What Price The Women's Game?

It was only in April that Exeter Chiefs joined the Women’s Premier 15s. Since then Susie Appleby and her team have endured a really torrid time trying to recruit and establish a professional and competitive Women’s Team during the pandemic. Women were recruited from far afield including Japan, Spain, Canada, USA and the Netherlands as well as across the UK. These girls faced not just a new club environment with new team mates but a new country, new jobs and new homes for many as well. It is a credit to all concerned that working largely behind closed doors they overcame the many problems they faced.

Their first few games, against much more experienced teams, most of which are playing in their 4th Season in the top flight, were a real challenge but at almost the halfway point we have won 3 out of 8 games and with a game in hand we stand at 6th in the table. The game against Sale was our first opportunity to see the girls in action when a limited number of spectators were allowed in. It was evident from that game that they had not been wasting their time behind closed doors. In an excellent performance the Chiefs DNA was evident throughout. With a dominant forwards performance they were superior to the opposition in every facet of the game. There are 4 fixtures in January from which we should be targeting 2 wins and at least two losing bonus points. Bristol away is first up. We had a narrow loss by 2 points against them in early October. We also play Worcester away against whom we registered our first win when we beat them in November. Based on our increased experience and our performance against Sale both of these fixtures are eminently winnable.

Much more challenging will be our two home games against the two teams at the top of the table. Both Harlequins and Saracens are unbeaten so far and have won every game with a try bonus point. However our 38 – 0 win against Sale suggests that they will not find it so easy to score tries against us. With vocal support from our 16th player a couple of losing bonus points looks probable with the possibility of a shock win! It looks like too big a hill to climb to make the top four this year but we are building and should be a very strong contender next year in our second season. Traditionally attendances at women’s premiership games has not been great; the average for the 2018 season was less than 500. However Harlequins hold the record for a club game at over 4,000 for one of their ‘special’ games in London. The 1100 we had at Sandy Park for the Sale game shows the potential we have to build on and Sandy Park still holds the record I think for the attendance at a standalone fixture for a Women’s international in England.

So who is going to be among the 16th man (or woman)? Season ticket holders have been offered a ‘special’ deal for the January home games priced at £10 per ticket. Hopefully this will become a permanent policy of giving season ticket holders the option to buy reduced price tickets for the women’s home games. Our season tickets currently entitle us to about 16 days at Sandy Park to watch the home games. With the women’s team we have the opportunity provided by an additional 9 competitive home games to enjoy more days at Sandy Park. However the pricing of these extra days will be critical. Supporting Chiefs currently costs us (2) about £3000 pa; Season Ticket in the less expensive end of the West Grandstand, refreshments, travel expenses, extension games and the occasional away trip. The women’s games are worth something extra but not a large amount plus if I couldn’t attend the women’s games because of cost I would feel a little cheated. As was said when the new team was launched it’s one club not two separate clubs.
What do others think?