Canada's women's rugby team, ranked No. 2, fights through funding crisis as it prepares for World Cup

Shireen Ahmed · CBC Sports

· Posted: Apr 09, 2025 7:35 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The Canadian women's rugby team, ranked 2nd successful the world, is trying to bushed the likelihood — and besides currency successful connected them. 

Last period Rugby Canada launched a fundraising run for the women's 15s squad to assistance connected their roadworthy to the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup, to beryllium held successful assorted cities successful England this August. (The tourney features the 15-player version, arsenic opposed to the sevens squad that won metallic astatine the 2024 Paris Olympics, an Olympic champion for Canada. Many of the players vie connected some teams.)

What the squad wants is backing to facilitate clip unneurotic successful campy for training, strategizing, and bonding to assistance successful their extremity of winning the World Cup. They're seeking entree to intelligence show coaching and different indispensable resources for an elite squad wanting to triumph and bash it successful a mode befitting a squad that is making history. 

When I heard astir the run to crowdfund, my initial reaction was to deliberation that the expenses should beryllium covered by the nationalist sporting enactment (NSO). 

Why trust connected Canadians to support footing the measure for women to compete? And what happens adjacent twelvemonth for different teams specified as the U20s oregon the men's side? They volition besides request fiscal support. Will the bequest for rugby beryllium that they ever person their hands outstretched? 

Programs similar Own the Podium person focused connected winning arsenic opposed to supporting athletes holistically, increasing grassroots and processing sustainable athletics successful Canada.  We continuously find ourselves successful situations wherever athletes are underfunded. There's nary creativity, nary innovation successful sports models, and small accountability successful circumstances of maltreatment, maltreatment oregon mismanagement. The authorities doesn't money organizations good and past athletes wage for themselves and extremity up successful debt. It feels similar Canadian athletics is hemorrhaging money. Is crowdfunding truly the solution? 

The world is that it's not that chopped and dry. I've been captious of NSOs and the models successful the past but we're astatine a crossroads. We person a brilliantly talented squad that tin triumph the World Cup. Is the the prime to either help or not nonstop them? 

I recognize wherefore determination are naysayers. In 2021 the squad was navigating horrible difficulties, reported arsenic "psychological abuse, harassment and/or bullying" successful the centralized grooming environment. A ailment was filed by 37 past and contiguous members of the squad and autarkic reappraisal painted a dysfunctional representation of Rugby Canada. A caller manager was brought in. The squad pulled forward, tackled expectations and forced themselves to beryllium reckoned with arsenic a powerhouse successful rugby.

Rugby Canada asked women's squad caput manager Kevin Rouet what was required for his team's mentation for the World Cup. Rouet came up with a program that consisted of eights days of a fully-funded grooming campy (40 people) and a fig of warm-up games. Flights, accommodation, due nutrition, and afloat enactment unit including physiotherapy came to astir $3.6 cardinal CAD.

According to Nathan Bombrys, Rugby Canada's CEO, they recovered $2.6 cardinal successful their operating fund and they decided to effort to rise the balance. 

"We don't person the backing to bash immoderate of this," said Bombrys. "We're competing against teams that adjacent if we execute this other million, we're inactive going to beryllium the 2nd oregon 3rd least-funded squad successful our tournament, and we're ranked two.

"I'm beauteous assured that determination mightiness beryllium one, possibly two, teams with little wealth than our team. And that's, that's not america arsenic the NSO, that's, that's wherever athletics is. You know, it's not a nonrecreational sport."

Olivia Apps and Pamphinette Buisa are portion of the nationalist rugby programme and accidental the crowdfunding run is indispensable and appreciated. 

"This is conscionable 1 of those things that we're trying to bash to get much grooming clip together, further players, coaching, and things similar that that volition decidedly assistance with getting america much mentation going into the World Cup," Buisa said. "The past World Cup we went to, we didn't person arsenic overmuch clip together, and I deliberation that it impacted america going into the World Cup." 

At the astir caller World Cup, played successful New Zealand successful 2022, the squad finished 4th retired of 12 teams.

"I mean it's decidedly not perfect but it's the world for Canadian rugby players," App said of the crowdfunding campaign. "Our national doesn't person the funds to enactment america afloat — they bash the champion they tin — so we person to trust connected nationalist fundraising."

The rugby assemblage is responding. I spoke to a mates of rugby parents who are friends and agreed that this women's squad is special. Youth players are excited astir this women's squad and the run was shared successful clubs crossed Ontario. They besides confirmed that though rugby is beardown successful assemblage and helps each other, determination is "no money" and immoderate of the players from different teams inactive person to billet astatine grooming camps successful Victoria due to the fact that determination isn't wealth for hotels. 

This isn't an contented of gender. It's not similar the men's squad gets afloat funded and the women don't. It's conscionable a world for rugby. 

"It is large to person the enactment from the union, arsenic successful they are the ones fundraising and uncovering the wealth for america to beryllium capable to decorativeness connected the podium astatine the World Cup," Apps said. "In the past it has been players fundraising for themselves truthful it is simply a measurement forward."

If crowdfunding is simply a bandaid solution for problems that prevarication deeper successful Canadian sport, we inactive person an work to triage, don't we? Some mightiness deliberation elite athletics is simply a privilege, not a right. But I'm not funny successful destroying the dreams of talented women due to the fact that of the systems that are broken. I privation to spot them try — virtually — to win.