Chris Rattue: Rugby's old boys club put on notice

Losi Filipo. Photo / Getty Images

Women everywhere rejoice. Your rugby union needs you.

The concept of women helping to run rugby has taken a century or so to take hold, but the fix is in. It's time for you to jump on board and maybe even join an actual board, ladies.

As a non-woman, I can't speak with conviction on behalf of the so-called fairer sex. But apparently their extra fairness is now needed.

Dame Margaret Bazley, who reviewed the Wellington Rugby Union's handling of the Losi Filipo case, focussed on the lack of women in top WRU jobs.

The 78-year-old Bazley, a public servant who has led a number of major reviews, was appointed six weeks ago to look at what went wrong when Filipo was retained as a Wellington player, despite pleading guilty to a vicious and unprovoked assault on four people.

Among her discoveries was that thousands of women at grass roots level weren't making it to the upper levels of rugby administration.

This, no doubt, is of no surprise to many women, who find they are still up against a glass ceiling in many areas of life. They might also be miffed that their services suddenly seem to be needed in a crisis, rather than their contributions being seen as normal.

I well remember talking to Raelene Castle, a true trailblazer, after she had quit as the boss of New Zealand Netball to take over as chief executive of the NRL's Canterbury Bulldogs.

She said that having more women in charge made sense for league, because women were half of the sport's customers. As with many of the great advancements in sport - think the breaking down of the race barrier in baseball and heavyweight boxing - the business of winning and making money can play a very important part.

Having more women involved in running rugby - which should include taking the very top jobs - also makes sense because it is the right thing to do.

Let's face it. Rugby remains an old boys club which has no intention of giving up control whatever the public stance. Token gestures will gestate, eventually. For now, it's still a case of reaching for the moon.

The Bazley report represents another small step for rugby men, who have just elected Farah Palmer to the New Zealand board. Given rugby's conventions, women will be limited to small steps forward. We can live in slightly more hope though.