CAPE TOWN, South Africa, March 8, 2020/ — Rugby Africa (http://www.RugbyAfrique.com/)
(celebrates International Woman’s Day and its #EachForEqual initiative
with the announcement that the women’s and men’s edition of the Rugby
Africa Cup 2020 will concur at the same time. Whenever suitable, the
women’s match will be played as a curtain raiser in the same venue as
the men’s matches.
“This is a logic step to implement our vision
for a gender equal sport. We are dedicated to take leadership in women’s
rugby and look forward to developing grass root sports as well as the
flagship competitions towards a gender equal game. In a next step we
need to look at creating tournaments in the various regions to
organically develop and grow team participation. Women in rugby is one
of our key strategic priorities and in the week leading to the
International Woman’s Day we have celebrated achievements of women in
African Rugby to put the enormous potential we have in the spotlight”,
states Khaled Babbou, Rugby Africa President.
The Rugby Africa
#EachForEqual campaign leading to the announcement featured women in
African Rugby from different involvement levels ranging from players,
referees, citing commissioner, management to the board room. While Rugby
Africa demonstrates a strong commitment to gender equality, it is
events like International Women’s Day that present an opportunity to
bring greater attention to the fundamental issue of gender equality
within the sport industry. Gender balance increases participation and is
the foundation for a sustainable development. By breaking down barriers
Rugby Africa can drive inclusive leadership and governance, build high
performance competitions and create an impactful profile to grow
audience and investment. Indeed, accelerating progress toward parity
could boost African economies by the equivalent of 10 percent of their
collective GDP by 2025, new research from the McKinsey Global Institute
finds.
Recently, Rugby Africa announced the appointment of Maha Zaoui as Women’s Rugby Manager (http://bit.ly/2vEj2pJ)
to lead the strategic and operational development of female rugby with
the goals to further increase the participation levels overall and to
accelerate the evolution of the high-performance game.
World
Rugby Women’s General Manager, Katie Sadleir said: “Rugby Africa is at
the forefront in accelerating the development of women in rugby within
its region. Since the launch of the global strategy for development of
women’s rugby, we have seen transformational change on and off the field
of play worldwide. Women’s rugby continues to grow with more than 2.7
million women and girls playing rugby at all levels, accounting for more
than a quarter of players globally.”
“Rugby Africa play a key
role in the continued success for developing women in rugby. Off the
field the board of Rugby Africa has made fundamental changes which show
its commitment in providing equal opportunities for women in rugby. On
the field, by aligning the Rugby Africa Cup to host men’s and women’s
matches at the same time this will have a positive impact in raising the
profile of the women’s 15s game in Africa.”
About the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup:
The
Rugby Africa Women’s Cup was launched as a new format in 2019 where the
Springbok Women’s team from South Africa won the competition and
qualified for the Rugby World Cup 2021. After a successful first season
the second edition aims at increasing visibility and unifying
competition formats. The participating nations are Kenya, Madagascar,
South Africa and Uganda and the matches will take place between May 30
and July 4, 2020.
Competition dates in 2020 are in conjunction with the Rugby Africa Cup Men’s edition:
30 May:
KEN vs MAD in Kenya
RSA vs UGA in South Africa
6 June:
UGA vs MAD in Uganda
20 June:
KEN vs UGA in Kenya
28 June:
MAD vs RSA in Madagascar
3 July:
RSA vs KEN in South Africa
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Rugby Africa.
News & results:
Follow @Rugby Afrique on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook
Website: http://www.rugbyafrique.com/
Media Contact:
Stefanie Burkert
Rugby@apo-opa.com
About Rugby Africa:
Created in 1986, Rugby Africa (RugbyAfrique.com),
previously the African Confederation of Rugby (Confédération Africaine
de Rugby – CAR), is one of the six regional associations composing World
Rugby (WorldRugby.org),
the international organisation responsible for the governing of Rugby
Union and Rugby Sevens. Rugby Africa unites all African countries which
play rugby union, rugby sevens, and women’s rugby. Rugby Africa
organises the qualifying competition for the Rugby World Cup, and Africa
Sevens, a qualifying competition for the Olympic Games. Rugby Africa
has 39 members, including 22 members and associated members of World
Rugby, 10 members and associated members of Rugby Africa and 16 new
countries collaborating with Rugby Africa.
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