Former England star Danielle Waterman was moved by seeing a record crowd at Twickenham for the Red Roses win in the Grand Slam decider against France, but believes there is work still to be done to get the women's game into “fifth gear.”
The 2014 World Cup winner was in attendance at that game at the end of April and is confident the record attendance mark will be surpassed at the Twickenham final of the 2025 World Cup – if not before.
Despite her busy broadcasting schedule Waterman had the pleasure of watching this latest record breaking game as a supporter, and was moved to tears by the landmark occasion for the women's game.
She said: “I was there as a fan, I actually came with my mum and she said: ‘Why didn't you get to play in big stadiums? I followed you all round the world!'
“It was amazing, and quite emotional actually. It was only a couple of times I cried during the anthem when I was a player, but I was really crying when the girls started singing. Even thinking about it after, hearing all of those 58,000 fans singing was special.
“The biggest feeling it gave me was just absolute pride. Not only to see a wonderful display of rugby on the field with both teams going at it hammer and tongs, but just the energy and enjoyment from the crowd.
“It was clear from the first try where Abby Dow got the ball and the whole place erupted. That's what sport's about and to know the women's game is receiving that is unbelievable.”
Waterman, right, had a distinguished playing career in the women's game between 2003 and 2018, making 82 appearances and scoring 47 tries in a period of incredible change for the sport.
After receiving her first cap as the then-youngest women's player to ever don the England shirt, she saw the game grow dramatically from being played at small club venues to top tier club stadia.
And she believes that credit has to go to her generation and those that came before her, for driving professional attitudes into the game that created the conditions for the further investment that has seen it to where it is today.
She added: “20 years ago I was really fortunate as an 18-year-old still at school to be called up and get my first cap over in Ireland, but there probably weren't even a couple of hundred at the ground. So it's been great to see the work that's gone in behind growing the game.
“I think we were kind of stuck in second or third gear for quite a bit. The women I learned the game from when I came in as part of the Red Roses taught me how to be a professional and the only bit that was missing was the fact that we didn't have money to go further with it.
“Credit has to go to the women that started the game in the early 90s, then to the generation that taught my group how to be professional just without the money and then to my group who had the responsibility not just to perform but push hard to get the game recognised in the media and elsewhere.”
Although Waterman can now look back on a job well done from her era of players, she believes there is plenty still to do to take the women's game to a consistently well-supported level.
Almost all international sevens players have professional contracts, and every Six Nations team is either moving towards, or already at, a professional model.
But Waterman believes the hard work that has been done up to now must continue to make full-time women's rugby a realistic career option for as many who want to pursue it as possible.
“The attitude and application was absolutely everything in getting us towards as a professional game,” She added. “So to be able to be recognised as a professional athlete within my career was really special.
“To go from having my mum help out to pay for me to play for England, then the first contracts after the 2014 World Cup, and seeing where it is now is great; but what we really need now is to reach that tipping point where the fan base really engages with it regularly, and that will take us from fourth gear to fifth gear.
“Yeah, the Red Roses and some of the sevens players are professional but we need to be making sure they're part of sustainable programmes and that they have a future in life after the game, and the big thing is everyone continuing to push in their sphere of influence.”
