‘A different level’: York beat Leeds on record day for women’s rugby league

If you were on the hunt for an afternoon of sporting progressivism and a sign of a sport evidently on the up, there weren’t many better places to be on Sunday afternoon than Headingley.

While Yorkshire’s County Championship opener against Leicestershire was played to a finale in front of a few hundred members on one side of the Headingley campus, on the other side of the new multimillion-pound stand which punctures the skyline in this particular part of north Leeds, the records tumbled on a momentous day for women’s rugby league. For context, just a few years ago, clubs such as Leeds and York didn’t even have women’s rugby league sides.

In fact, the best players in the country were restricted to performing on local playing fields in front of a few dog walkers, with those early trailblazers of the women’s game always quick to recall the tales of clearing broken glass off the fields before they put their kit on. The question was always going to be what sort of a legacy the 2023 Women’s Super League could build after last year’s World Cup: here, we got a pretty encouraging opening answer.

“The women’s game has the potential to be the fastest-growing and most exciting part of rugby league,” the Leeds head coach, Lois Forsell, said. “It’s a slow burner, though; we’ve got to be patient and we’ve got to get it right.”

Leeds have made the commitment to playing as many of their WSL games alongside their male counterparts in double-headers this year. Others have followed suit, too. But the Rhinos women’s side is building a core support all of its own, evidenced by the number of young girls here sporting shirts adorning the names of their new heroes, players such as the England superstar Amy Hardcastle and the New Zealand sensation