In this survey I attempt to gauge the balance between men and women in positions of authority, from the RFU down to the PWR clubs and officials.
For the sake of clarity I present women’s names in CAPITALS.
Caution: I do not claim the following lists to be either complete or fully up-to-date. But they reveal their own story.
A. The RFU
At the pinnacle we have DEBORAH GRIFFIN, the very first female president.
The Chair is Sir James Wates. The CEO is Bill Sweeney.
Board members include Dr. Jonathan Webb, POLLY WILLIAMS and James Cook.
Directors include Claudio Borges, Angus Bujalski, Steve Grainger, Connor O’Shea, FRANCESCA PIERCE, Rory Price, ALEX TEASDALE (i/c Women’s Game), ALI CONNELLY (Corporate Affairs), Anthony Mundy, PAULA CARTER (Governance), KIRSTY MARLOR, AURIOL STEVENS and POLLY WILLIAMS.
B. PWR Board – 6 members
Executive Chair GENEVIEVE SHORE; MICHELLE ORANGE (Sale); Laurie Dalrymple (Quins), ALEX TEASDALE, Connor O’ Shea, CLAIRE ROGAN, LUCY WRAY (Sarries), KELLY SIMMONS (board advisor).
C. The new (January 2026) PWR Players’ Board: Chair, ABI BURTON, vice-Chair JENNY HESKETH. All nine members female.
D. PWR Boards
Each club has its own distinctive structure. Some are closely bound to the men’s sector.
Bristol Bears
Director: LISA KNIGHTS; Senior Manager: DAISIE MYERS, plus Paul Beet and Tom Tainton as part of the closely aligned Bristol Sports Group.
Exeter Chiefs
Chair and Chief Executive: Tony Rowe; MD NATASHA PAVIS; FD Alan Quantick; Team Manager Keith Brooking; LISA DUNCAN (Sales & Marketing), Chris Over, Mark Isaacs.
Gloucester-Hartpury operates under the Gloucester Rugby umbrella.
CEO Alex Brown, owner/ chairman Mark St. Quinton; head of rugby Dan Murphy.
Harlequins
Head of women’s rugby: PAT METCALFE-JONES; CE of entire club: Laurie Dalrymple.
Leicester Tigers
CEO: ANDREA PINCHEN; Director/investor Tom Scott; Peter Tom Director/President; FD Finlan Kennedy; Peter Kvetkovic and Leon Lloyd.
Loughborough Lightning operates as part of Loughborough University. In that respect it differs from the eight other clubs.
Sale Sharks
Co-owner MICHELLE ORANGE; owning company: CorpAcq, headed by Fran Cotton and Steve Smith. Part of the Sale Sharks Foundation.
Saracens come under the all-embracing Saracens Group Holdings. Private investors Chair: Neil Golding. CE: LUCY WRAY
Trailfinders come under Ealing Trailfinders Professional Management Ltd. MD and DoR: Ben Ward; Company Sec. John O’Dowd.
From this brief summary we can detect the considerable dependence on wealthy companies and individuals to keep clubs afloat.
E. The Women’s Rugby Association was established in 2021 with NOLLI WATERMAN as CEO.
Last month a new Players’ Board was set up to protect and further female players’ interests. One representative from each club, all female. Chair ABI BURTON; vice-chair JENNY HESKETH.
F. Referees and ARs
Across the first half of the season (rounds 1-9) thirteen officials were appointed for each round.
The odd total comes from the addition of a TMO for one match per round only, the one that TNT deigns to air.
The totals of women appointed comes to 4, 5, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 4 and 3.
That makes a total of 33 out of a possible 117.
Thoughts
Different grades of competence are required for different levels of competition.
One problem is that the very best female referees (here Sara Cox; Nikki O’Donnell and Holly Wood) are often appointed to men’s matches.
One excellent addition has been the appearance of Natarsha Ganley from New Zealand’s top list of referees.
One suspicion I had seems borne out by the evidence. The matches where the referee was a woman – one all three female officials – all concerned Leicester Tigers. Why? Not because the refs would have an easy run, surely?
(with thanks to rugbyreferee.net for the detailed lists).
Summary
Approximate as this survey may be, it points to distinct shortages of women’s input in crucial areas.
The most flagrant is the complete absence of female head coaches in the PWR.
The following used to be, but no longer are: Susie Appleby, Giselle Mather, Kim Oliver, Jo Yapp, Vicky Macqueen and Rachel Taylor.
You might like to ask the people who made those decisions what their justifications were.
I’ll shelter behind a convenient chair.
