The development of women’s rugby players within schools in Fiji

Women’s participation in sports has often been criticized based on issues pertaining towards their ability, societal norms, and gender differences. Rugby, a male dominated sport has historically always discouraged the involvement of women into the sport. Despite the challenges, women’s rugby has been growing rapidly on the international arena. This study explored women rugby players’ development through their motivation, perception and challenges about playing rugby in schools. Forty-nine women playing for their respective schools and had competed at the Fiji secondary schools’ rugby sevens tournament participated in interviews, which were recorded, transcribed, and thematically analyzed. The results showed five themes emerging: socialization, societal perspective, physical and psychological benefits, practical and cultural barriers, and modifications to women’s rugby. These findings indicate that proactive actions such as organizing more girls’ rugby competitions, educational rugby activities, coaching clinics and rugby workshops in schools would be important. Moreover, there needs to be a change of mindset and attitude to women playing sports perceived to be historically masculine and a male domain, increased funding into women’s rugby in schools, and the need to attract more women to play rugby and assist in the holistic development of the sport in Fiji schools