Formed 2004 ... Herts 7s U14 Runners-up 2005 ... North Herts U14 team, Herts Youth Games 2005 runners-up (coached by Letchworth)... Herts Superteams U14 Runners-up 2005 ... Herts SuperTeams "Fairplay" winners 2006 ... Rochford 10s U17 Champions 2006 ... East Midlands 10s U17 Runners-up 2007 ... East Midlands 10s U17 "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... National 10s U17 5th place and "Fairplay" winners 2007 ... Herts 7s U17 Plate runners-up 2007 ... National 7s U17 Plate winners 2007 ... RFU "President's XV" Award winners 2007 ... Herts Superteams winners 2007 ... Midlands 10s U18 Runners-up 2008 ... National 10s U18 4th place 2008 ... North Herts U11 team, Herts Youth Games 2008 runners-up (coached by Letchworth girls) ... London and SE 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2008 ... Herts 7s U18s runners-up 2008 ... National 7s U18s quarter-finalists 2008 ... Gloucester City 10s U18 Bowl runner-up (6th) 2009 ... Worthing 10s U18 Plate runner-up 2009 ... National 7s U18 Plate winners 2009... Worthing 10s U15 Plate winners 2010... Worthing 10s U18 Shield winners 2010... Herts 7s U15 and U18 Bowl runners-up 2010... National 7s U18 Plate runners-up 2010...

Saturday, January 22, 2011

The other side of the fence

Women's and girls' Rugby League gets an occasional mention on here, partly because it is assumed that readers will be interested, and partly because the problems and pressures faced by both games are rather similar - except that Women's Rugby League gets even less publicity, on a national level, than Union and, you would expect (given the stereotypical southern view of northern folk) face an even tougher problem with the attitudes of those in charge.

Its therefore often a pleasant task to report how positive the RFL have been in their efforts to support their women's game - certainly the failure of last summer's abortive RL session which our ex-Legends tried to take part in was in no way the fault of the organisers, but rather a chronic lack of ambition and foresight from local women's teams.

I mention this because an interesting article has appeared on the BARLA (British Amateur Rugby League Association) website, summarising the pressures, problems and ambitions of the women's game - interesting because anyone from women's union reading this will experience massive feelings of deja vu as they read it, from the dedicated few at the centre trying to expand the game - and the dominance of New Zealand at the international level - to the inability of clubs to send in match reports or give any importance to publicity generally (I just mention this because I suspect the non-appearance of all of the results from the last round of women's county games is certainly not the fault of the RFUW).

I am also left wondering why the two sports - particularly at the youngest junior levels (where the rules are most similar and the skills all but identical) - fail to work together, or even acknowledge each other's existence.

1 comment:

  1. Oxbridge player7:48 PM

    Just thought you might be interested to find out - Oxford and Cambridge contested the first ever women's rugby league varsity last year.

    There are 3 terms in our academic year, and the union season ends at the end of the second with the varsity match, and so it was decided last year to try and spend a term on rugby league, and it brought a lot of new players to the union team as a result!!

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