Well... in Australia it is seen (and quite accurately) as a game dominated by Islander women (and Aboriginal, and let's not even start on league). I think it's a serious off-putting factor for the majority of the female population who might otherwise take up the game. a) they get told they are going to get trampled by the Samoans and b) they don't feel welcome in a team where people often speak another language to each other.... Both problems that are not as much of an issue when you actually play but the image is counter-productive.
We lack the GPS/equivalent for Brisbane private schools that help feed the men's game, because conservative private girl's schools are very unlikely to ever take it up. It's going to have to develop in a different way - but how?
Having another insomnia night & came across your post.
I think you raise some genuine concerns because if there is a domination of any particular racial/ethnic group at a club in any sport then it can present a very uninviting image to those that are not a part of the same ethnicity (prime e.g. Oz Cricket). We had a Samoan player come to our Rugby club last year straight out of Samoa. She played for the one season while she was here, lovely person & top player, she really couldn't speak much English & I think our clubs efforts to really include her probably helped her not feel isolated.
For any area that thinks it has a diversity problem I think the best thing is for women's teams to come together & work out ways to tackle it. Women's rugby advertising is a big part of this, when it comes to advertising for players, if one particular group is underrepresented then have that group/s in more advertisements. In Newcastle we use fliers of local club rugby players. I don't know if it was deliberate but I think the girls playing in the picture give a good distribution along the lines of size & race (TBH I don't think the HWRU consciously used this pic with that in mind but it works brilliantly along those lines)
http://hunterwomen.rugbynet.com.au/verve/_resources/Try_Rugby_Flyer_1.jpg
When there is coaching clinics, talks at schools, etc players of different backgrounds with good social skills should be used for these activities. And in the worst case scenario if a local club is really not very open then find the nearest club that doesn't have a women's team & start a new one from scratch.
That all being said my experiences are much different to what you have mentioned. I have not experienced this 'domination' of islander, maori, & aboriginal players here in Newcastle. We certainly have those groups & many more different groups represented here in the community & in Rugby. Some clubs more so than others, but it's never been an issue for women's rugby in terms of recruitment or inclusiveness - at least in the years I've been involved (starting from the year 2000, around 3 or so years I think after women's Rugby started in Newcastle).
In terms of physicality the toughest team I ever faced was Hamilton Harps when I first started years ago, they had probably x2 girls of islander or Maori background - the rest were European. The most islander & Maori populated team was Mayfield East (my old mans old team who got kicked out of the comp) & despite their physicality we always beat them pretty convincingly but always had titanic battles with Hamilton. I think the best thing for future recruits & their parents to dispel any fears is to take them to games to see what actually happens. Demo games of senior women's rugby at schools would be handy too.
Interesting point in terms of culture & inclusiveness is the story of the lady that took me under her wing & looked after me when I came into Rugby as a 16yr old. She is a Maori player who played well into her 40s & it was meeting her that convinced my Ma (who was terrified that I wanted to play Rugby after seeing my Da play it) that I'd be fine. Very early on the first coaching I got at the club was from one of her younger male relatives who was very helpful in starting me on the basics. There was another older Maori player in the team who was also a bit of a mother hen & she was similar in helping me adjust. The lady in her 40's that looked after me later moved on to Mayfield East & tried to bring me over but I'd already committed to Uni - personally the predominantly islander & Maori player group would not have been an issue to me. Ultimately what I'm saying is this is a complex thing that varies person to person, club to club, town to town, etc. It may well be the experience in Brissy but not here in Newcastle despite our own Islander, Maori, & aboriginal population.
As far as school girl Rugby is concerned in Newcastle we have a schoolgirl system through the schools but ideally I think the addition of a club system for school aged girls would be excellent because here club is king. Anything similar like that in Brissy would be great. I would like to hear more about women's Rugby in Brissy as I don't know an a lot about the structure - I have played with girls that played for UQ.
