World Rugby to protect players and combat online abuse at Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 through extended partnership with Signify Group
- World Rugby calls on the rugby family to World Rugby to protect players and combat online abuse at Women’s Rugby World
- Cup England 2025 through extended partnership with Signify Group
- World Rugby calls on the rugby family to lead the way in tackling online hate in sport
- All players, coaches and match officials to be protected under groundbreaking partnership with Signify Group
- Action-oriented collaboration a key strand of World Rugby’s Impact Beyond 2025 legacy programme, delivering unprecedented insights to drive future measures
- Research demonstrates female athletes more likely to be targeted than their male counterparts, while abuse is on the rise amongst young people
The world’s top players and match officials are uniting with World Rugby to take a powerful stand against online abuse, as the federation launches a groundbreaking protection service ahead of Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025. For the first time at its premier tournament, World Rugby will deliver proactive, action-oriented support to all players, coaches, and match officials-reinforcing its commitment to protecting the wellbeing of everyone in the game.
The groundbreaking collaboration with Signify Group reflects World Rugby’s commitment to supporting the mental wellbeing of players and match officials as a core wellness pillar of Impact Beyond 2025, tackling online abuse and fostering a respectful and inclusive environment for all participants, both on and off the field.
The service also covers all Emirates World Rugby Match Officials appointed to World Rugby men’s and women’s competitions through to the end of 2026, including at Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, extending a service that began in 2023.
England 2025 is set to be a generational moment, drawing unprecedented online attention and shining a spotlight on women’s and girls’ rugby. Increased online visibility often leads to a rise in trolling, abuse, and hate speech, particularly in the context of female sports coverage. Research indicates that female players and match officials are 30 per cent more likely to experience abuse than their male counterparts, while the UK is the largest originator of abuse towards match officials and players at international level.*
World Rugby’s extension with Signify Group will provide an action-oriented approach, with Signify’s Threat Matrix service monitoring social media platforms to detect and report abusive posts and comments directed at players and match officials. It will also identify the sources of abusive content, enabling real-world actions such as fines, loss of access to matches and where particularly egregious threats are evidenced to pass criminal thresholds, potential prosecution. Safeguarding insights will also be shared with unions to build a 360-degree approach to tackling online hate, with Signify able to produce evidence packs and engage with authorities for any escalations.
The initiative is a key component of the wellness pillar within World Rugby’s Impact Beyond 2025 Plan, designed to ensure the tournament leaves a lasting legacy worldwide. It will extend well beyond the final match, offering valuable insights into the trends, triggers, and potential mitigations for online hate and violence.
World Rugby Chief of Women’s Rugby Sally Horrox said: “Every player and official deserves to feel safe and respected. This new service is a clear signal that we will not tolerate abuse and we are committed to creating an environment where women in rugby can thrive without fear.
“Rugby has always been about respect and the launch of the Social Media Protection Service ensures that we hold people to account. Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025 will shine a global spotlight on the women’s game. We are proud to stand behind our players and officials – this is about leading with action.”
World Rugby Chief Communications Officer Dominic Rumbles added: “Our extended collaboration with Signify Group is a testament to our dedication to combating online hate. We recognise the impact that toxic online behaviours can have on individuals and are determined to provide the necessary support and protection.
“The initiative is a key part of World Rugby’s Impact Beyond 2025 Plan and crucial in promoting mental wellbeing and setting a positive example for the rugby community. Importantly, it will deliver insights that will help us better understand the trends, triggers and mitigations.”
Since launching the partnership ahead of Men’s Rugby World Cup France 2023, World Rugby and Signify have:
- Analysed 1.6M million messages on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram
- Detected and flagged 61,136 potentially abusive messages of which 2,589 were reported to the respective platforms
- Identified 2,010 individual accounts associated with the 2,589 abusive messages
- Supported 18 targeted match offficials and World Rugby stakeholders
- Completed 75 investigations with11 reported to police and relevant authorities resulting in seven prosecutions or law enforcement warnings
Signify Group CEO Jonathan Hirshler said: “Following the success of our work at Rugby World Cup France 2023, we are thrilled to extend our partnership with World Rugby and protect players at Women’s Rugby World Cup England 2025 from online abuse. This collaboration highlights the importance of addressing online hate and taking meaningful action. Together, we are making significant strides in creating a safer online environment for everyone involved in the sport.”
New Zealand’s Ruby Tui commented on the initiative: “The thing about programmes like the Online Protection Service is it’s really important because it shows exactly where you stand. To stand up and say we’re going to make a programme to protect our match officials, our players, our coaches – people involved in the tournament. Thats really standing up and saying no, that’s actually not cool here, while we’re trying to give people the best sporting experience of their lives.
“I’m putting my heart and my soul to make sure people remember this World Cup. To me, especially my sport, I’m very privileged to be in it and I think it’s changing societies, its changing generations and this online protection service says we don’t condone that here. We’re trying to do this…which I think is pretty awesome.”
Utilising Signify’s industry-leading AI-driven Threat Matrix technology across over 40 languages, this partnership has successfully unmasked offenders and worked with law enforcement to take legal action. Notably, prosecutions and other enforcement actions have been initiated in Australia, South Africa, France, New Zealand, and the UK, setting a strong precedent that abuse will not be tolerated.
The collaboration also enables World Rugby to analyse trends, triggers, and environments that lead to online abuse, fostering a data-driven approach to addressing the issue at its root, and ensuring that rugby remains a sport built on respect, solidarity, and inclusivity.
With thanks to World Rugby
