The first webinar, Recruitment of Female Match Officials, will take place on Tuesday, 24 November with two sessions offered to enable participation from across the global rugby community.
The series aims to raise awareness of match officiating as an exciting and rewarding opportunity for women and girls, while bringing together voices from across the game to share real-life experiences, practical insights and successful strategies to help unions and rugby organisations recruit, develop and retain female match officials.
The opening webinar will focus on recruitment, one of the key priorities for growing women's participation in match officiating.
Participants will hear directly from experienced match officials and rugby development leaders, who will share their experiences, lessons learned and successful initiatives.
The webinar will feature:
An overview of World Rugby's match officiating development and pathways strategy from World Rugby’s match officiating team.
Hear from top Emirates World Rugby referees Maggie Cogger-Orr (first session) and Aurélie Groizeleau (second session) on their experiences, exploring the approaches, challenges and successes that can help inform recruitment strategies.
RFU Coach and Match Official Impact Manager, Alan Moses will provide insights into the Rugby Football Union's Impact '25 initiative around Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025, sharing practical examples of recruitment planning, implementation, challenges and key learnings.
Each presentation will offer valuable takeaways and practical tips that participants can apply within their own unions, referee associations and rugby communities.
The Women in Match Officiating Webinar Series is open to everyone involved in rugby, including players, coaches, match officials, union representatives and anyone passionate about creating more opportunities for women and girls in the game.
Whether you are looking to encourage more women to pick up the whistle, strengthen existing recruitment initiatives or learn from successful approaches around the world, this webinar will provide valuable knowledge, inspiration and practical ideas.
The November webinar will be the first in the series, with further sessions planned throughout 2027, exploring additional topics and strategies to support the continued growth and development of women in match officiating.
To facilitate different time zones, World Rugby will host two sessions on Tuesday, 24 November.
Session 1 - 08:00 GMT featuring Maggie Cogger-Orr
Session 2 - 18:00 GMT featuring Aurélie Groizeleau
Please click either of the above links to register.