IRFU Launches SROI Project Seeking Important Info From Rugby Community

1st April 2022 By The Editor

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 – to assess and enhance the impact of rugby on Irish Society and to generate data that improves access to public funding for clubs, provinces and the IRFU.

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.

“For the club audit to work, we’ll need 100% of clubs to complete it. It’s like a census for rugby clubs and it’s not something we’ll be doing again for a number of years. Results will be shared with clubs which gives them insights into the social, health and economic benefits of rugby in their local area. This can be really helpful in terms of accessing local grants and funding.

“Separately, we’re asking players and volunteers to take a short individual survey. It’s completed anonymous and a key pillar for the project. We’re also incentivising it so that anyone who completes the survey can win prizes to be shared back into their club membership.”

SROI Individual Survey

Players and volunteers anonymously provide information about playing time, expense incurred and additional information about age, gender, location and income.

Individual Survey – click here

For more information on the survey and why we are asking certain questions click here.