Ireland women: Past and present players call for government support having ‘lost trust’ in IRFU

A large group of past and present Irish rugby players have written to the Irish Government expressing a loss of “all trust and confidence in the IRFU”.

Recently retired captain Ciara Griffin and a host of current internationals are among the signatories.

The letter requests government support in enacting “meaningful change” in the women’s game in Ireland.

In response, the IRFU says it “refutes the overall tenor of the document” and is disappointed by the timing of it.

The letter is the latest development in an increasingly fraught relationship between Irish rugby’s governing body and its elite female players – some of whom publicly rebuked comments made by IRFU women’s rugby director Anthony Eddy in November regarding the level of support offered to the women’s game.

Hooker Cliodhna Moloney, who received backing from her team-mates after likening Eddy’s comments to “slurry spreading”, is among the current players to have signed the letter along with Sene Naoupu, Linda Djougang, Eimear Considine, Sam Monaghan, Kathryn Dane, Laura Sheehan, Lauren Delany, Ailsa Hughes, Anna Caplice, Nichola Fryday, Leah Lyons and more.

Legendary former players Claire Molloy, Lynne Cantwell, Grace Davitt and Jenny Murphy are also among those to have signed.

In October the IRFU launched two reviews into recent failings in the women’s game; one directly relating to the team’s failure to qualify for next year’s World Cup and the other a “separate, broader structural review” focusing on a ‘Women in Rugby Action Plan’ released in 2018, the main aims of which have not been met.