ANIELLE ‘NOLLI’ Waterman is CEO of the Women’s Rugby Association (WRA), a trade union that she co-founded in 2021. The organisation represents more than half of the Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) playing community and recently announced its first elected Players’ Board.
Now living in Rome, Waterman tells us about the work of the WRA and the shape of things to come…
“There wasn’t anything for domestic women’s players in terms of support services. We have a fantastic legal partner, Morgan Sports Law, who have provided pro bono support. Ben Cisneros and Emma Lax, one of our founders, looked at what we could learn from sports across the globe. We want to build our own path. The exec team, which is myself, Emma and Polly Barnes, guide and shape and deliver the running of the association. But the Players’ Board make the decisions. Because this is for the players. We need to make sure that at such a malleable time for the women’s game that the players’ voice is heard. And it needs to be heard from a
