A WHOLE NEW BRAND OF SPORT — The Space Between

Some might say that travelling 11,400 miles from London to Auckland for a ‘long weekend’ of rugby is just plain crazy, and they might be right. But something in my bones was telling me that something special was afoot, and I love it when I’m right. The Black Ferns vs Red Roses final at a packed Eden Park was one of the greatest sports occasions I’ve ever been a part of, for more reasons than the on-pitch performances.

Full disclosure; for eight months The Space Between has been working in New Zealand on the PR for the Rugby World Cup to drive ticket sales. Selling tickets to a rugby obsessed nation? Easy, you might say. You’d be wrong. Yes, the Kiwis are a rugby loving nation, it’s a national rite of passage and you can even get an All Blacks-themed birth certificate so supporters can “declare their babies fans for life”, but it’s not for everyone. Some are disillusioned with the men’s game, and for some of the younger generation it’s just not their cup of tea, which could be why the men’s game is contracting in playing numbers.

When we set up our project team in New Zealand - who each live in the host city of Auckland - they didn’t know there was a Rugby World Cup taking place. Despite lots of groundwork by organisers it’s not unusual for global sports events to suffer from a lack of media and public interest until a matter of months or weeks before the opening game. To compound the lack of awareness, New Zealanders have never had to pay to see a women’s game, with games often being tagged on to men’s games as double-headers. Kiwis also have a rather annoying habit (for a marketeer anyway) of only deciding on the day if they are going to show up to events.

And yet, there’s no cliff hanger to this blog, the evidence is clear to see. Our greatest success was the 34,235 attendees for the opening matches at Eden Park before the Black Ferns showed their full potential and prior to the nation falling head over heels. Across the tournament a staggering 140,000 people showed up, and reportedly 70% of the 42,000 people at the Final had never engaged with rugby before.

Targetting a new audience

So, what was the difference? How in eight months did an entirely new audience for rugby appear apparently from thin air? If I was to be self-serving, I’d say a highly effective marketing and PR campaign, and I don't think I'm far off. It literally never happens that the media thank the marketing department, but that is what has happened this tournament. Anyone in the industry will know the most successful of marketing brand campaigns tap into a cultural zeitgeist, and in New Zealand, rugby is still seen as a 'man's game' despite women's participation growing, men's declining and more than half of New Zealanders saying gender equity is important in sport.

The audience was primed, but given much of the audience for women’s rugby are new to rugby, what tipped them into attending and tuning in? Women’s Rugby appears to have changed the rules of engagement. More specifically, the players have. Without widespread visibility of the women’s game and with far more limited options to watch it than the men’s game, the players have filled the gap. I attended the World Rugby Women in Rugby Summit in Auckland and on the last day USA 7’s player and content creator Ilona Maher stood up and spoke to the audience of rugby administrators on ‘Powerful Personalities’. In November, Ilona’s TikTok following ticked over 1 million, even though she only started posting in 2021 from behind the scenes at the Tokyo Olympics whilst representing USA at the Games. When she spoke to Ensemble magazine she enthused: "For me, spreading the game is so powerful. Whenever I get messages that say, 'I tried rugby because of you,' or, 'we had literally 100 girls come out to try out for our team because of your TikTok', that is why I do it."

There is something personal and authentic about Ilona’s content that is creating new fans of women’s rugby and promotes what is truly distinctive about the women’s game, which is its true inclusivity for women and girls. As Ilona puts so beautifully: “My body is made for this. I'm a big woman, I'll always be a big woman and rugby has shown me that there's a place for that. It's shown me what it can do, so I'm taking up good space on the field.”

What misconceptions?

Players like Ilona in the US, Shaunagh Brown, Simi Pam in England and Ruby Tui in New Zealand are smashing through the misconceptions that there’s only room for ‘one size fits all’ in sport for women. There’s something else about the way the players have presented themselves, reflected in how they play, and that’s joy. If you’ve managed to catch any of the Rugby World Cup content, from training sessions to how the players and teams interact together on and off the field, there is such a joyful freedom of expression in everything that they do. Remember, these are women who have played in the shadows and have been pushed to the back of the queue, so it would be entirely understandable to expect frustration and anger in their previous treatment, but not so.

Professor Toni Bruce at the University of Auckland has been researching the growing fandom of women’s rugby in New Zealand and the findings show that the women’s game is bringing the joy of rugby back to fans of the game who have felt disillusioned by the men’s game. In the research people also talked about the Black Fern’s passion, ‘that they’re authentic and they are open and real with the media – there’s no corporate speak, they are willing to be vulnerable.’ The players’ joy is utterly contagious, garnering new fans in New Zealand and around the globe.

Credit must go to the coaching teams and set up, many of whom have a background in a men’s game that feels increasingly worlds apart. It’s clear that team culture is being led by the players themselves, and behavioural science shows that cultures which allow for freedom and self-expression lead to more risk taking – which has no doubt led to the quality and spectacle of the games on display over the past month. If the on-pitch performance wasn’t evidence enough of the success of this approach, this photograph of Wayne Smith, after leading the Black Ferns to their win is the clincher. Someone I spoke to in New Zealand working in the game was blown away by this image, remarking, ‘I doubt you would have caught a picture of him like this in his men’s coaching days’. In his acceptance speech for World Rugby Coach of the year Smith describes how joining the team was ‘like taking your granddaughter and all her best friends to Disneyland – they were excited, joyful, noisy – and then they found the courage to jump on the rollercoaster.’ He has Black Ferns blood in his veins now, no one is immune to the qualities of this brand of rugby.

A word must go to Rubi Tui, the newly appointed World Rugby Women’s 15s Breakthrough player of the Year, who has firmly established herself as not only a national treasure, but an international one too. Honey Hireme-Smiler, a former teammate of Tui, perfectly describes her as having ‘this aura …that makes you just kind of want to be around her, because she's someone that you can naturally connect with and she's just really open and welcoming.’ This aura projected across the course of the tournament prompted the race for tickets for the final (8,000 sold after the semi-final). Walking into the stadium on Saturday afternoon, Ruby’s impact was clear to see as families with young girls and boys with flashes of pink dyed into the side of their hair just like their new hero Ruby flooded into the stadium. Ironically, they’d probably never seen her play before. No words can do justice to the impact she is having on the women’s game, so I’ll just leave you something that speaks for itself: her post match interview.

A whole new sport

Sports won’t grow and flourish unless they move with the times and challenge convention, and women’s rugby has embraced this opportunity because the other option is unthinkable. The power of the personalities of the players matched with their professionalism and work ethic is building a new social currency for the sport. With it come a whole new generation of fans for a whole new brand of sport.

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