Opinion: Cardiff University Women’s Rugby team aren’t getting the recognition they deserve

In December, we saw an incredible 160 minutes of rugby in the final Cardiff Clash of 2024.

However, the first 80 minutes were let down by the appearance of the fellow student body at the women’s match.

There was an unfortunate turnout in the audience; the stands should have been filled even more with support from many attending students, but instead, they were less than half full.

The Women’s BUCS Super Rugby is evolving as we speak, and its recognition deserves to be surmountable for the effort the players and coaches put in.

With a 4pm kick-off, the Cardiff University Women’s Rugby team commenced their game against Met. Even in the cold conditions, the ladies demonstrated passionate defence and perseverance against their counterparts. This was not matched by the majority of spectators, however, who didn’t show up until the men’s game was due to kick off.

This isn’t a hot-take when it comes to the women’s game, sadly, as we have seen this for the majority of Clash games since they joined the BUCS Super League, even at varsity matches against Swansea University.

One student The Cardiff Tab spoke to, Pippa Softley, who has previously played for CUWRFC, said it’s “disappointing” seeing the “disproportionate” turnout.

However, she also said “it is improving” and the support the team have when they play is “amazing” from those who do show up.

Although, Pippa did add that she wondered why people who aren’t at all involved with rugby can “show their support for the men’s, but can’t for the women’s” team.

“Other sporting clubs turn up for the entirety of the men’s game, but the majority of viewers for the women’s are involved with the club somehow,” she explained.

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Despite not taking home the win, the team were undoubtedly strategic in their response, performing well under pressure and making some unbelievable tackles.

This game finished off the first half of the season and the end of 2024 rugby for the team, closing out an amazing couple of months on the field. They secured a triumphant win against Durham in November and have shown nothing but progress and strength throughout the rest of the ongoing tournament.

The team’s growth and passion should be recognised by the university and the wider student body, as they do with Cardiff University’s Men’s Rugby Club, whether this is done by showing face at games or giving better funding to the women’s team.

Talking with the team

The Cardiff Tab spoke to Claudia Harrison, the first team’s captain, and Liv Price, president of CUWRFC. They echoed these opinions and told us: “Some unis, such as Met, are a significant step ahead of us in their equality between their men’s and women’s sides. The way their men’s teams show up to support the women’s matches, as well as the respect they show, is exactly the culture that should be shown across all universities.

“We understand we are newer to the BUCS Super Rugby scene, but with that underdog status the support from university rugby and Cardiff University students as a whole would positively impact not only our game but the growth of women’s rugby at Cardiff University.

“People just genuinely don’t seem to know we play at fixtures such as [the] Clash, even though us and the men play at the same level, our faces are on the same tickets and we’re part of the same club.

“We want there to be a better response and better effort to promote the women’s game, but at the minute efforts seem to be falling on deaf ears.”

The Cardiff Tab also got the chance to talk with Lucy Senneck, CUWRFC’s scrum half. She explained it’s “really disappointing” seeing a much larger turnout for the men’s game and even the unselected players for Cardiff Met’s men team come to watch at least half of the women’s game.

Lucy said: “Their support is always so influential for the women’s players on the pitch. It’s a shame our men’s team never turn out for us.”

She went on to tell us about her thoughts to change this, which could be cemented by the introduction of certain conditions for tickets, for example. Lucy suggested: “If you want to watch at all you have to be there by X time and see half of the women’s game.

“Or have a significantly reduced cost for entry on time for the women’s kick off and higher prices for entry after the women’s game.”

Having changes like this introduced both to Clash games and Varsity would be undoubtedly beneficial to the nature of the women’s game. The turnout would increase and therefore the support also would alongside it, commencing a much larger recognition of CUWRFC.

Support from the Students’ Union

A spokesperson for Cardiff Students’ Union told The Cardiff Tab: “Cardiff Students’ Union (Cardiff SU) is committed to ensuring parity of support for all student sports teams and agrees that more needs to be done to raise the profile of women’s sports and ensure greater engagement with the student body.

“The conversation around recognition for women’s sport is not unique to Cardiff but reflects a wider shift across the UK.

“The past few years have seen an unprecedented rise in the popularity of women’s sport, with record-breaking attendances at events such as the Women’s Six Nations, the Women’s Super League, and the Lionesses’ success on the international stage.

On the other hand, the spokesperson stated that there still remains some “disparities in attendance and visibility at the grassroots and university levels.

“We firmly believe that women’s teams deserve the same recognition as their male counterparts. It is clear that there is still work to do in fostering a culture where all student sports are equally valued.

The spokesperson said that the SU is “committed” to working with CUWRFC and “other women’s teams to explore meaningful ways to increase visibility, attendance and engagement.”

They added that they recognise the challenge between “enforcing attendance and fostering genuine support”, so the AU is “keen” to collaborate with teams and the wider student community to “build a stronger culture of support for women’s fixtures.

“We want to see real, lasting change and will continue working closely with our student sports clubs to enhance promotional efforts, increase visibility in SU and university communications, and encourage the wider student body to champion women’s teams.

“We also call on our sports community to lead by example in supporting their peers at key fixtures.”

We will see their return to the game next week on the 22nd January, with an exciting first fixture back against Loughborough. The girls will play on their home fields in Llanrumney, ahead of the league’s end in April.

With that in mind, I hope we can see a bigger turnout to games for the women’s team, especially in the run-up to Varsity 2025.

Cardiff University Men’s Rugby was contacted for comment but has not yet responded.