Following in-depth research, the Union has made a commitment to improving D&I across four key areas of the game:

Fans, Followers and Partners; Game Play – Players, Coaches, Match Officials; Staff and Board and Game Administration – Volunteer leaders within Clubs, Constituent Bodies and Council.

RFU Chair, Andy Cosslett said: “The RFU needs to step up its efforts to improve diversity and inclusion across our game. We are living through testing times, but this will not deter us from grasping the opportunity to better reflect the society we live in.

“We have worked hard to understand our starting point and are now underway with a plan that we are confident will produce big improvements in our diversity and inclusion over the next few years. Rugby Union has always prided itself as being a ‘game for all’...we must now demonstrate beyond any doubt that we mean it.”

Research

The RFU has conducted research with over 4,400 people from the rugby community to understand attitudes and opinions to D&I in rugby and it has undertaken a detailed analysis of sport participation from Sport England Active Lives and YouGov data. The findings will inform areas of focus for D&I action planning in each part of the game. The results included: 

• Despite growth of the women’s game and the most diverse England men’s team ever, compared to the overall England adult population, those who participate in rugby union are significantly less likely to be female, of a BAME ethnicity and of the lowest socio-economic group. 
• 57% of those involved in the game agree that rugby is representative of the local community it is in, but only 31% agree it is representative of the general population.
• Compared to the overall England adult population, those that consider themselves followers of rugby union are significantly less likely to be female, under 55 years old, of a BAME ethnicity and of the lower C2DE social grade.
• Respondents from every background said they personally experience less discrimination in rugby compared to everyday life.  5% claim to witness discrimination often in rugby versus 11% in everyday life.
• Survey respondents who have been involved in the community game for ten or more years (the vast majority) agreed that they experienced or witnessed significantly less discrimination in rugby last season than when they were first involved in the game. 
• Of those who witness discrimination often or sometimes in rugby 25%, the primary characteristics they have seen someone discriminated on were race 54%, sex 31% and sexual orientation 30%. ​
• Females, those of a BAME ethnicity and those of an LGB sexual orientation have a significantly lower perception that ‘Rugby in England is inclusive for all’ versus their counterpart characteristics.
• Research on Swing Low, Sweet Chariot concluded that 74% of people, rising to 84% of those from a BAME background agreeing that it is important for England Rugby to actively educate fans on the origins of Swing Low while 69% of respondents said the song shouldn’t be banned. 

The RFU will use the findings of the detailed research to inform action plans for four key areas of the game. Further updates on the action plans will be announced in the future and interim progress includes:

Staff and Board

The RFU Board has made a new commitment to achieving a Board composition of 30% females and 15% BAME by 1 August 2022 latest. The current board of 14 consists of four females members and by 2022 there will be two BAME members. 

The targets have been set to provide real commitment from the top of the game on the desire to improve in areas of diversity and inclusion. The Union is also undertaking research among colleagues to gain insight into what teams look like to better understand the employee profile so that targets can be set to achieve a greater diversity balance.