Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!

Tweet

One of my law professors at Queen's University shared this article with me from the Toronto Star: "Female Rugby Stars Won't Pay to Play."

We have all heard of amateur athletes struggling to get by while competing in their sport. Many couch hop, quit their jobs or rely heavily on family and friends for a chance to represent their country internationally.

But have you ever heard of athletes having to pay to play on their national team?

Each member of the Canadian women's national team must pay $2,900 for their spot on the national team and compete- on home soil- in this week's international Nations Cup in Oakville. This, in the same year that the men's national team has a $1.8 million dollar budget to prepare for their World Cup in New Zealand.

The Star quoted one of the players, Brooke Hilditch as saying “To me, it’s a bit of slap in the face." Slap in the face is right.

Hilditch is one of three senior national team players who refused to participate in the Nations Cup, to protest Rugby Canada’s “pay-to-play” system for women in non-World Cup years. Boycotting the event with Hilditch, 31, are Gillian Florence, 36, of Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Que., and Toronto’s Megan Gibbs, 26. Hilditch is a fly half and eight-year veteran of the national team, previously shelled out $2,500 to play for Canada in a 2009 Nations Cup.

“I can afford it. I’m a teacher and I have a salary . . . but the point I’m trying to make is in the future, we won’t be fielding our best team. We’ll only have girls who can afford it, and that’s not the goal of having a national team.”

The senior women’s team has all its expenses paid during a World Cup year. (The most recent was 2010, in which Canada finished sixth.) Those expenses are paid by Rugby Canada, with the International Rugby Board picking up the World Cup tabs for travel, accommodation and food.

Neither the women’s nor men’s rugby teams receives Sport Canada money for competitions because traditional rugby is not an Olympic sport. However, national team members — 22 men and 22 women — receive Sport Canada “carding” money worth approximately $20,000 a year to cover training and living expenses. Hilditch, Florence and Gibbs receive that funding. What the Toronto Star article did not say is that senior women Rugby players even receive less government carding money than senior men rugby players.

The Toronto Star also reported that Canada is not alone in using a pay-to-play model for women. The USA uses the same model, with their athletes shelling out between $2000- $5000 to play in any given year.

Hilditch is really making a stand on this policy for Canada, and as a veteran of the national team, with not much to lose, she is the perfect voice against this. The star quoted her as saying "“I might be losing my chances but I think it’s worth it for the future of our team. I see so many girls who are so talented and I don’t want them being poor while trying to play for their country because that’s not what the national team should be about.”

Hopefully the media publicity will make Rugby Canada re-evaluate their policies. Best of luck!

If you want to help these women speak out to Sport Canada and Rugby Canada about this policy and how it is not acceptable.

Support women's sports and SHARE this story with your friends!

• Rugby
• Sports

View Original Post at womeninsportinternational.blogspot.com

View WISIBlog's Full Profile

There is 1 comment on this post. Join the discussion!

SkiMama says:

The original article in the Toronto Star was poorly written. The writer assumed Alex WIlliams, Women's HP Manager at USA Rugby, was a man. Wrong. Clearly any communication they had, if any, was done via email. It's disheartening to read an article about sexism in sports that makes a sexist assumption.

Friday, August 26, 2011 at 12:25pm EDT

Leave Your Comment:  Read our comment policy

Login  |  Sign Up

LOGIN TO WOMEN TALK SPORTS:

Username: 

Password: 

SIGNUP FOR A WOMEN TALK SPORTS ACCOUNT:

A Women Talk Sports account allows you to maintain a profile at www.womentalksports.com and login to comment on posts using your WTS identity.

Fields marked with a * are required.

Your First Name*: 

Your Last Name*: 

Your E-mail*: 

Your Website: 

Your Location: 

Your Twitter Username: 

Create a WTS Username*: 

Create a Password*: 

Confirm Password*: 

Check here to receive bi-weekly emails from Women Talk Sports and partners highlighting discussions on our site and upcoming women's sporting events, as well as informing you of new products, services and special offers.

I accept the Terms & Conditions for joining Women Talk Sports