Rugby World Cup Vision

RUGBY WORLD CUP VISION – MAKING A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

The Rugby World Cup 2023 organising committee has been working hard, not just to provide us all with a brilliant rugby tournament, but by aiming to be a tournament with a positive impact on community, environment and inclusion. The plan is to set a new high standard for tournaments to think about the impact they can have on more than just their sport. Here are some of the schemes they have introduced or supported:

The official charity of the RWC 2023 is Rugby au Coeur (Rugby at Heart), which has already, ‘donated over €1 million to support more than 250 rugby-related projects in schools, hospitals and disadvantaged neighbourhoods, benefitting over 100,000 people.’

This tournament has considered the impact that players and fans travelling to watch the games will have on the environment. This will create an estimated 350,000 tons of CO2!! As a result, it has, ‘engaged its entire ecosystem in order to reduce and then offset its emissions through a carbon absorption programme.’ From the start of planning for the tournament, France 2023 created a responsible purchasing policy and recycling and waste management, as well as making sure that 83% of team travel between the competition venues will be done by train.

A Tournoi National des Quartiers 2023 (National Neighbourhood Tournament 2023), has been created ‘which brings together more than 6,000 young people aged 8 to 13 from disadvantaged neighbourhoods in the tournament’s 10 host cities. Using rugby as an educational tool for inclusion, the project will culminate in the Grand National Final held in Marcoussis, a suburb of Paris on 27 October, alongside the Bronze final of Rugby World Cup 2023.’

We are excited to see all of these positive steps hopefully inspire other major tournaments to consider the world around them and how they can have a positive impact on more than just the competition itself.

Thank you to World Rugby for the information in this article.