The IRFU is launching its first ever SROI project to calculate the economic and social value of rugby union in Ireland.
SROI stands for Social Return On Investment and the project has two main goals:
- Assess and enhance the impact of rugby on Irish Society
- Generate data that improves access to public funding for clubs, provinces and the IRFU, through survey questions
There are three key pillars to this project. One of these is an internal project within the IRFU and provinces. The other two pillars are of critical importance and rely heavily on information supplied from club administrators as well as club players and volunteers.
The IRFU is asking the rugby community to help with this key project. It will provide a clear picture of where Irish Rugby is in its continued recovery from a global pandemic and direct key projects and strategic planning for the next number of years.
Speaking about the initiative, IRFU SROI Project Lead Lucy Mulhall said: “The IRFU are the first union to undertake this project. We have seen this kind of study carried out in other sports to great effect, but it is reliant on buy-in from our community.
Players and volunteers anonymously provide information about playing time, expense incurred and additional information about age, gender, location and income. The link to the Individual Survey is: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/27S9CZV and we encourage all members to complete it. As well as contributing to the development of rugby, there are prizes to be won!
For more information on the survey and why we are asking certain questions click here.
