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Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study

Kirsten Flower, Camilla Knight, Olivier Y. Rouquette, Mark Waldron Orcid Logo, Donald Barrell, Emily Mumford, Tom Love Orcid Logo

Journal of Sports Sciences, Volume: 43, Issue: 18, Pages: 1907 - 1923

Swansea University Authors: Kirsten Flower, Camilla Knight, Mark Waldron Orcid Logo, Tom Love Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1080/02640414.2025.2526290

Abstract

The aim of this study was to identify the perceived barriers and facilitators to participating in the elite women’s rugby pathway in England. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was adopted comprising a survey and interviews. In total, 1,349 participants completed the survey. Quantitative...

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Published in: Journal of Sports Sciences
ISSN: 0264-0414 1466-447X
Published: Informa UK Limited 2025
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa69821
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last_indexed 2025-10-17T09:24:20Z
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spelling 2025-10-16T14:36:24.5394808 v2 69821 2025-06-26 Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study 50351da895ab74f03b31cd9b01b30d3e Kirsten Flower Kirsten Flower true false 6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60 Camilla Knight Camilla Knight true false 70db7c6c54d46f5e70b39e5ae0a056fa 0000-0002-2720-4615 Mark Waldron Mark Waldron true false ec50e8c32b3a1274b1022f9d5412478c 0000-0002-9404-5394 Tom Love Tom Love true false 2025-06-26 The aim of this study was to identify the perceived barriers and facilitators to participating in the elite women’s rugby pathway in England. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was adopted comprising a survey and interviews. In total, 1,349 participants completed the survey. Quantitative survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Wilson-corrected frequency intervals. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with 46 survey respondents. Qualitative data were analysed using the coding stages recommended by Miles and colleagues (2019). Findings indicate that key facilitators included social support from parents, friends, and support staff within rugby, as well as participants’ enjoyment of the game, underpinned by the inclusivity of the sport, all of which contributed to both initial and continued participation. In contrast, barriers included stereotypes associated with the sport, time constraints, limited access at school, and challenges surrounding access to rugby opportunities linked with geographical location and education. The findings underline the complex and interrelated nature of these factors, which varied substantially depending on one’s age, level of playing environment, and geographical location. Journal Article Journal of Sports Sciences 43 18 1907 1923 Informa UK Limited 0264-0414 1466-447X Elite sport; family; female sport; interviews; school; survey 8 7 2025 2025-07-08 10.1080/02640414.2025.2526290 COLLEGE NANME COLLEGE CODE Swansea University SU Library paid the OA fee (TA Institutional Deal) This work was supported through a co-funded PhD between the Rugby Football Union and Swansea University. 2025-10-16T14:36:24.5394808 2025-06-26T13:45:04.5582008 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences Kirsten Flower 1 Camilla Knight 2 Olivier Y. Rouquette 3 Mark Waldron 0000-0002-2720-4615 4 Donald Barrell 5 Emily Mumford 6 Tom Love 0000-0002-9404-5394 7 69821__34742__83ddcfe664a54912ac510ea2c97834ce.pdf 69821.pdf 2025-07-10T16:30:07.5500240 Output 1070011 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2025 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
spellingShingle Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
Kirsten Flower
Camilla Knight
Mark Waldron
Tom Love
title_short Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
title_full Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
title_fullStr Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
title_full_unstemmed Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
title_sort Barriers and facilitators to participation in women's and girls' rugby: A mixed-methods study
author_id_str_mv 50351da895ab74f03b31cd9b01b30d3e
6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60
70db7c6c54d46f5e70b39e5ae0a056fa
ec50e8c32b3a1274b1022f9d5412478c
author_id_fullname_str_mv 50351da895ab74f03b31cd9b01b30d3e_***_Kirsten Flower
6c81176f7e92c7c04ff6cfb8f1a0ed60_***_Camilla Knight
70db7c6c54d46f5e70b39e5ae0a056fa_***_Mark Waldron
ec50e8c32b3a1274b1022f9d5412478c_***_Tom Love
author Kirsten Flower
Camilla Knight
Mark Waldron
Tom Love
author2 Kirsten Flower
Camilla Knight
Olivier Y. Rouquette
Mark Waldron
Donald Barrell
Emily Mumford
Tom Love
format Journal article
container_title Journal of Sports Sciences
container_volume 43
container_issue 18
container_start_page 1907
publishDate 2025
institution Swansea University
issn 0264-0414
1466-447X
doi_str_mv 10.1080/02640414.2025.2526290
publisher Informa UK Limited
college_str Faculty of Science and Engineering
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Engineering and Applied Sciences - Sport and Exercise Sciences
document_store_str 1
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description The aim of this study was to identify the perceived barriers and facilitators to participating in the elite women’s rugby pathway in England. An explanatory sequential mixed-method design was adopted comprising a survey and interviews. In total, 1,349 participants completed the survey. Quantitative survey data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Wilson-corrected frequency intervals. Subsequently, interviews were conducted with 46 survey respondents. Qualitative data were analysed using the coding stages recommended by Miles and colleagues (2019). Findings indicate that key facilitators included social support from parents, friends, and support staff within rugby, as well as participants’ enjoyment of the game, underpinned by the inclusivity of the sport, all of which contributed to both initial and continued participation. In contrast, barriers included stereotypes associated with the sport, time constraints, limited access at school, and challenges surrounding access to rugby opportunities linked with geographical location and education. The findings underline the complex and interrelated nature of these factors, which varied substantially depending on one’s age, level of playing environment, and geographical location.
published_date 2025-07-08T05:29:11Z
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