The England 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup is upon us and is already proving to be the most popular event in the Cup’s history.
In the opening game of the tournament England played USA and inflicted a crushing 69-7 defeat on the American Eagles. Televised live on BBC One, the match saw unprecedented viewing figures with a peak audience of 2.4million and 600,000 on iPlayer. Played at the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, the attendance of 42,723 was a record for a Women’s Rugby World Cup match.
That record will definitely be surpassed on 27 September, with the final at Twickenham already sold out with 82,000 fans attending. It is a far cry from the inaugural tournament, held in 1991 in Wales, when the final attracted a meagre 3,000 people to see the same two teams compete, with the USA being victorious on that occasion. By the fifth final held in Edmonton in 2006, that number had doubled to 6,000 and then doubled again for the 2010 final held in England, where the attendance was 13,000.
In the past 15 years women’s rugby has come a very long way, with an estimated 2.7million players globally and recent research from World Rugby showing 49% of the fans of women’s rugby have discovered the sport in the past two years. The current World Cup being played has already sold over 375,000 tickets, which is almost three times the number that watched the tournament three years ago in New Zealand.
While there are growing pains, particularly around salaries for professional players and commercial arrangements, women’s rugby is a major sporting success story and there is a determination within World Rugby to push harder and faster. In doing so, the ruling body just needs to make sure that the quality of the product remains high. The record attendance and viewing figures so far have not necessarily been down to the quality of the contest on the pitch.
Looking at the first round of pool matches, in addition to England’s 69-7 win, Australia beat Samoa 73 – 0, Canada beat Fiji 65 – 7 and South Afrida beat Brazil 66 –6. In rugby terms these are ‘batterings’, where one side is demonstrably stronger than the other, and while fans of the victorious sides will enjoy the ‘try fest’, the issue is with the neutral, casual viewer looking for a sporting contest. Sport needs to be closely contested to be fully enjoyed, where there is some prospect of either side being victorious, or even just pulling off an upset.
The mismatches continued into the second round, with Brazil losing 5-84 to France, England racking up an incredible 92-3 win against Samoa and Wales sadly bowing out of the competition following defeat to Canada 42-0.
It is completely understandable that World Rugby wants to ride the crest of the wave that the women’s sport is enjoying and to promote the sport across the globe. The 2025 World Cup has been expanded to 16 teams from the 12 that competed in 2021, reflecting the growing popularity of the sport but, judging by some of the results, not necessarily increasing the quality of the product.
When it comes to the knockout stage of the tournament, as the likes of France, New Zealand, Australia and England square off against each other, the competitiveness will very much return to the event with matches being won by fine margins, and these early round mismatches will likely be forgotten. But it is a warning to any sporting body that if over expansion leads to uncompetitiveness then the authenticity of the product being offered can be diminished.
With all that being said, plenty of sports around the world can only dream of the rise in popularity currently being enjoyed by women’s rugby, and the sporting body should be very proud of the progress so far. The final at the end of September will hopefully be the cherry on the cake for a tournament that is breaking new ground.
David Little is a Partner at Bishop & Sewell in our expert Sports Law and Corporate & Commercial
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The above is accurate as at 03 September 2025.
The information above may be subject to change. The content of this note should not be considered legal advice, and each matter should be considered on a case-by-case basis.
