Inclusive Brighton is perfect venue for World Cup’s sell-out party weekend

Women’s rugby is proving that it can offer a greater sense of belonging and diversity than other sports.

This weekend at the home of Brighton and Hove Albion, England play Australia and Ireland face New Zealand in the Women's Rugby World Cup. Pic: Ben Whitley/PA Wire.

There will be more attention on Villa Park where England play Andorra and more celebrities at Monza for the Italian Grand Prix, but it’s long odds you’ll find a better party in any corner of world sport than the one being thrown in Brighton this weekend. That’s not because of the fanzones, free concerts, and fireworks, but who’s coming. These dates have been ringed ever since the fixture list was released. Everyone who’s anyone in a sport where everyone is someone seems to be planning to make a big weekend of it. England play Australia on Saturday, New Zealand play Ireland on Sunday. Both matches are sold out.

“An international at Twickenham is more than a mere spectacle,” Alec Waugh once wrote, “it is a gathering of the clan.” It’s true in Brighton, too, although it will be a very different sort of crowd from the one who used to fill the West Stand in Waugh’s day.