Leeds Rhinos Foundation is supporting an exciting new campaign aiming to get 21,000 Women and Girls playing Rugby League by 2021, which was revealed at the 2019 Women’s Season Launch event at HOME Cinema, Manchester.
The Women’s game has already grown massively with the number of girls teams increasing by 35% and Women’s teams by 38% in 2018 and those involved in the game will work to support the 21 by 21 campaign over the next two years.
Representatives from across the Women’s game were in attendance at the launch including coaches and players from the Women’s Super League, Championship and League 1.
Women’s Rugby League Ambassador and Leeds Rhinos Women’s first team captain Lois Forsell, who has recently been announced as Participant Representative for the RFL Community Board, was joined by Lizzie Jones and Lill Seal, star of the 2019 Women’s Launch video as special guests at the event as they pledged their support for the campaign.
Revealed as a Junior Ambassador for the Women’s and Girls game, 11-year-old Lill is a huge supporter of Women’s Rugby League and regularly attends Bradford Bulls and Leeds Rhinos fixtures amongst others to watch her heroes play. As a young player at Greetland Girls, Lill aspires to play at both club and national level in the future.
Ralph Rimmer, Chief Executive of the RFL said, “It’s fantastic that we’re launching the 21 by 21 campaign to encourage more Women and Girl’s to be involved with Rugby League.
“It’s an ambitious aim but the growth of the Women’s and Girl’s game over the past few years has been huge and I’m sure everyone involved in the game will embrace, encourage and help to achieve the targets that double our numbers.”
As part of the event in partnership with the RLWC2021, the UK launch of ‘Power Meri,’ a film which documents Papua New Guinea’s first national women’s rugby league team, the PNG Orchids, on their journey to the 2017 World Cup in Australia, also took place.
Leeds Rhinos Women kick off their season this Sunday when they welcome Wakefield Trinity Ladies to Sports Park Weetwood, kick off 1pm. All Leeds Rhinos Women’s home Super League games will be streamed live this season so make sure you don’t miss out on any of the action.
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