Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol
Sign up for the latest news and ticket information.
Sign Up
rugbyworldcup.com
World Rugby
Website language English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Symbol Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo
Listen Live
  • Teams
  • Video
  • News
  • Media
  • Teams
  • Video
  • News
  • Draw
  • Tickets
  • Visit
  • Venues
  • Qualifiers
  • Volunteer
  • HOSPITALITY
  • Media
  • Women In Rugby
  • Back to Rugby World Cup
  • Back to World.Rugby
Website language English
  • English
  • Français
  • Español
  • 日本語
  • Visit
  • Venues
  • Qualifiers
  • Volunteer
  • HOSPITALITY
  • Media
  • Women In Rugby
  • Back to Rugby World Cup
  • Back to World.Rugby

Our Social Channels

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
Latest News
Rugby World Cup 2021 Draw

RWC 2021

Wed 16 December, 2020

New Zealand confirm Rugby World Cup 2021 coaching intern

World Rugby and New Zealand Rugby today announced that New Zealand Barbarians assistant coach Whitney Hansen will join the Black Ferns management team as their selected Rugby World Cup 2021 coach intern.
Nicki Nicol

Women in Rugby

Fri 11 December, 2020

Resilient Nicki Nicol helping New Zealand Rugby rebuild from COVID-19

World Rugby Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship recipient is playing a key role in the efforts to limit the impact of the pandemic on the game in New Zealand.
Ireland v Australia - Women's Rugby World Cup 2017

RWC 2021

Thu 10 December, 2020

Sophie Spence keen to learn and improve through RWC 2021 Coaching Internship Programme

The former Ireland international talks to World Rugby about joining the Wales coaching staff on the road to New Zealand 2021.
Sophie Spence

RWC 2021

Wed 9 December, 2020

Wales Women confirm Rugby World Cup 2021 coaching intern

World Rugby and the Welsh Rugby Union today announced that former Ireland international Sophie Spence will join the Wales Women management team as their selected Rugby World Cup 2021 coach intern.
Rugby - 2019 Rugby Africa Womens Cup - South Africa v Kenya - Bosman Stadium - Brakpan - South Africa

Rugby World Cup

Thu 3 December, 2020

Zenay Jordaan “proud” of South Africa career as she looks ahead to Rugby World Cup 2021

The Springbok Women fly-half talks to World Rugby about her 11-year international career, which could stretch to a sixth Rugby World Cup appearance in 2021.
Latest Videos
WR awards thumb
1:36:38 mins

Awards

Mon 7 December, 2020

World Rugby Awards Special Edition - watch the whole show

Re-live the World Rugby Awards Special Edition and find out the winners of the Player, Try and Team of the Decade 2010-19 for both men and women, plus celebrate rugby's heroes of COVID-19.
Full Draw ceremony for Rugby World Cup 2021
27:21 mins

RWC 2021

Thu 19 November, 2020

Full Draw ceremony for Rugby World Cup 2021

Live show hosts and interviewers react post-draw
01:20 mins

Thu 19 November, 2020

Live show hosts and interviewers react post-draw

Live programme hosts Elma Smit and Ugo Monye spoke with New Zealand broadcasters and co-hosts Karl Tenana and Rikki Swannell after the draw.
Alycia Washington USA post-draw interview
03:04 mins

Thu 19 November, 2020

Alycia Washington USA post-draw interview

Kendra Cocksedge NZL Post-draw interview
03:12 mins

Thu 19 November, 2020

Kendra Cocksedge NZL Post-draw interview

Women in Rugby
Saturday 09 January, 2021

Angela del Pan: Retention key to growth of women’s rugby in Spain

Presented By
The World Rugby Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship recipient and former Spain international discusses her hopes for the future of the game in the Iberian country.
  • label.share.via_facebook_messenger
  • label.share.via_whatsapp
  • label.share.via_facebook
  • label.share.via_twitter
  • label.share.via_copy
    URL Copied

Angela del Pan has witnessed first-hand the increase in numbers of women participating in rugby in Spain, and she has a plan to ensure that encouraging growth continues.

When Del Pan first picked up a rugby ball, at the turn of the century, there were around 900 registered female players in the Iberian country. In the next decade and a half that number swelled to 2,600.

Following the appearance of Del Pan and her team-mates at the Olympic Games 2016 in Rio, however, participation levels doubled, and the Spanish Rugby Federation’s (FER) ‘Mujeres en Rugby’ (‘Women in Rugby’) programme targeted an increase to around 6,000 registered players by the end of 2020.

Del Pan retired from playing following Rugby World Cup 2017. Having earned a Master’s degree in sports management while working as the team manager for the women’s sevens and 15s national squads, she was appointed High Performance Operations Manager at the FER at the end of 2019.

The former back-row was also awarded a World Rugby Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship in March. And, although the past year has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, she was keen to use those opportunities to encourage more Spanish players to remain in rugby once they hang up their boots.

“I've been looking at the research for my scholarship colleagues and they have done amazing work focusing on development and representation, and empowering women's rugby and coaching, which I think is the key to make this sport grow,” Del Pan told World Rugby.

“I think mostly we take care of the players when they're playing and then we have to take care of them to put them again in the ‘rugby wheel’ because normally they retire and then they find a job and they just disappear. 

“So, I thought, if we have the best people in rugby working in our country to grow our rugby, in the end we will have really good rugby. You're going to improve this sport.”

Learning and improving

As High Performance Operations Manager, Del Pan is in daily contact with Spain’s best players and believes she and her team are “responsible for the well-being of the [national] teams”. Part of that role extends to helping with the transition once the time to retire comes.

Her enrolment on the Women’s Executive Leadership Scholarship has also proved beneficial, despite the pandemic, as she attempts to enhance her management skills for the benefit of the FER.

Plans to travel to the USA to experience the “number one country in sports high performance” had to be shelved, but she has instead used the time to return to the classroom and is looking at options for alternative study tours in the future.

“I expect to learn the tools that allow me to improve any project by leading,” she said. 

“Not only in my professional life, [but] in my general life. Because I think this scholarship makes you learn and improve your leadership in a way that is going to make you enjoy every part of the job or anything you do.”

Del Pan has certainly gained a lifetime of enjoyment from the game since she followed her sister down to their local rugby club as a 13-year-old.

“I just found rugby [to be] amazing,” she said.

“It was like a family, and when you're a kid… it's really nice to have these people supporting you every day. Not only just training, I mean, they take care of you in your normal life.

“I don't know how to describe it, I always say rugby is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle.”

‘Unlocking a whole new life’

It was as she progressed from her club side to regional representation and ultimately the Spanish national team that Del Pan realised, “Well, maybe I'm not that bad, I can do something here”.

“It felt like unlocking a whole new life,” she said when asked to describe the feeling of playing for Spain for the first time. 

“To be honest, I was so scared. I met fear and disappointment for the first time in my life that I can recall. I was just 18 years old, I mean, I was a baby.

“But, I felt so happy and so proud of wearing the jersey with my girls. And, it made like a click in me, [to say]: ‘Damn, I want this forever’.”

She would go on to represent her country at two Rugby World Cups and as many Rugby World Cup Sevens, as well as on the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, but her proudest achievement remains booking Spain’s ticket to Rio.

“We got the last ticket to Rio in Dublin. We were playing in the last qualifier of the last qualifier to get that ticket,” Del Pan explained. 

“I was so happy there and so proud of my team, because we made it. I mean, we worked so hard for it. It was a dream come true because since I started playing rugby, this is what I wanted, to be with my team there.”

Del Pan says she was honoured to “represent every single Spanish rugby girl in the biggest sporting event in the world” five years ago. That is a community that will only grow in future if the 35-year-old has anything to do with it.

READ MORE: Ben Ryan’s seven women’s players to watch at the Tokyo Olympics >>

Rugby World Cup 2021 - Logo

Teams

Video

News

Volunteer

Tickets

  • Rugby World Cup Limited © 2007 - 2021. All Rights Reserved.
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Cookies Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Rugby World Cup
  • World Rugby Media Zone

Managing Cookies on the Rugby World Cup 2021 website

We use cookies to help make our sites function properly. We would also like to use cookies to continually improve our sites, offer you a better experience and deliver personalised content to you. Our use of cookies is described further in our Cookies Policy.

You can enable all optional cookies by clicking “Accept All Cookies”. You can also choose to adjust your cookie settings and select to have only necessary cookies and the cookies you wish to be deployed to be used.

Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences.

Necessary Cookies

Necessary cookies enable basic functionality on our sites such as page navigation, access to secure areas, authenticating logins, and the delivery of other core functions. This category of cookies cannot be disabled on our sites. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of these sites will not then work.

Cookie Consent: Analytics

We would like to use Analytics cookies provided by Google to help us to improve our website by collecting and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited these sites and will not be able to monitor their performance.

Cookie Consent: Advertising

We would also like to use advertising cookies, which collect information, and combine it with previously collected information, to select and deliver advertisements for you, and to measure the delivery and effectiveness of such advertisements. This includes using previously collected information about your interests to select ads, processing data about what advertisements were shown, how often they were shown, when and where they were shown, and whether you took any action related to the advertisement, including for example clicking an ad. These cookies may be on-site cookies or third party cookies.