Breaking down barriers for women in sport
While women’s sports have increased in popularity in recent years, women continue to face challenges surrounding underrepresentation, as well as pay, progression, and recognition disparity in contrast to men’s sports.
According to the Women in Sport charity, 40% of women working in sport feel less valued than their male counterparts because of their gender, and 34% of women have seen their professional performance judged by their sporting ability.
At Rossborough, we are passionate about supporting our community to tackle social issues, and supporting women’s sports, alongside our global parent company Gallagher, is just one way that we do this.
Earlier this year, a multi-year global partnership was established between World Rugby and Gallagher, which saw Gallagher announced as an Official Partner of women’s rugby and the Rugby World Cup 2025.
Gallagher is committed to developing participation in women’s rugby worldwide and will be an Official Partner of WXV in 2023 and 2024 as part of the agreement. WXV is a new, three-tier annual global women’s competition which will revolutionise the international game.
What’s more, Gallagher will also be the founding partner of the High-Performance Academy, which aims to increase the prominence of female coaches and other high-performance roles that will have a lasting impact on the women’s game.
On a local level, we are proud to support Jersey RFC Women. Back in May, Jersey RFC Women scored Siam success, winning 31-5 against Guernsey Raiders Ladies. This was a great achievement for them, especially after making history at last year’s Siam Cup with their first-ever Ladies Siam win, ending Guernsey Raiders Ladies’ near decade-long stint.
Jersey RFC Chairman, Dan McAlister, said: “Rossborough’s support has been vital to us in growing the presence of women’s rugby in Jersey and supporting the ambitions of our players. Although many assume being a rugby player is a profession, most of our female players balance a full-time job alongside playing demands. This is one of the reasons why it’s so important to us to support women’s rugby in Jersey, creating a community that brings together and supports our phenomenally hard-working female players.”
Beyond rugby, we also support women in sport through our sponsorship of the Manx Hockey Association (MHA), which represents hockey in the Isle of Man. This includes the Women’s teams who play in the Premier League, Division 1, and Division 2.
Stephen Rafferty, Business Development Executive at Rossborough, added: “Supporting women in sport is very important to us, and we’re proud to do so on both a local and national level, alongside our parent company, Gallagher.
“Men and women should be valued equally in the sporting industry, and through Gallagher’s involvement with the Rugby World Cup 2025 and our support of Jersey RFC Women, we hope to tackle this issue in rugby, and beyond.”