“Going forward, if the players felt they were not being listened to, they are now.”
Friday was the first big introduction of Kevin Potts to the media since he took up the role of chief executive of the Irish Rugby Football Union. His first media briefing and he was making an apology to what tallies up to generations of women’s rugby players that has been sold short.
Phillip Browne and Anthony Eddy – the former CEO and Director of Women’s and Sevens Rugby – have both moved on. It was left to Potts to hold the union’s hands up and vow to do better.
There was a sense, on the lengthy Teams call, that the hard work had already been done by getting Amanda Bennett [Fair Play Ltd.] to lead an independent review into Ireland’s failure to qualify for the World Cup in New Zealand, later this year. 30 recommendations have been made to improve women’s rugby at the highest levels in this country, and many of them are already being ticked off the long-list.
The reality is, though, the work is only beginning.
Potts and former Ireland star Fiona Steed [IRFU committee, and chair of the Women’s Sub Committee] both acknowledged that France and England are already out in the distance. Even New Zealand are struggling to live with those two sides, on the pitch.
Ireland have been stuck in second gear for far too long. If the union backs up their words, from Friday, they will significantly ramp it up in the coming years. France and England are a dot, right now, but they are not out of sight.
SportsJOE’s two questions to the IRFU on women’s rugby
It was encouraging to see a healthy media contingent on that Friday teams call. It was a who’s who of rugby correspondents in this country, with a couple of reporters joining the call from England.
Each journalist was limited to a couple of questions each, but Steed, Potts and Bennett were often happy to expand on topics and jump back in to share additional thoughts. Steed remarked that she had taken the whole day off for this so was willing to stay and talk all day, if so required.
Here are the two questions we put to Kevin Potts and Fiona Steed about that World Cup qualification failure and the notion that, in the past, players that spoke out about poor conditions, planning or treatment were liable to be dropped.
Q: From anyone that has followed the women’s game here, I always think back to that World Cup [in 2017] that Ireland hosted. It was obvious, back then, that changes were needed. That tournament was a massive missed opportunity. There is a feeling that these changes should have happened years ago. The fact that there have been 30 recommendations made, it just goes to show the scope of change that was needed. Is this something, Fiona, you feel has been a long time coming?
FIONA STEED: Different unions have pushed things in different ways. Even if you look at our closest neighbours, in England and France, and the various iterations they’ve had – in terms of how they’ve approached professional, or their 15s and Sevens programmes. In good faith, the approach that was taken [by the IRFU] in 2015 or 2016 was deemed to be the best fit for us. Obviously we’ve had some successes in that; some Sevens successes. It has been up and down with the 15s side, and programme, so we definitely need to focus on that.
But you look at England and it took them losing to us, in 2013 and 2015. It took them losing those Six Nations [titles] for them to go, ‘Look, we need to put more resources and impetus into our 15s programme’. They’ve gone from saying, ‘We need to have everyone doing Sevens or 15s’ to ‘We’ll have them doing both’. They still don’t know what they want.
Look at New Zealand, they haven’t been able to play [properly] for two years. They’ve put in a package of money and resources, but they got hammered in their November series, as well. Hindsight is a great thing. In good faith, I think the IRFU put in what they felt they needed to and thought that was the best process, at the time. Now, we are putting in what I feel will take us to the next level. That’s not to say that two years down the line, that we don’t go, ‘This isn’t quite working for us. We haven’t reached where we should be, in terms of our competitors’. It’s about constant evaluation.
Nichola Fryday, Ciara Griffin and Maeve Óg O’Leary celebrate after Ireland beat USA in November 2021. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)Q: Kevin, I appreciate that this is your first chance to chat to the media and you’ve been handed a pretty hot potato. I’ve spoken to quite a few players, past and present, over the years, and there often is that sense that you’ll be punished for speaking out. You might be dropped, you might not be picked for the next squad, as well. And we saw [last year] when 50+ players released a statement and got upbraided by the IRFU for it – a very harshly-worded statement was released.
From all the talks that have been going on, recently, is one of them about there being a much more open channel between players and officials? Someone is not going to get in trouble for speaking out? There are amateurs here that are putting in a lot of time and effort. Are there going to be more open channels, where something can be challenged a bit more in the future?
KEVIN POTTS: Thanks, and it’s a really good question. The channels are wide open, as far as I’m concerned. I’ve got an open line of communication with the players and that is going to remain in place, certainly for as long as I am CEO. I’ve built up a very good relationship [with them] over the last number of months. It’s certainly not going to be my policy, our policy or the IRFU’s policy to ask people not to speak.
As I look to the future, and some of the recommendations for changes, we talk about collaboration and ensuring players have a voice. That there are annual check-ins with players to take their views, and make sure the culture is working, holistically, as we go forward. As far as I’m concerned, I’m always available to talk with players, or anybody. I spoke with some players this week. I have an ongoing and an open invitation to the players to speak to me whenever they want. Hopefully that’s the culture you see, going forward.
FIONA STEED: Just to add to that, I think the appointment of the new national team manager will be key in that, as well. That person will have international experience of what best-practice environments are, for high performance. And, within that, you create the situation where you have your senior leadership group and you have all the things you feel are necessary, so things don’t get to boiling point. I think that is what’s needed, and I think Kevin has demonstrated, since this process started, his willingness and openness. I’ve been at those meetings, as well, and they’ve been powerful. From both sides. That’s really important to acknowledge – that it is a stepping point and we are here, but it’s where we go from here.
