Mental health
The Mental Health Awareness Group is a safe place where anyone can come together to talk, seek help or just listen in. The group discusses mental health issues, tips and techniques to help and support to members. We hope to welcome guest speakers in the future and explore further topics around mental health. The aim is to make it more normal to have discussions around mental health. The group aims to meet online every quarter.
LGBTQ+ identities
The LGBTQ+ Network is a safe space both for those who identify as LGBTQ+ and for allies to offer and receive support on sensitive topics, build meaningful, social connections across the organisation and contribute to making the RFU an ever more inclusive place. The Network meets regularly on Microsoft Teams, for informal catch ups or discussions on specific LGBTQ+ topics. Network members have also supported different RFU teams to give an LGBTQ+ voice to certain projects.
Gender equality & identity
Increasing the proportion of women and non-binary people in leadership positions and across the game is a key focus of our D&I action plan. We are gearing up for hosting the 2025 Women’s World Cup and are excited about the opportunity for women and non-binary people to feed in to what we hope will be an incredible event. In addition to the focus on increased representation across the four areas of England Rugby, we also support women and non-binary people through our network.
Our Women's Network, inclusive of trans women and non-binary people, was created after International Women's Day 2021, it aims to provide a forum through which members can share and discuss key issues within the workplace and beyond, bringing our voices together to improve issues around representation, culture and equality within the RFU.
Our 50 members come from all areas of the RFU, we meet regularly and use our Microsoft Teams chat to share thoughts and discuss topics informally.
This year the network coordinated International Women’s Week, with involvement from across the organisation, which featured a full week’s worth of engagement including: Breaking the bias, Closing the Gap, Pregnancy, Work and Support, Allyship and Inclusive Language.
Race & Ethnicity
One of the key priorities in our D&I action plan is to better support our colleagues form ethnically diverse communities and to improve our representation, particularly in leadership positions. We are working to make rugby more attractive to Black and South Asian communities through our Rugby United Project.
We are also trying to remove barriers for ethnic minorities accessing opportunities by working with Middlesex Uni to support their Msc Scholarship in Performance Analysis.
The aim of the scholarship is to address the underrepresentation of people from ethnically diverse backgrounds in the discipline of Performance Analysis. We provide students on the scholarship receive one-on-one applied mentorship from a Senior Performance Analyst currently working in the field. We are currently supporting the development of an Ethnically Diverse Community and are keen for new members.
