On 4th March, Professor Vicky Tolfrey attended an event at which World Wheelchair Rugby (WWR) signed the International Working Group on Women and Sport’s Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration. This landmark commitment is accompanied by the launch of the Wheelchair Rugby Gender Equity Playbook-a game-changing strategy designed to drive female participation and leadership at every level of the sport.
The Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration is a global movement championing equity, inclusion, and opportunity for women in sport. Recognising the need for greater female representation, WWR’s 2022 strategic review set the foundation for this initiative.
WWR President, Richard Allcroft OBE, emphasised the importance of action:
“We recognised as an organisation that we were not doing enough to include female athletes within our sport. I've always been proud that our sport is open to all genders, but it was clear that if we didn't create change, then we were never going to see enough female athletes taking up the game.
As our strategies were taking shape, this needed to expand to encompass the inclusion of women in leadership positions as well. The signing of the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration and the launch of our Playbooks is a statement that we are not just open to change but committed to making changes.”
Kathy Newman, Director of Development and Competitions and Chair of the WWR Women’s Task Group, reinforced the transformative nature of this step:
“The Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration isn’t just a pledge—it’s a game-changer. When we formed our Women in Sport Task Team, we saw the barriers holding women back. This declaration is breaking them down, driving real change worldwide. When we invest in women in sport, we don’t just level the playing field—we transform the game for future generations and we change lives.
A future where women have equal opportunities in sport isn’t just possible—it’s happening. The Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration is proof that when we commit to change, we create a legacy of inclusion and empowerment.”
WWR is committed to turning words into action with the Wheelchair Rugby Gender Equity Playbook, a strategic framework aimed at:
- Recruiting more female athletes through targeted outreach and engagement.
- Developing leadership pathways for women in coaching, officiating, and governance.
- Ensuring fair funding and resource allocation to support female athletes.
- Creating a culture of inclusion through policy and mindset shifts across the sport.
Within the Playbook is a practical, community-focused guide designed to help local clubs create and deliver inclusive programming for women+. As well as a strategic framework for national federations and governing bodies. It provides guidance on policy development, funding applications, and the creation of targeted communications strategies to drive lasting change at a systemic level.
To complement these resources, WWR has also released a one-page summary, offering a concise overview of both playbooks and their key objectives.
This is more than a promise—it’s a bold, actionable plan to create lasting change. As nations begin implementing the playbook, WWR calls on the global wheelchair rugby community to step up and make equity a reality.
Lisa O’Keefe MBE, Secretary General of IWG, reflected after the signing:
“It’s a great pleasure to welcome World Wheelchair Rugby as the latest signatory of the IWG’s Declaration. IWG was involved in the consultation stage of the playbook and so I saw first-hand their commitment to making systemic change within the Federation in order to make the sport accessible to women and girls at every level.
WWR underwent a thorough process to produce their Playbooks, and I’m delighted we can share their brilliant work with the IWG network.”
The Peter Harrison Laboratory has a longstanding partnership with WWR, Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby (GBWR), and UK Sport. This includes previous research by Professor Vicky Tolfrey and Dr Thomas Rietveld which led to a classification rule change for female athletes in WWR. In addition to the existing rule which grants 0.5 points for each female low-point athlete on court (i.e., athletes classified as 0.5-1.5), the new rule change granted an additional 1.0 point for every high-point female athlete on court (athletes classified as 2.0 and above). This rule change is aimed at facilitating the growth of female participation in the sport.
Reflecting on her attendance at the WWR event, Professor Vicky Tolfrey commented:
“It’s fantastic today that World Wheelchair Rugby has signed the declaration with the International Women’s Group. It means a lot to me because it’s evidence of some of our research that we’ve done where we want to look at that pathway of individuals playing wheelchair sports and open a pathway for more females to engage in the sport of wheelchair rugby.”
We are planning some further work with WWR and GBWR to explore the impact of these rules, and will look forward to sharing our research outputs in due course.
For more information on the Brighton Plus Helsinki Declaration and the Wheelchair Rugby Gender Equity Playbook, visit https://worldwheelchair.rugby/ or follow World Wheelchair Rugby on social media @ww_rugby.
The World Wheelchair Rugby Gender Equity Playbooks can be found here on the Women+ page of the WWR Website: https://worldwheelchair.rugby/women-resources/