The IRFU announced this week that they would be introducing professional contracts for female players for the first time in the association's history.
The move brings the IRFU more in line with its neighboring unions where England have a fully professional international squad while Wales have given out 12 pro contracts this year.
The union will be "providing a total of 43 centralised, paid contracts to elite women’s players next season, this includes contracts already in operation for members of the women’s 7’s programme. To respect the importance of the upcoming test windows in Japan and the Sevens World Cup, the IRFU will discuss the details of the contracts with players before making further public pronouncements on these exciting developments." according to their statement this week.
The contracts will range up to €30,000 + match fees and bonuses. Gillian McDarby has been appointed as Head of Women’s Performance and Pathways. She says that this new departure is a major step forward for the women's game, "I am looking forward to working with all stakeholders to bring the women’s game to the next level. It is also pleasing that my appointment coincides with the formal announcement of contracts for up to 43 female players. This is a major step forward for women’s rugby in Ireland."
One player who will be unlikely to pick up one of those contracts this year is Portlaw's Maggie Boylan. The winger will be on the sidelines for at least a year after she tore her ACL playing tag rugby this summer.
The long road to recovery begins in September once the surgery is complete and while Maggie is facing a tough situation with injury, she's optimistic that this new move by the IRFU is one that can only help grow the women's game.
"This means that it's going to be a level playing field when we play them in 6 Nations." Taking Maggie as an example of a typical player; she has a full-time job to balance along with her sporting commitments. It's a job that often means working Saturday so weekend training camps are rarely an option. That needs to be weighed up with the travel commitments and the recovery that follows games.
The English team has been fully professional since 2018. When we look at the tournament winners it reads England, England, England, England in the last four years. No great surprise where that dominance came from.
Boylan tells us that the major difference between those across the channel and ourselves is that the English players and most of the Welsh can be fully dedicated to their sport. She says that the news this week is a "Stepping stone for how I think the women's team will progress. Individually there are some players that are outstanding. They are amazing, but they need the time along with their coaches putting in the work."
The new contracts will be shared across the 15's and the 7's games. With about 20 contracts already committed to the 7's that leaves roughly a match day squad worth of full-time contracts for the 15's players.
