to the pub at 3pm on Friday, Saturday and Sunday but want to avoid being labelled a degenerate? Become a rugby fan! There’s no better excuse than the Six Nations to spend the entire weekend in the pub. And if that doesn’t convince you, then I have nothing left to say.
The Ellen Dispenser 