Women on a roll

In August and September 2025, the next Women's Rugby World Cup (WRWC) takes place in eight locations around England. It will be the 10th iteration of the tournament and the biggest event yet, backed by international sponsors and broadcast on the BBC.

But few people know how WRWC began. I was one of the four women who ran the inaugural event in 1991 across several locations in South Wales. Working alongside Debs Griffin, Mary Forsyth and Sue Dorrington as the founding four, we devised and staged the event with no experience, no sponsorship, no funding, and no sanction from the International Rugby Board. With no internet and only primitive chunky mobile phones (that needed a shoulder strap), we used landlines, fax machines and old-fashioned letters, and recruited an army of volunteers who also took time off work to help us deliver the event.

12 countries played full internationals every other day for 9 days - an unimaginable schedule of exhaustion - with the USA defeating England in the final. But while our team lost, it was a victory for women's rugby. A whole new era had begun, and eventually in 2008, the 1991 event was recognised as the first official World Cup.

Now over 30 years later, it's a joy to see the giant strides taken by the women's game. It's said to be the fastest growing sport in the world, with competitions such as WXV creating a platform to raise global playing standards while qualifying for the 2025 World Cup. Many of the 16 participating countries are now fully or partly professional - an unimaginable situation compared to 1991 where each team member paid for their own travel, kit and accommodation. There are other innovations to support women players at every level - the creation of specialised women's kit including boots, a whole army of administrators, body conditioners and coaches, even apps that gear menstrual cycles to training schedules.

This evolving attitude to menstruation extends to the fans in the stands at the Allianz Stadium, home of England Rugby (who will host the WRWC final in September 2025). The Stadium management is only too aware that women spectators deserve more female-focused provisions. At any match, the queues for the ladies toilets snake under the stands with extra Portaloos brought in as a short-term provision. So it's good to learn that a major expansion in the number of Ladies toilets is already incorporated in the wholesale redevelopment of the stadium planned from 2027.

Meanwhile, the Stadium is shifting the narrative about menstruation by making period products as normal and accessible as toilet tissue.

Through a ground-breaking collaboration with Egal, "Pads on a Roll" will be available around the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham. Pads on a Roll delivers quality period protection in the same way that a toilet roll dispenses tissue.

Pads on a Roll are installed in all accessible toilets in the Ladies toilet blocks and the gender-free accessible toilets elsewhere. The pads are free, convenient and ensure dignity for menstruators when caught short; reducing hassle, anxiety and disruption.

Sue Day, RFU Chief Operating Officer, Chief Finance Officer and former Red Rose, has been a real catalyst in women's game instigating kit that's designed for female players. She's championed the importance of implementing period provisions across the Stadium:

"Having period products available all over the stadium is so important. It makes sure women and any other people who have periods are catered for in emergencies. Access to a period product like Pads on a Roll is often the difference between being able to continue your day as normal and enjoy the match, versus a day of worry or indeed having to cut your day short. The needs of people who attend our events are evolving, and we want to be able to anticipate those needs as well as we can and include as many people as possible in a brilliant match day experience."

This collaboration is proof of the Allianz Stadium's progressive and forward-thinking culture, and consumers are welcome to feedback their thoughts on the product and its availability using the QR code on the dispenser.

It's anticipated that the Stadium will be filled to its 82,000 capacity for the WRWC final in September 2025. An unimaginable situation in 1991, and a real delight for me as a pioneer. The spectators will be mostly women who know their basic needs are catered for should the unexpected happen. They can just relax and enjoy a world-class celebration of women's rugby at its very best.

And that can only be a win for the sport of rugby as a whole.