Women's rugby league



Women's Rugby League is the female-only version of the game rugby league football. There are currently clubs for female only participation running in Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand which are overseen by the various individual organizations of those separate countries and internationally by the Women's & Girls Rugby League.

At International level Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand compete on a regular basis with a Women's Rugby League World Cup held at a regular interval after first being established in 2000.

[edit] Women's & Girls Rugby League
The Women & Girls Rugby League is the international governing body of women's rugby league and was established in 2000 in conjunction with the first Women's Rugby League World Cup.

The organization currently oversees the running of the international game for women's rugby league and helps organize rugby league domestically in several countries.

[edit] Australian Women's Rugby League
The Australian Women's Rugby League (AWRL) is the governing body of female rugby league in Australia and other parts of Oceania and was established in 1993. It currently falls under the Australian Rugby League which oversees its running and management but it took the association five years to be recognized by the ARL.

The AWRL is run at state level by its own governing organizations in the Queensland Women's Rugby League, New South Wales Women's Rugby League, Canberra Women's Rugby League and the Western Australian Women's Rugby League. The main women's competitions in Australia are the Sydney Metro. Women's Rugby League and the QWRL.

At international level the Women's Australian side is commonly referred to as the Australian Jillaroos.

[edit] Rugby Football League
The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body of female rugby league in the United Kingdom; although some activity is run by the independent Women's Amateur Rugby League Association, originally established in 1985. With summer rugby becoming increasingly popular, the appeal of WARLA has wained, with the RFL running the largest women's rugby league competition in the world.

At the beginning of the 2006 season there were between thirty and forty female only rugby league clubs running in England[1] not including clubs that have teams of both sexes. The majority of these clubs are located in Lancashireand Yorkshire.

The Women's Rugby League Conference is a competition for female rugby league teams.

At international level the Women's England side is commonly referred to as the England Lionesses.

[edit] New Zealand Rugby League
Women's rugby league in New Zealand is controlled by the New Zealand Rugby League. The national side is called the Kiwi Ferns.

[edit] International
Currently the following international teams compete on a regular basis:

[edit] Women's Rugby League World Cup
The Women's Rugby League World Cup was first held in Great Britain during 2000 to coincide with men's Rugby League World Cup with Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand competing.

New Zealand went on to win the inaugural tournament as well as winning the 2005 competition five years later in New Zealand. The next competition will be held in Australia in 2008 yet again coinciding with the men's World Cup.