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Scottish Rugby open channel for whistleblowers on sexism, homophobia and racism in club rugby

Gemma Fay, SCottish Rugby's Head of Women and Girls Strategy, with Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm (r) and referee Hollie Davidson (l).
Gemma Fay, SCottish Rugby's Head of Women and Girls Strategy, with Scotland captain Rachel Malcolm (r) and referee Hollie Davidson (l).

Scottish Rugby have launched a route for whistleblowers to bring examples of sexism, misogyny, homophobia and racism in the game to their attention.

“Tell Us” launches on Tuesday encouraging those with complaints or negative experiences to have their concerns raised within Murrayfield’s existing support and disciplinary structures.

Sanctions against clubs which are found guilty of sexism, racism or homophobia are “a last resort”. But the governing cbody insist they are sincere in their wish to deal decisively with any issues.

“Tell Us” will be an email service with a dedicated and anonymous inbox checked daily. The new system launches after concerns raised about Liberton RFC. The entire women’s section of the Edinburgh club is understood to have left due to instances of sexism and homophobia.

Ten-fold rise in women’s rugby since the pandemic

Rugby’s governing body in Scotland has experienced a major upsurge in the number of female players in the last two years.

Girls’ sections in SRU member clubs have grown ten-fold since the pandemic, from just 9 to over 90. The number of senior women’s teams has also doubled.

Gav Scott, Scottish Rugby Director of Player Development, admitted that the pace of growth in the women’s game had been a challenge for Murrayfield.

“Things are moving really quickly in a positive way for women’s rugby,” said the former Dundee HSFP and Scotland A hooker. “There are issues coming out of that with capacity of pitches and changing rooms, for example.

“We know there are things that need to be addressed, and we have to work quickly and adapt.

“What we’re doing to today is to acknowledge we need more channels in order for people to access and gain support from us. But we need to understand what the specific issues are.”

Gemma Fay, head of Scottish Rugby’s women’s and girl’s section, said the recent revelations were “a unique pocket of people who had come forward to say, ‘this isn’t working for us’.”

“Of course we need to do something to support those people and any others who may have similar issues,” she said.

‘We don’t want anyone to have negative experiences’

“We don’t want anyone to have negative experiences in their environment, and we must acknowledge when that happens.

“Alternatively, there have been people who have had very good experiences in their environments. There are many good clubs out there who have created a warm and welcoming environment.

“For those who haven’t experienced that, we’ve been told, ‘you have to make it easier for people to come forward’.

“So with this move we’ve done that. But until we have the conversation with those people, we can’t action it.”

Sanctions for clubs that don’t meet standards of equality are available to the union, said Scott.

“We have some sanctions we can use if we need to but they would follow disciplinary hearings. We may remove funding or stop clubs playing the game, but that would be a last resort we’d rather not get to.

“That would stop what we want, which is more people playing rugby. Preferably through encouragment and funding we can develop better behaviour and continue to grow the game.”

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