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This chapter critically examines the unprecedented 2020 decision by World Rugby's (WR) primarily male leadership (92% of board members) to ban transgender (trans) women from playing women's rugby union. We examined the process that was followed and found a lack of consultation with those directly impacted: women. To address this critical gap in the policy development process we conducted interviews and focus groups with cisgender female rugby players (junior to elite) of mixed ethnic backgrounds living in England, Canada and Australia. This was done with the support of rugby governing bodies and professional rugby teams. We found no support for WR's blanket ban. Rugby players felt the policy was a contradiction of rugby's claims it is a ‘game for all’. The minority of players with safety concerns supported exclusion on a case-by-case basis, with exclusion justified in a small number of narrowly defined circumstances (e.g. elite male players who transitioned recently). Importantly, the women and girls questioned why rugby's leaders had chosen to focus their energy on ‘protecting’ them from trans athletes but had ignored serious problems which cause them direct harm, such as a lack of funding, pervasive sexist and homophobic behaviour, sexual harassment, and substandard coaching and training facilities (relative to men). Our findings are consistent with and they support the position of women's sports organizations which have called on WR's male leaders to discard their blanket ban and undertake a rigorous, science-driven, collaborative policy development process.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020 prompted widespread global lockdowns as the world looked to contain and reduce the impact of the virus, including a pause on most sporting competitions (Parnell et al., 2020). COVID-19 has greatly affected the world, exposing stark inequalities, especially across gendered lines, in areas of society such as the labour market, domestic responsibility and economic hardship (Alon et al., 2020). Sport is a crucial, interwoven aspect of society and like wider societal trends, elite women's sport has been adversely affected by the pandemic, facing an existential threat (Bowes et al., 2020; Clarkson et al., 2020; Rowe, 2020). The aim of this chapter is to provide an overview of how the pandemic is negatively impacting a wide variety of elite women's sports. Specifically, we cover sports where women have traditionally existed on the margins of the sport and could be considered as male-dominated labour industries. Centring primarily on the United Kingdom, we present a brief chronology of the impact of the crisis on elite women's sport, across football, rugby, cricket and golf – in many ways different from the men's versions – spanning the eight months since the start of the pandemic in March 2020 until the time of writing in November 2020. Throughout, the chapter utilises qualitative data from elite sportswomen encouraged to share their experiences during the pandemic (see Bowes et al., 2020). Subsequently, this chapter concludes with a summary of the challenges for women operating in (semi-)professional sports environments.

Women's rugby in South Africa is a recent development. Inaugurated four years after the professionalisation of the men's game in 1997, the ‘Springbok Women’ national team faced an uphill battle in their struggle to match the century-old reputation and international respect enjoyed by the male ‘Springboks’. The women's game grew slowly over the last two decades, starting from a low base with only a few clubs in 2000. Despite its designation as a national team with the title of ‘Springbok’ in 2012, the women's game on the national and club level remains an under-resourced largely amateur game with only a small group of semi-professionals. Given the country's lack of a dedicated professional league or national competition, the national team struggled in the international arena. Poor results, in the end, resulted in the prioritisation of rugby sevens, despite this shortened version retarding the growth of the traditional game. After two decades, the semi-professional ‘Women Springboks’, known as ‘Imbokodo’ or ‘grinding stone’ since 2019, is still facing salary discrimination, inadequate resourcing and a lack of genuine recognition as its exclusion from Team South Africa for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games demonstrated. At the start of the second decade of the millennium, the situation looks decidedly bleak for women's rugby in the country despite the South African Rugby Union's endorsement of World Rugby's international programme for game development.

League expansion involves a significant investment of time, money and resources. Therefore, ensuring the success of new franchises is imperative to the commercial health of a competition; however, there is an absence of studies examining the establishment process of franchises. In 2020, Super Rugby announced that it would expand in 2022 with the inclusion of two new franchises, Fijian Drua and Moana Pasifika. The article explores what implementation challenges Drua and Pasifika faced during franchise establishment.

Following a qualitative case study methodology, data were collected via newspaper, website and document repository ‘Nexis’, and triangulated against interviews with five expert individuals involved in franchise establishment. Applying mixed-coding, thematic analysis using Redmond's franchise expansion factors framework, six deductive and two inductive themes were generated.

In accordance with Redmond's franchise expansion factors framework, financial sustainability, competitive balance and labour market challenges were identified as internal challenges, whilst media relationships, market competition and community engagement were highlighted as external challenges. Additionally, two new factors, infrastructure and business operations and youth development, were inductively identified as issues during franchise establishment extending Redmond's model.

The study offers strategic guidance to practitioners on franchise establishment and provides insight into cross-border expansion processes. Theoretically, the research supports and extends the applicability of Redmond's expansion factors framework for future research.

This study examines the relationship between spectator motivation and sports consumption behaviours in the context of an adaptive sport. Respondents were spectators from five matches held in the Midwest United States involving registered United States Quad Rugby Association teams. The Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC; Trail & James, 2001) was adapted to measure spectator motivation and predict repatronage intentions and online media consumption among wheelchair rugby spectators. Results indicated that two spectator motivation factors, physical skill and knowledge, were related to repatronage intentions. In addition, knowledge and vicarious achievement were found to be related to online media consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to critically reflect upon the place of rugby union in contemporary Wales where the game is used as an important tool to promote images of the nation. Using Benedict Anderson's conceptualisation of the nation as an “imagined community” the paper aims to locate and analyse the game within and around discourses of Cool Cymru, a term coined in the late twentieth century to promote images of a new vibrant Wales as popularised through its leading music bands.

A critical sociological approach analyses and problematises notions of Welshness as it relates to the national sport of rugby.

The nation is often (re)presented and conceptualised as a monolithic whole where rugby's assumed centrality is rarely questioned. This essay focuses upon the areas of language, geography and gender to demonstrate the situated limits of these (re)presentations. Rugby union and Cool Cymru are also located alongside devolution and are examined further with specific reference to the postmodern sporting celebrity.

This work highlights an increasing primacy afforded to the capital city of Cardiff within a re‐imagining of the nation and the national game.

This paper analyses the marketing strategy, marketing mix and brand development of SF Paris rugby union club, which succeeded in attracting huge crowds (around 75,000 spectators) for several regular season games and in building strong brand equity. Parallels with American professional sports are drawn and differences from other European clubs highlighted. Finally, planning, consistency and in particular innovation are identified as key factors for success in implementation of the club's marketing strategy.

The aim of this study is to evaluate rugby fans’ attitudes toward financial sponsorship, specifically event sponsorship and Dove Men+Care and its association with the Welsh Rugby Union. The study examines four issues: How do rugby fans perceive event sponsorship? How does such sponsorship affect consumption choices? Do fans engage in long-term relationships with the event’s sponsoring brand? Are relationships affected by the event sponsor’s engagement with other international teams and rugby events?

This paper is a theory-building, exploratory study that utilised a qualitative framework. Data were collected over a 12-month period, incorporating the autumn internationals of 2012 and 2013, with 198 fans participating in focus groups before and after games.

The results reveal a distinct lack of brand awareness on the part of the participants, a collective perception of the sponsor as incongruent given the event and a demonstration of enmity arising from rival sponsorships by the sponsoring brand. Additionally, the findings reveal a reluctance to consume the sponsoring brand in either the short or long term given its incongruence, lack of functionality, pre-existing schematic frameworks and obdurate brand preferences.

Given that autumn internationals are held every season by several of the international rugby board (IRB) ranked teams, the findings of this research have an immediate and direct application for brand managers involved or implementing sponsorship programs. The research outlines both short and long term mistakes made by the sponsor as perceived by the fans’ themselves, and suggests that those brands considering becoming involved in sport and event sponsorship instigate a more informed, strategic approach to their sponsorship activities. However, the work is context driven and therefore not generalisable.

The findings enable marketing brand managers to effectively evaluate events against the backdrop of strategic fit, as well as fan/consumer expectations, their needs and wants and willingness to engage.

Despite rugby union’s growing global presence, little or no research has examined sponsorship within the context of rugby union and none exists that has evaluated event sponsorship, and been driven by fans’ perspectives. This paper fills that void. The research delineates fans attitudes, opinions and brand conceptualisations relating to event sponsorship, incorporating evaluations of identity, congruence and fit. Moreover, the paper highlights what to avoid from a strategic and brand building perspective when considering event sponsorship in a rugby union context.

Rugby union’s late move to professionalism in 1995 has led to concerns about the financial development of the game. The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge base on professional team sports in the UK by analysing the financial and sporting performance of rugby union clubs.

Data were obtained by dissecting the annual accounts of nine English Premiership rugby clubs between 2006 and 2015. Analysis was performed using the performance assessment model, which analyses both financial and sporting areas of performance and is devised through statistical analysis procedures to provide a holistic measure of overall performance for each club.

There is financial disparity amongst clubs that has widened over the period of the study. In terms of sporting performance, the data suggest that competition is more equal, something that is less evident in other UK professional team sports such as football and rugby league. Correlation analysis reveals that overall performance varies over time in cycles.

The study has implications for the clubs competing in the English Premiership and for the league organisers themselves, particularly with reference to regulatory procedures such as raising the salary cap and increased broadcasting deals.

The paper has demonstrated the importance of balancing multiple performance objectives in professional team sports and has expanded the academic discussion on the financial health of professional team sports in the UK, particularly with reference to the financial health of rugby union where research has historically been scarce.

The first Australia and New Zealand semi-professional women's rugby league premiership (NRLW) was launched in 2018. This chapter charts the players' journey through the first two seasons of the competition. A questionnaire was distributed at the end of both seasons to all contracted players in each of the four clubs to capture feedback on their experiences, perceptions, challenges and suggestions for improvements. Players were asked about contracts, sacrifices, support, club culture and their views on coaching and training. The findings indicated despite significant stressors and challenges, players were highly appreciative of the chance to play in a semi-professional league, to be part of a landmark competition, and to inspire future generations of girls to play rugby league. Positive satisfaction across most dimensions of league and club practices and operations were evident in season one. By the end of season two, attitudes were changing, with data showing that players expected to obtain increases in remuneration, number of clubs, season length, media coverage and improvements in coaching, training and support services. Sports such as rugby league need to be particularly mindful of addressing issues arising, as options for women in professional team sports is growing rapidly and competition for talent will only accelerate into the future. This case study of women in rugby league demonstrates that women's experiences and perceptions are shifting from an initiation phase of gratefulness and acceptance of personal/family sacrifice for the opportunity to play semi-professionally, to having increased expectations of reasonable employment conditions and legitimacy as professional athletes.