'Women's Rugby is being respected' - Ex-Red Roses legend Maggie Alphonsi on investment ahead of 2025 World Cup

The countdown for the Women’s Rugby World Cup is on. It’s fewer than 500 days to go before England hope to improve on their 2021 achievements, by going one step further and lifting the trophy on home soil. 

This is of course no small task but as the Red Roses are currently the number one ranked side in the world, all eyes will be on John Mitchell’s squad to see whether they can take down the rampant New Zealanders and wave the World Cup trophy to home crowds at Twickenham. 

Last year’s Six Nations tournament bore witness to a record-breaking crowd at the England home of rugby but by 2025, the competition’s organisers hope to sell out the stadium, creating a new legacy for the sport that will last generations. 

Helping them to achieve this is the Impact 25’ Legacy Programme - a programme being delivered by the Rugby Football Union (RFU) in partnership with UK Government, Sport England and UK Sport.

At one of their celebratory events at the North Bristol RFC on Tuesday 9 April, NationalWorld sat down with 2014 World Cup winner and BBC Pundit Maggie Alphonsi to discuss how much growth we can expect to see in the game and whether the Red Roses can match the success achieved by the likes of the England Lionesses and England’s women’s cricket team. 

When asked how much more growth we can anticipate in the coming years, the former England star said: “I think there’s a lot (more to grow). It’s been a rapid growth. Over the last five years we have seen it go from people wanting to invest to people wanting to lead the way. Now we’re starting to see more of the games on TV, the coverage is good; we get sponsors and professionalism has improved. 

“There’s definitely further growth because where we’re at right now, it's about making sure we get competitiveness. It’s all good if our national team is doing well but need to make sure the grassroots are progressing, other nations across the world are also progressing and the gap between nations, we want to see that close.”

Alphonsi also noted that “when we talk about growth in women’s rugby we’re talking about growth in women’s sport because when women’s football is doing well, rugby follows, when cricket does well, rugby follows.”

Of course, this growth needs to be managed to ensure it stays sustainable and the 74-times capped England legend believes the growth of the sport is increasing at an ‘appropriate’ level. 

“I want it to go faster! We want growth but we need to make sure it’s done in a manageable way where we have the right infrastructure around us and the support around us to make sure we don’t grow too fast to the point where we’re unable to accommodate the needs of our athletes.  

“With rugby I feel like we’re still on this journey, I don't look at it as a negative, I think it's great that we’ve got it. When I first picked up a rugby ball, it was slow, we almost had no growth. It’s hard to look at it now 

“It’s encouraging that there’s investment in that and people wanting to invest in that. I don’t think we will reach that point yet where we’ve grown too fast and we can’t keep up. It feels like the incremental rise is going at an appropriate level.”

With the World Cup now 498 days away, it is undeniable that the tournament is set to be a complete game-changer for the sport and Alphonsi argues that the chosen stadiums for the competition are instrumental in making this happen. 

“To be able to take it to Sunderland, which is a very football orientated are I think is really exciting. Also now we’re talking about getting to a rugby world cup final and selling it out - 80,000 fans like we saw with Lionesses at Wembley. Women’s Rugby is being valued and respected and I do think we’re getting the right investment to make that happen.”

And of course, the question had to be posed on whether he Saracens flanker wishes she could be donning the Red Roses shirt next year. 

“I’d love to play but I’ve got a dodgy knee!” Alphonsi confessed. “I feel really pleased and really privileged that I was part of the journey that enabled part of this. There were women before me, trail blazers that won it in 1994 - they were part of what enabled us to get that success. 

“I’m happy to be on the periphery and be able to educate those who don’t know a lot about women’s rugby.”