Women In League

The NRL recently celebrated the ‘Women In League’ round. The NRL reported that at the current progression rate, it would take 136 years to close the gender inequality gap in league. This round saw clubs recognise the women and girls who play and participate in Rugby League.

Every year we see a small increase in the amount of young girls who wish to play footy, with most of them going on to play again the following season.

But the number of boys in a team in comparison under the age of 11, is heavily outweighed. So what can we do as a community to close this gap and encourage young girls to get involved in footy?

Start the conversation and get them thinking about it. Cowra has a strong girls league tag community with 3 junior sides plus a senior side who play every weekend. We can support our females in League by going along to their games, cheering them on and following their progress.

But the female network doesn’t just exist on the field, it stems throughout a club. Have a look around your local footy club during a game day, and take note of the amount of women making the cogs turn on the day, whether it be in the canteen, on the officials table timekeeping, refereeing a game, coach-ing a team, taking photos, setting up for the day or packing down when it’s over, women are a strong presence. Although League is a male dominated sport, it’s time to start the conver-sations and encourage our young girls to strap on the boots and give Rugby League a try. Thank you to all the women in the past and today who have volunteered their time for Rugby League in both junior and senior league. To the young women who have played or still play League Tag or tackle we see you and we support you. And finally to the little girls who wants to play next season, we can’t wait to see you on the field.

• Topics:
• Rugby League