SA Rugby chose Women’s Day to confirm the ground-breaking plans as a key staging post in the ambition of seeing the Springbok Women emulate their male counterparts by winning the Rugby World Cup.

The plan is being formulated in conjunction with the provincial rugby unions who have been invited to submit proposals for inclusion of a franchise in the WSLR.

The number of contestants will be determined by the quality of submissions but is expected to be no more than four or five. The centrally contracted players will be shared out among the teams.

“This is a momentous day for women’s rugby in South Africa,” said Mr Mark Alexander, president of SA Rugby.

“The women’s game is making amazing strides across the world and in South Africa and we want to match that growth by providing an appropriate aspirational, high-performance platform for South African women.

“There is work to be done but the plans we are making will meet the needs of women rugby players and provide the quality of domestic competition that is needed to raise our international playing standards.”

SA Rugby’s existing inter-provincial premier and fist division competitions will continue. The Bulls Daisies have contracted a full-time squad, but the rest of the competition is made up of semi-professional and mostly amateur players.

The WSLR is intended to level the playing field by ensuring closer matches and greater jeopardy to raise standards.

Rian Oberholzer, SA Rugby CEO, said that it was important to understand the development trajectory that women’s rugby was undergoing around the world.

“The only professionalised women’s leagues in the world are in England and New Zealand and they have only been in operation for half a dozen years or so,” he said.

“They are not yet fully professional in the sense that we understand men’s rugby to be. Similarly, our South African model is for a professionalised WSLR with high standards of preparation, training and competition with players who have 12-month-a-year contracts but may also be in tertiary education or in full or part-time employment.

“This is a critical staging post on the ultimate goal of a fully professional women’s game around the world and it is investment for the exponential growth of rugby in South Africa.”

Franchises will be awarded on a three-year basis with entrants entrenched for such a period. SA Rugby will also provide budgetary support to competing franchises by covering flight and accommodation costs and other expenses.

Bidders will be required to provide robust responses to questions relating to a set of minimum standards in the areas of governance and funding; player development; coaching; medical and support services such as strength and conditioning, analysis and nutrition; the training and match-day environment; marketing and communications and commercial activities.

“Making this announcement on Women’s Day was done to underline SA Rugby’s commitment to the women’s game,” said Mr Alexander.

“We saw the impact of the women’s Sevens event at the Olympics and every measurement available points only to the growth of women’s sport and women’s rugby around the world.

“It has been a priority of ours for several years and this announcement marks a watershed moment for women’s rugby in South Africa.”

The players to be offered contracts will be identified by the SA Rugby High Performance department in consultation with member unions with the WSLR is scheduled to kick off early in the New Year.

“We look forward to confirming the competing franchises in October,” said Oberholzer. “It will be a key moment in the strategy to bring the Women’s Rugby World Cup back to South Africa.”