Jeff Probyn: Well done girls, but let’s keep it in perspective

I read somewhere this week that the Women’s World Cup was a tipping point for the sport. As much as I admire and celebrate the efforts of the English women’s rugby team in winning the World Cup, the idea that the rugby world is now going to embrace the women’s game with the same level of passion and support as the men’s is absurd.
Worldwide, women amount to around 11 per cent (approx. 80,000) of the total number of registered senior rugby players (approx 774,000) with England‘s women 24,933 accounting for 26 per cent of the total. In fact, only England and the USA have more than 10,000 female players, with most countries numbering just a few hundred.
I am not in anyway trying to undermine what was a monumental effort by the squad but given the numerical superiority (Canada has just over 3,000 players) it should surely have been only a matter of time before a win – just as in the men’s game where England’s men also dominate the numbers game.
The achievements of the women’s game speak for themselves in terms of growth across the world (around 80 countries now play) and increasing awareness – but it remains a small fraction of the sport and its minority status is given an importance that in some ways outweigh its contribution to the game as a whole.
Despite the excitement and competitive nature of the games in this World Cup, the  standard of play was lower than that seen at the Junior World Championship in June.
As with all rugby it is not necessarily the best teams that play the best rugby or
provide the best competitive spectacle, quite often it is at junior clubs (grass-roots) level where you get better games to watch.
The games played in the professional leagues by the best players are often played under continual pressure not to lose.
I say ‘not to lose’ rather than win because the fear of losing dominates many of the professional games (just like the women’s and men’s World Cup finals) and inhibits open running rugby and risk- taking in favour of defensive strategies that attempt to stifle the opposition.
The best games are always those between evenly matched teams at any level. Unfortunately in the professional league there is the split between the haves and the have-not’s effectively leaving close to half the games as no contests, and the same is true of the women’s game for a different reason – numbers.
Because so few clubs have enough female players to field more than one team the standard of play is vastly different across the league.
While the importance of the World Cup win can never be overstated in terms of attracting and retaining new players, it is important not to over-egg the pudding. The women’s game is still a fledgling sport with the majority of Unions formed only in the Nineties and it needs to be nurtured and handled with care.
One of the lessons that should have been learned from the men’s game is, unless you have prepared and planned for the influx of youth and minis that arrive after a World Cup, you will lose out in the long term.
I may have missed it, but unlike the RFU, who have been banging on about a legacy from next year’s World Cup for the past two years, I haven’t heard a word about any planned legacy for the women’s game.
The publicity that the win has generated is sure to create an interest and bring more young girls to clubs, many of whom will be busily preparing for the post 2015 influx but may not have the necessary facilities to cope with a large number of new recruits.
Were that to be the case, it is probable that there would be a significant drop in retained numbers within a few weeks and unfortunately an opportunity will be lost, just as it was in the men’s game post-1991.
If however growth and expectation can be managed and sustained, the women’s team may one day play at Twickenham as the main event, rather than as an add-on at the end of the men’s game.
Talking of the men’s game I am amazed that after so many Press inches have been written about the Women’s World Cup that nothing has been written about another World Cup that is starting today.
The Bingham Cup is the gay rugby World Cup that started in 2002 and is played every two years and. This year, its seventh, the contest is in Sydney where 15 countries are represented.
Admittedly, it is a club competition with around 30 clubs competing but it is still considered a World Cup and the Australians via the Sydney Convicts club are currently the holders.
I must admit that I don’t think clubs will have to deal with a mass influx of new gay players but recruitment is not the reason for this World Cup.
Inclusion and acceptance is what the Bingham Cup is all about – something that should strike a chord with women players who have struggled for years for the acceptance which they have at last achieved.
Rugby is an inclusive sport, a sport where sex, colour or creed are immaterial, as long as you can catch, pass, run and be a part of a team.
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on August 24.