A historic first for women’s rugby
As part of our partnership with The British & Irish Lions, we’re investing in an annual gathering of players and coaches from across the four Home Unions to help build and shape the Lions Women’s programme. Because it’s never been done before, we have an opportunity to allow players to input and build a Lions Women’s experience that encapsulates what they want and need, celebrating the spirit of unity, collaboration and progress that defines The British & Irish Lions.
The 2024 Royal London Lions Women Engagement Day saw stars of rugby’s present and future from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, come together in London for the first time as part of the Lions Women’s journey. The day leant heavily on getting the input of players and involving them in the important conversations that will go on to affect those chosen as part of the Lions squad, with topics including kit, branding, future tour destinations, and the touring environment. There were also sessions on the origins of Lions Women, including Royal London’s pivotal role and investment, and hearing from England Footballer Alessia Russo on what major events can do for women’s sport.
Whether or not these players one day don the iconic Lions jersey, their contribution is already etched in history. Together, we’ve laid the foundations for future generations to dream big and believe in their potential.
Find out more about the day here:
Highlights
Transcript
Ben Calveley
When we announced that we were creating a Lions women's team and that the inaugural tour would be to New Zealand, that felt like one of the most significant days in the 136 year history of the Lions. Today feels similarly important because it's the first time that we've pulled a group of players together, so we have an opportunity here to hear from those players and they can help us shape how this tour will look in the future.
Rachel Malcolm
I've known about the Lions for for such a long time, and it's always been such an exciting time of the calendar in terms of rugby, and it's such an iconic brand, but it's always just been men and I think to have all these people in this room that have obviously fought so much, for us to have a women's lions makes it so significant and to be a part and even just be a part of the engagement process and have a say is how it's going to look, it's so important.
Julie-Ann Hall
I really hope players have an excitement of what's to come, and that they feel as though they’ve been heard. That they have a voice in this and that they feel as though, that they are really playing a part in shaping how we can make the women's team in the women's tour, really special and really bespoke to them, and it's a real moment in history.
Emily Scarratt MBE
It’s certainly not something I thought I'd potentially see in my lifetime. So yeah, just to get everybody here and a real mixture of faces like some of the youngsters are obviously going to see this Lions journey through a lot longer than some of us, a little bit more
experienced. But yeah, it's been brilliant just to come together, catch up with each other, but also then look at ideas around how as players, we can also shape these tools going forward.
Shaunagh Brown
In your dreams, where would we go as a Women's Lions team?
Ellie Kildunne
You want to create something that people watch on TV and want to be there.
Beibhinn Parsons
The British and Irish Lions is always going to have a fan base in those countries, so that
could be a tradition that we create.
Alessia Russo
To interact and be with fellow athletes, that compete at the highest level is really cool. And it's a really exciting time for women's rugby right now. So nice to be, a part of their journey and looking ahead to their Lions tour. It's so exciting. Another massive milestone for women's sport and women's rugby. And again, putting it on the map like they deserve to be.
Ben Calveley
We talk a lot at the Lions about putting the players at the centre of what we do. Today is about putting our money where our mouth is. Listening to the players, giving them an opportunity to shape how the Lions women's tour will look.
Sam Monaghan
There’s a great buzz about today, loads of media content going on. They've asked for our opinions on future tours, kit, stash. Loads of other bits, which is really exciting to get the players point of view on what's happening in the future and hopefully in the next tour.
Jasmine Joyce-Butchers
They're getting to know bits and bobs how the Women's Lions has come apart and what they're looking to do, where they're looking to go, and also pre-planning also in six years time and then after that as well. So we're part of the decision making in that, the kit, where we're going to go in in six years time. So that's really exciting that we're part of that as well, and to have something different to what the men do.
Julie-Ann Hall
Royal London is really proud to be the founding partner of the women's team, but what we're most proud of is the £3 million investment that we've made in the player and coach pathways to make sure that when the team is chosen for the tour in 2027, that it's a really balanced playing field with regards to the capabilities and skills of the coaches and the players, and that we're hoping to see a really nice, balanced team chosen. And so that's where we're hoping the investment will make the most difference.
Rachel Malcolm
You know, we all have experiences from our individual unions. And I think what makes Lions special is you can bring the best of those different unions and experiences that we have in those unions together to make what is the ultimate rugby tour. So to have an input and talk about that today, just makes us all more excited for for what this is going to be
We paired playing rivals from different Unions as teammates for the first time, and challenged them to work together to complete a series of tasks: