The prevalence of relative age effects in women's rugby from developmental leagues to World Cup tournaments

Abstract

Although many aspects of sport participation are positive, structural issues and registration cut-off dates may detract from positive development. The relative age effect (RAE) suggests that athletes born in the first two quartiles of a given selection year experience a selection advantage leading to greater opportunities for success. The overarching purpose of the study was to examine the prevalence of RAEs in women's rugby. Player data (age range: 2-21+ years) were gathered from the 2006 and 2010 Rugby World Cups (n = 528), and from Canadian (n = 1,477) and New Zealand (NZ; n = 14,016) developmental leagues. Player birthdates were categorized into quartiles based on their respective registration cut-off dates. Using chi-square analyses, there is evidence of a RAE in Canadian developmental women's rugby [x2 (3) = 15.39, p < .05; w = .10], specifically in the Under (U)-15 [x2 (3) = 12.32, p < .05; w = .22] and U-18 [x2 (3) = 12.32, p < .05; w = .10] age levels. No evidence of a RAE in women's 2006 and 2010 World Cup players [x2 (3) = .17, p > .05; w = .01] or in the U-21 NZ players [x2 (3) = 7.75, p > .05; w = .02] was found, however it appears that physical maturation plays a role in the U-8 NZ players [x2 (3) = 50.12, p < .05; w = .13]. Results will be discussed with reference to current RAE literature.

Acknowledgments: Kristen Burne