David Nucifora has confirmed that Ireland, along with Wales and Scotland, will each enter one team in the inaugural women’s Celtic Cup in January, rising to two teams each next season and with the ambition of increasing this to four teams within five seasons.
That said, the quartet might not necessarily be drawn along the identical lines as the men’s game, ie four provinces.
“Maybe it will be the provincial model, maybe it won’t be, maybe it will be four teams based (on a different model). We’re talking five years, potentially, down the track. It might be the four provinces but it might be something else. The big thing is that we have a performance competition.”
In also revealing that 29 women players accepted IRFU contracts ranging from €15,000 to €30,000, he admitted it’s not perfect but it’s going to give people options. “If that is their choice to do that, they’ve got it; if it’s their choice to do their career and still play and be supported, they’ve got it. At the same time we’re investing in that infrastructure in the women’s game, not exactly the same but similar, to suit the women’s game to grow that, and we’re dealing with competition structures.
“So over time with the women’s game we’ll get there. I think we’ve shown that we’ve got the ability to be creative and grow, and understand how you build something. This is going to take a bit of time, and those that can afford or want to stay in the game at least have the option to do so.
“No one will be penalised for being or not being anywhere but it will all come down to what it always comes back down to, and that’s performance,” said Nucifora, while admitting those in full-time contracts should gradually push ahead.
There was no mention of the men’s club game until asked, but he said: “It plays a huge role in the success that we have had in that pathway space and what it does for those young guys. And we desperately want to keep it healthy.”
Nucifora accepted that Irish rugby needed to diversify its nurturing of talent given the reliance on elite boys’ schools in Dublin especially, and this need to be “smarter” applied to the women’s game.
The IRFU had come through the other side of what he described as “the unbelievable period that Covid has imposed on sport and society”.
“Not only have we come out the other end and we’re still here and reasonably strong, but throughout that period we’ve also managed to maintain the momentum in our game, in our model, of player production and player performance.”
The men’s 7s players had also received what he called “a significant boost” to their previous salaries of €18,000.
“I think sometimes we also need to stop and think about what Olympic athletes do. When you look at the model in Ireland and what our Olympic athletes here get and what they do, you know, they exist on… they would kill for the money that’s being offered to our players at the moment and they live and train full-time.
“Sometimes we lose a bit of context with how we think about things. We’re not saying it’s perfect but it’s better and we’ve said all along we’ll try and keep getting better at what we can provide for them. And I think where we’ve gotten to at the moment is a reasonable point.
“As I said, 15 to 30 grand is not a lot of money but it will enable them to train full time and the bonus structures and everything else, so if you’re a top-tier player and you’re on the top end of that you’d probably earn yourself 45,000 in a year if you do well and be successful in teams.”
