TThere can also be no doubting that ladies’s rugby league has made immeasurable strides in recent times. After all, it’s slightly seven years since the most productive feminine avid gamers have been competing on fields suffering from damaged glass and in entrance of the ordinary canine walker. Yet on Sunday, when the 7th installment of the Women’s Super League starts, for the primary time there can be extra than simply issues at the line.
Last autumn’s World Cup produced file crowds for the ladies’s recreation and a sense that the game is on an upward trajectory. That was once then emphasised inside of weeks of England’s defeat within the semi-finals with information that Leeds and York, the WSL’s two main lighting fixtures, would pay their avid gamers in 2023. It is a seismic second which is able to turn out to be truth when the pair face off at Headingley in a rematch of closing yr’s Grand Final, which was once received via Leeds.
The season opener would be the first a part of a double header, adopted via the Rhinos’ males taking up Huddersfield Giants at 6pm.
“I’m excited but apprehensive,” says former Leeds and England prop Danika Priim. “There desperately needs to be some kind of build and legacy from the World Cup. There’s no doubt it’s going to be the best season in terms of the caliber of players, the standard of the athletes and the chance to build on the World Cup. But it has to deliver to continue the trajectory we’ve enjoyed in recent years.”
There is a devil in the detail of Leeds’ and York’s payment structure. The players from both sides will earn win bonuses rather than a match fee, meaning that only the victors will get paid £50 per player. That fee will rise to about £100 if either side are victorious in the playoffs or Challenge Cup come the business end of the season and while it is certainly still some way even from part-time, it is undoubtedly a step forward.
“Whoever wins on Sunday gets some pay, the first time it’s ever happened in women’s rugby league,” Priim, now a TV pundit, says. “They’re going to be on Sky Sports on a massive Easter weekend, which is so important too. The girls don’t want people to think they’re getting paid like the men because we need to understand there’s still a way to go. It’s a great step forward, and that £50 could pay for a girl’s travel for the week, or help feed their family.
“There’s no doubt we’re moving the right way. And I’m sure the clubs see it that way too and hopefully realize that there’s scope to put more money into the game as the year goes on, and we roll into 2024 and towards the World Cup in 2025.”
The growth has already been felt beyond the WSL, too, with a 200% rise in new teams and participation numbers for girls under 16 since the World Cup.
That will mean more depth as the next World Cup, in France in 2025, approaches. At present, there is a clear gulf between Leeds, York, St Helens and the other nine teams that will compete this year. That admittedly cannot be improved overnight but is an issue in regards to one-sided games.
“We’re looking for a fourth strong team and then a fifth to really help the development of the game and expose our girls to high-intensity games on a regular basis,” the brand new England trainer, Stuart Barrow, says. “But the increase in player participation at younger ages will reap some rewards long-term. By the time you get to 2025 you’ll have more really strong teams and a significantly bigger player pool to pick from.”
England’s impressive displays in the World Cup did not go unnoticed in Australia, either. Whereas Leeds and York have laid the first foundations towards professionalism in the WSL, the NRLW is predominantly full-time, leading to the expectation some of the best English talent who will be on display such as Leeds’ Fran Goldthorp and York’s Hollie Dodd could head out down as early as this year.
“I think it’s great we’re seeing our best players get attention from those clubs,” Barrow says. “If some of them take that opportunity it can only benefit women’s rugby league in this country moving forwards.”
But in terms of the WSL’s continued growth, investment is crucial, and the support from the men’s Super League sides will be on display again this year. Leeds have promised to reinvest any money the women’s side makes back into their WSL team and many more of their games after Sunday’s will be Headingley double-headers alongside their male equivalents.
Professionalism might nonetheless be some distance off but if the WSL’s two very best facets sq. off in entrance of hundreds of enthusiasts in Leeds, it no doubt is not going to really feel find it irresistible. And that by myself, for a recreation being performed in park fields not up to a decade in the past, is but every other step in the proper course.