Half of younger ladies have been impressed to take up sport after watching the success of feminine athletes, based on analysis. A examine of 500 females, aged 10-17, revealed seeing profitable ladies in sport has boosted the boldness of 65 % – with 55 % claiming it makes them really feel like they will do something.
Nevertheless it’s not simply well-known faces encouraging younger ladies to select up the baton – as 38 % have been impressed watching their mum, sister, auntie, or different lesser-known females interact in train.
Almost two-thirds (65 %) who’ve watched sport have seen ladies take part – however 34 % of children are eager to see extra feminine sports activities on TV.
It additionally emerged 46 % of sporting viewers have watched females play a sport in actual life, and 43 % want to attend a ladies’s rugby sport in particular person.
The outcomes of the examine, by OnePoll, have been launched as Scottish Fuel, Official Companion of the Scotland Ladies’s Rugby Crew, unveiled a collection of sustainable statues in Edinburgh to have a good time the trailblazers of ladies’s rugby in Scotland, forward of the 2024 ladies’s Six Nations.
To encourage the subsequent era of gamers and followers, statues constructed from 100% recycled plastics have been created, depicting Scottish rugby legend Donna Kennedy, in addition to present stars Lisa Thomson and Francesca McGhie.
Talking on the unveiling of the statues in Fortress Avenue in Edinburgh, file Scotland Ladies’s look holder, Donna Kennedy, mentioned: “It’s wonderful to be recognised as a trailblazer, and listen to how inspirational feminine athletes might be on the subsequent era.
“What we see round us, and what we’re uncovered to, has an enormous bearing on our growth – and with ladies’s rugby in Scotland going from power to power, it’s a nice time to encourage extra younger ladies to observe and play the sport.”
The analysis discovered 72 % of ladies like taking part in sports activities, and 55 % take pleasure in watching it. And 66 % assume watching feminine athletes in a stadium or area is positively influencing ladies to play a sport themselves.
In the meantime, the survey additionally revealed that 83 % consider feminine sports activities stars are inspirational position fashions – with Jessica Ennis-Hill, Emma Raducanu, and Rebecca Adlington on the high of the listing, whereas Donna Kennedy and Lisa Thomson additionally featured.
Talking forward of Scotland Ladies’s Six Nation’s opener towards Wales, present worldwide and trailblazer Lisa Thomson mentioned: “There are such a lot of good feminine athletes who I appeared as much as after I was youthful, together with Donna, so to be given the platform to play for Scotland and assist encourage the subsequent era is improbable.
“It’s a very thrilling time for girls’s rugby on this nation, and we wish to construct on this by encouraging much more younger ladies to each play and watch the game.”
Catherine O’Kelly, managing director of British Fuel Vitality, mentioned: “We’re proud to assist energise the expansion of the Scotland Ladies’s Crew with our entrance of blouse and stadium partnership, whereas elevating the profile of the facet to encourage the subsequent era of gamers and followers.
“It’s been improbable to observe their progress for the reason that begin of our partnership final summer season, and we’re delighted to honour three trailblazers within the run as much as the Ladies’s Six Nations. We want Scotland Ladies all one of the best for the upcoming event.”
For extra data on the trailblazers, and to buy tickets for Scotland Ladies’s Six Nations house video games at Hive Stadium towards France (March 30) and England (April 13), go to right here.
