‘Salt in the wound’: Fed-up Wallaroos unite to slam Rugby Australia over funding inequality

Fed-up Wallaroos players have taken to social media to collectively call out Rugby Australia for a lack of investment and promotion for women’s rugby, driven to action by the sight of Wallabies players’ wives and girlfriends being flown to Sydney to farewell partners last week.

In an unprecedented move, almost every current Wallaroos player posted the same letter to Rugby Australia on various social media platforms on Sunday afternoon, decrying a lack of funding in the women’s 15-a-side game and slamming the inequity in resourcing for the Wallaroos compared to the Wallabies.

“You told us flying anything beyond economy was too costly. Then you flew the Wallabies business class on a trip shorter than ours,” the letter reads.

“You told us full-time contracts were in the pipeline, that there wasn’t enough money to keep the Men in the game, let alone us. Then you paid $5 million for an NRL player.

“You said our program would go professional, and our coach would be full-time. How many coaches has Eddie taken to the World Cup? You continually say we don’t have enough resources and yet we all saw the World Cup send off for the Wallabies.

“We’ve seen the impact that Women’s sport has had on the Australian sporting landscape, thanks to the @matildas. It’s time for the chairman, board, and CEO to prioritise the future of Australian Women’s Rugby and allocate adequate resources. It’s time to acknowledge that we are not promoted equally, even on a free platform.

“The future of our games hangs in the balance. It’s your move, Rugby Australia.”

Rugby Australia were contacted for comment.

The co-ordinated protest by fed-up Wallaroos appears to have been sparked by a social media video shared by Rugby Australia last week.

The video was a day-in-the-life reel made by the partner of a Wallabies player, who was one of several “WAGs” flown to Sydney by Rugby Australia last week to spend time with their partners ahead of the Australian squad flying out to France on Thursday.

Georgie Friedrichs on the attack for Australia against Fijiana in May.Credit: Getty

Wallaroos star Georgie Friedrichs commented on the Rugby Australia post: “Rugby Australia .... @wallabies WAGs getting more funding than the Wallaroos team.”

Other stars also made their feelings clear, with senior forward Sera Naiqama adding: “Reason it ruffles our feathers is because the treatment isn’t the same. This post is purely salt in the wound for Wallaroos. 32 of us selected for World Cup last year but this wasn’t offered to our partners? Before you attack, let’s not forget in June the lads flew business class to South Africa yet we, their female equivalent, endured a 14-hour flight in economy to Canada less than 12 hours after our test against the Black Ferns. You deleted the post ... but we kept the receipt.”

Sera Naiqama’s post on Instagram stories.Credit: Instagram/SeraNaiqama

Friedrichs also posted on Instagram: “Eddie has more than six coaches in his program - the Wallaroos coach isn’t even full-time. The Matildas have shown the world’s hunger for elite female sport. The man in charge of Australian Rugby needs to step up and make some changes, before history remembers him as a villain, not as a saviour. Do better Rugby Australia.”

The funding of women’s 15-a-side rugby in Australia is significantly lower than many leading nations, including England and New Zealand, where top female players are contracted on a full-time basis. The Wallaroos managed to make the quarter-finals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup last year before going down to England; a performance that prompted coaches and players to plead for more funding.

Rugby Australia announced in February it would begin contracting Wallaroos stars on a part-time basis, with contracts for 35 elite players on three tiers. The $2 million funding upgrade was announced with great fanfare at Kirribilli House, with the Prime Minister in attendance, and Rugby Australia have claimed they are pushing to have Wallaroos contracted full-time before the 2025 Rugby World Cup.

But players are still angry at getting lip service when it comes to discrepancies with male players in number of areas, including funding for coaching staff and equal travel arrangements. Wallaroos coach Jay Tregonning juggles his duties while also working as a teacher.

The Wallaroos have qualified as one of the world’s top teams for the new WXV1 competition in October, playing against Canada, England, New Zealand, France and Wales.

Referencing the Matildas’ inspiring run in the FIFA World Cup, star Wallaroos five-eighth Arabella McKenzie posted: “At a time women’s sport is shining in Australia, the reality isn’t the same for the Wallaroos #yourmove”″

The Wallaroos, pictured with the Wallabies last year, are calling for equal treatment.Credit: Getty

Australia will host the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2029 and Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh conceded last week that the governing body must increase its investment in women’s rugby if the Wallaroos are to be given the chance to emulate the Matildas.

“We have made some good progress in that space since the World Cup last year in New Zealand. But we know we are nowhere near where we need to be, to set ourselves up for 2029, and for 2025 as well in the UK,” he told this masthead.

“It is about playing more games in more quality competitions. We have the talent and the quality athletes, and there has been interest from a lot of our sevens girls to go across to the 15s as well.

“There’s no doubt it will require more investment, and investment in terms of the athletes themselves, but also how we do create more competition and tours so we are playing good quality Test matches. We need to emphasise that and you can’t do it without investing.”

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