W6N Match Data 2007-22

Data compiled from a variety of sources covering the matches in the Women's Six Nations, from when Italy replaced Spain in 2007 (bringing the competition in line with the men's) until 2022.

What is this dataset for?

Primarily, this is to explore year-on-year trends for the Women's Six Nations, for example looking at trends in attendance to see how women's rugby has grown since 2007, or looking at who has won the most matches and by what kinds of margins. This is not about the events within individual matches beyond the points that are scored; rather, it gives us an impression of the growth and development of the competition.

Why is this dataset important?

To my knowledge, this is the largest collation of Women's Six Nations attendance records, at least that is publicly available. Given the amount of legwork that was required to compile all the numbers, I can say this with a pretty high degree of certainty. We can use the data here to really understand how women's rugby has grown as a sport, with the aid of geographical information to tell us the best kinds of grounds to host matches to draw the most fans.

What kind of information is here?

• Match IDs (ID)
• Dates, presented both as year/month/day (integer, string, integer) columns and as a single cell (datetime)
• Home and away teams (string)
• Attendance (integer; where possible)
• Venue (string; with names normalised across all years, to be able to compare)
• Region of venue (string)
• Home and away team points (integer)
• Winner (string)

What kind of information is not?

Data not in this dataset includes things like players, captains, coaches, referees, etc., and there is no details of who scored which points and when. Points difference and overall winners are not included, although should be calculable from the data that's available.

How can I use this data with other people's data?

The match IDs should allow you to join with other datasets; for example one with full team sheets for each match, or one that goes into more detail about scoring, cards, subs, etc. in each match. The world is your oyster!