Over the last two decades, women’s rugby has grown so popular that most rugby-playing nations now select a national women’s team as well. As women’s rugby is moving towards becoming a professional sport, one might wonder who the highest-paid female rugby player is.
England center and full-back Emily Scarratt is not only the best-known name in women’s rugby but also the highest-paid female rugby player. She earns well above average on her national contract of around £33,000 GBP per year plus £800 match fee for international games..
Female rugby players are not earning anywhere near what their male counterparts do. However, with other sources of income, like sponsorships and endorsement deals, top international players can top up their national contracts and make a decent living from playing rugby.
Who Is the Highest-Earning Female Rugby Player?
Emily Scarratt is a female rugby player representing England in over 100 matches since 2008. Scarratt is one of England’s best female rugby players and the best-known name in women’s rugby.
Scarratt has been on the winning side with the England Women’s Rugby team in almost 90% of the matches she played. Not surprisingly, she is the highest-paid female rugby player.
Born in 1990, Emily Scarratt showed a keen interest in rugby at age 5. She qualified as a teacher but became a professional rugby player in 2019 when she was offered a full-time national contract. Scarratt also excelled at basketball and turned down a basketball scholarship in America to pursue her rugby career.
Scarratt has won several Women’s Six Nations titles and the Women’s Rugby World Cup with the Red Roses, whom she has captained several times. She is a prolific try scorer and goal kicker. She also represents her club, Loughborough Lightning, in the Premier 15s, England’s top women’s rugby league.
What Income Sources Do Female Rugby Players Have?
Female rugby players might not earn anywhere near what their male counterparts do. Still, with women’s rugby slowly becoming a professional sport, top female rugby players can earn a living. There are a few possible sources of income for female rugby players.
National Contracts
A handful of female rugby players may receive full-time national contracts. Nationally contracted players in England currently earn annual salaries of between £26,000 and £33,000, or $28,750 to $36,500.
Match Fees
Players for the England Women’s Rugby Team receive between £400 and £800 per match they play, which is around $440 to $880. A player playing in all five of the Women’s Six Nations matches in a year could earn an additional £4000 or $4400.
Sponsorship Deals
Top female rugby players like Emily Scarratt may receive sponsorships from equipment manufacturers.
Endorsement Contracts
Top female rugby players could get paid for endorsing products totally unrelated to the sport, like personal hygiene products and cosmetic ranges.
Club Retainers And Match Fees
Most top female rugby clubs offer their players annual retainers and a fee per match. The amounts paid will vary from club to club and even between players at the same club but usually are not big enough to make a living off.
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Will Women’s Rugby Keep On Growing?
As women’s rugby becomes more and more professional and the tournaments athat are competed in gain larger and larger audiences this is likely to fuel the continued growth of the sport and player salaries.
You only have to glance at the latest participation rate statistics published by World Rugby to see the incredible growth in the game.
Underpinned by World Rugby’s Women’s Plan 2021-25, a new Women in Rugby brand and the ‘Try and Stop Us’ campaign, female participation levels are at an all-time high with 2.7 million players globally. More than a quarter of the overall playing population is now female, and there has been a 28 per cent increase in registered players since 2017.
– World Rugby
It is going to be fascinating to see how the women’s game develops both at an amateur and professional level.
Will club houses now be half filled with rugby women and will they follow in the fine traditions of rugby: singing and necking pints through dirty socks, or will they bring a new ‘more sophisticated’ approach to the club house?
At the professional level, will they manage to create genuine competition at international level as currently it is completely dominated by England, New Zealand, and possibly France?
Will they manage to create something akin to a Lions tour? Will that attract hordes of traveling support like their male counterparts?
And will they manage to stop themselves being dragged into a constant comparison with the male game and gain a chip on their shoulder about not being treated fairly at every turn?
Whichever way these unfold it will be fascinating to watch and there will be plenty of thrills and spills along the way as the standard of womens rugby and the entertainment that it brings are fantastic and anyone who enjoys watching rugby should be encourage to give it a watch, the quality and excitement might surprise you!
Also check out: Is Women’s Rugby Different To Men’s Rugby?
And, returning to the main thrust of the article, if some of these developments can take place then there is no doubt that a sustainable professional game can be maintained but let’s be honest they need to avoid going down the same path as the men’s game.
I hope the women’s game goes down the route of sustainable salaries and avoids the pitfalls of investors pumping money into the game into loss making enterprises only for it to all fall apart when they have had enough, rugby deserves better.
In conclusion, Emily Scarratt is the best-known and highest-paid female rugby player. She is the only full-time contracted English female rugby player to earn an annual salary well above the average, to go with her reputation as a prolific points scorer for her club and her country.
Let’s just hope the women’s game grows as much off the pitch as on the pitch, so players such as Emily Scarrat can be supported in their ambitions as being professional rugby players.
Suggested reading: How Much Do Male Rugby Players Earn In The UK?
Image Credits
Emily Scarrat preparing at the 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cup Pierre-Yves Beaudouin / Wikimedia Commons