Pip Marlow is the Managing Director of Microsoft Australia and has been since 2011.
She also loves Rugby. A lot.
Which is why she’s recently been appointed as a Director of the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) Board with one strategic aim: getting more women interested in rugby.
Growing up in New Zealand, Marlow has always been a big rugby fan.
This is a pretty noble goal, and the appointment makes a lot of sense. Who better to get women involved in a male-dominated sport than a woman who has risen to the top of a male-dominated sphere like tech?
“As we work towards delivering our strategic aim of making Rugby a game for everyone, Pip’s appointment comes at an opportune time,” said ARU CEO Bill Pulver.
“We have never been in a better position to engage more girls and women in the Rugby community. With our Australian Women’s Sevens team currently ranked number 1 in the world in the lead up to the Rio Olympic Games, a new strategic plan that is focused on increasing female involvement, and with such strong female representatives at Board level, it is an exciting time for women in Rugby.”
“I have always been passionate about Rugby and am looking forward to having the opportunity to contribute to the growth of the game in Australia,” Added Marlow.
Comments
16 responses to “The Managing Director Of Microsoft Australia Wants To Get More Women Into… Rugby?”
They appointed a New Zealander to the Australian Rugby Union board? Surely that’s a conflict of interest – she’s going to try and bring Australia down from within! 😛
…just after sending Agent Deans back over the ditch, too… 😉
Is that your excuse? Heh..
As a rugby tragic who thinks the last women’s Rugby World Cup was brilliant and should have been seen by a lot more people, I applaud this.
Shame about the Rebels’ poor performance against the Blues last night, but it’s only a trial game (I shall keep telling myself this).
I’d love to be able to watch the Women’s Rugby. Same as the cricket. It’s a travesty that they’re not given any attention.
(Actually living in the US now, I’d love to be able to watch any Rugby or Cricket, but it’s not to be sadly 🙁 )
Six Nations has been on ESPN, so you might get lucky with the Championship too. But yeah, rugby not a huge profile in North America, and cricket’s got no chance.
You’d think there’d be a way to stream it legally over the internet…
Resounding yes to everything about this. If Australian gaming industry can’t get serious and figure out how to lure women, another industry will gladly step in.
Like 20/20 cricket, Rugby Sevens is another flavour that’s great for ‘bringing fans into the game.’
7-aside rugby is going to be an Olympic sport for the first time I believe (which is probably why it’s mentioned above!) and it’s going to explode in popularity, so I say go for it.
Between this, the AFL finally getting serious about a true top-level women’s league, and local soccer officials hopefully soon addressing the issues surrounding their management of the Matildas, elite sport in this country could maybe, finally, turn a huge corner.
While the gaming industry in this country continues to, you know:
https://www.frinkiac.com/img/S05E02/944125.jpg
leave it at that!
Do (many… or enough) women actually want to be part of the rugby industry? More power to them if they do, but I hadn’t realised it was an issue till this article made it seem like one. I mean people need jobs…
https://www.frinkiac.com/img/S05E02/923271.jpg
Pfft. You crazy people north of the border and your ‘Rugby’. 😛
this is ment to be good news alround . last i heard union was close to ending up like the old soccer competition before the A-League came about
The current (men’s) Rugby Union tournament is expanding this year, actually, with the addition of teams from Argentina and Japan. I’m not sure if the sport’s stagnating in Australia but internationally it’s growing fairly nicely.
…plus the National Rugby Championship (bridging Super Rugby and the state first-grade competitions) did better in season 2 than season 1. They’re using it to trial new rules which makes it a mental game to watch, and some of the minor rule tweaks – like not calling a non-straight line-out back if it’s uncontested, and penalties awarded before the siren still lead to a line-out for the attacking team if the ball goes into touch after the siren – actually help the flow of the game and will probably be adopted.
I have to admit, I’ve never really looked at the NRC when it started. I used to periodically pay attention to the New Zealand NPC but it got pretty hard to watch once it split into the ITM cup and the other one.
That’s great and all but can she perhaps concentrate on making Xbox Australia an actual company that looks after its customers instead of a shallow PR echo chamber.
Something like getting more games on the Australian store would be a nice start