LIONS AND ROYAL LONDON ANNOUNCE €3.5 MILLION GRANT

THE BRITISH AND Irish Women’s team and its founding partner Royal London have announced a £3 million (€3.5 million) ‘Levelling the Playing Field’ Pathways Funding grant.

Today’s press release says that the UK’s largest mutual pensions and investment provider is “allocating these grants to support the elite women’s player and coach pathways in all four Unions.” 

The release added: “The aim of the funding is to help develop more players and coaches ahead of the inaugural Howden Lions Women’s Tour.”

The funding will be spread among the Unions of Scotland, Wales, Ireland and England. 

The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) will use the funds “to host additional women’s U18 and U20 camps and training matches to accelerate player development. It will also develop a ‘Coach Accelerator Scholarship Program’. The programme will accelerate coach capability and long-term career progression with a specific emphasis on removing gender-related career barriers. Coaches will be supported by high-performance mentors throughout the scholarship program. The IRFU will also work with universities to identify future talent and unearth potential high-performance players.”

The first-ever British and Irish Lions Women’s Tour of New Zealand was announced last January.

The series will take place in September 2027, with three matches against the current world champions, alongside pre-Test fixtures.

2024-04-16T11:13:09Z dg43tfdfdgfd