Rugby Women Deserve Contracts Too

What a wonderful step for Women’s sport and especially women’s rugby.  The Black Ferns are going to be offered well deserved professional player’s contracts. 

Last week my colleague Phil McCarthy argued that the law (the Pay Equity Act) requires the Black Ferns to receive substantially the same terms as their All Black counterparts.  It is true that the Black Ferns remuneration is only a shadow of the remuneration received by the All Blacks.  While on the face of it, the roles may look the same, there are other factors in play which need to be taken into account, and which make the work they perform not the same or substantially similar. 

A big difference is the playing hours, and training commitments.  The Black Ferns play up to five tests in a non-World Cup season.  The All Blacks on the other hand will play a total of 14 tests this year.  Fewer games means Black Ferns players are exposed to less injury risk, which should be taken into consideration when determining a rugby player’s remuneration.  

While Black Fern retainers are a lot less than the that of their All Black counterparts, there is flexibility built into the new Black Ferns player contracts to recognise the players may have other work to supplement their income.  All Blacks are not allowed such flexibility.  When you break down the Black Fern player retainers that will be offered against the number of required contact hours for games and training, the retainers are competitive.

My colleague Phil noted that the Black Ferns have had more success at World Cups.  While this is a valid point, internationally the level of competition is lower for women.  Women’s rugby is rapidly growing in some countries, for example Canada, however, historically New Zealand and England have dominated in World Cups.  As the All Blacks know all too well, World Cup wins are not an accurate measure of performance.

Finally the unfortunate reality of rugby is that for now at least the All Blacks draw greater audiences and it is ultimately the audiences who bring in the money.  Hopefully with women now being paid salaries the sport will grow as men’s rugby has been since it became professional in the nineties. 

As popularity for women’s rugby increases so too will the playing hours, marketing exposure and revenues associated with that.  The current differences between All Black and Black Fern pay rates are influenced by many factors and gender is not one of these.