Saturday 6^th October marked the first ever HKRU Women’s Rugby Leadership Forum, an initiative led by Kim Boreham, Director of Women’s Rugby at the HKRU, and Samantha Feausi, Head of Women’s Rugby Development.

The objectives:

1.      To identify and bring together women who have been or are currently in a leadership role within Hong Kong Rugby

2.      To present and discuss the different leadership roles available within Hong Kong Rugby and what those roles involve

3.      To promote and encourage more women to become involved in leadership roles within Hong Kong Rugby

At the HKRU, our mantra is simple; ensure that rugby is a ‘Game for All’, regardless of age, gender, background and playing ability. Building on this foundation, the HKRU has a four-year strategic plan which includes a statement of intent to grow the Women’s game throughout the Hong Kong rugby community. Whilst for the first time we are seeing growth in female participation outshining that of male, this participation is also required in clubs, committees and the board, to ensure true strength and diversity.

World Rugby too released a statement of intent; ‘By 2025, rugby will be a global leader in sport, where women involved in rugby have equity on and off the field, are reflected in all strategy, plans and structures, making highly valued contributions to participation, performance, leadership and investment in the global game of rugby”. Looking specifically at board level participation, World Rugby aim to increase female representation to 30%; “Female Board members bring a wealth of skill and experience that can be applied to all areas of governance. They are not there to only represent ‘women’s issues’. Men can equally champion women’s involvement in the game and there are many great examples in our sport of male Board members doing just that.” Great change has already, and continues to be made, a particular highlight being the appointment of Ada Milby of Asia Rugby, the first new female World Rugby Council member.

Using this as the motivation behind the forum, Kim Boreham then highlighted the various leadership roles available within the HKRU, including club roles (reps/committee members/chairperson), off & on-field leadership roles, law and referee leadership roles, and finally board level leadership roles, including her own role as Director of Women’s Rugby. 

The second section of the forum consisted of a series of panel discussions relating to Club, Match Official, Disciplinary and Board roles with current and former representatives discussing their personal experience in each role. .

For the first panel, Dean McLachlan, Chair of Kowloon RFC, Brett Stewein, Chair of Valley RFC, and Candy Cheng, Chair of Gai Wu RFC took to the stage to discuss the various responsibilities of club chair roles, and the steps clubs are taking to encourage more women to become involved in the club governance.  For the second panel on Match Officials, Hugh Watkins, HKRU Head of Match Officiating, Adrienne (Rocky) Garvey and Fiona Foxon, all spoke about the benefits and challenges of match officiating. Both Adrienne and Fiona have taken up referee roles recently for different reasons, Adrienne, to continue her love of the sport at a performance level using her talents, and Fiona, to give back and continue her involvement in rugby in a role which she can manage around her family commitments. The third panel dug deep into the various disciplinary roles within the HKRU, with speakers Dawn Isaac, Citing Commissioner, Alex Staff, a member of the League Fixture Control Panel, and Kim Boreham, former judicial officer at the HKRU. The panel highlighted the complexities of the area, and the flexibility of the roles in conjunction with everyday family life. The final Board panel consisted of our two current female board members, Kim Boreham, Director of Women’s Rugby, and Kim Lam, Director General , in addition to Ruth Mitchell, former Director of Development (and IRB Personality of the Year) to share their backgrounds and journey to becoming board members.

Thank you to all speakers, participants and audience members for joining us on an insightful morning, celebrating the success of women within the rugby union, and discussing the next steps to ensure this development continues.

We look forward to seeing more and more women in leadership roles within the Hong Kong Rugby Union over the coming years.