The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is celebrating a number of achievements on female participation as the Harvey Norman Women in League Round for 2022 was launched this week.
The initiative calls on the Rugby League community to support women at all levels across the game, with this year’s theme ‘Play Your Part to Change the Story’ encouraging people both on and off the field to promote more opportunities for women.
This year, a record number of female participants registered across NSW leagues— 22,906 in total, up by roughly 3,000 from last year.
One team, Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues, made NSWRL history by becoming the first team ever to have an all-female coaching staff, with Kylie Hilder and her assistants — former NSW captain Ruan Sims and Kate Mullaly, who is also the coach of City Women’s Under 19s.
This season marked a record number of female coaching appointments for its 2022 Country and City representative teams, including Cheyanne Hatch, Kellie Stout, Alicia-Kate Hawke and Melissa Spero.
NSWRL Chief Executive David Trodden said the recent successes of Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues and Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Under 19s were “a great thrill to watch” and that he was looking forward to watching players continue to prosper in future years.
“The players are all wonderful role models who represent the success you can achieve as a female player,” Trodden said.
Last month, the Harvey Norman NSW Sky Blues won the Origin Shield against Queensland at GIO Stadium in Canberra, while the Harvey Norman NSW Women’s Under 19s won their game against the maroons at Leichhardt Oval in Sydney.
“The growth of the women’s game has been phenomenal, and it is pleasing to see the progress that has been made in establishing pathways from grassroots all the way through to the representative arena,” Trodden said.
In the Northern Rivers Region competitions, female participation increased by 24 per cent as new games were kicking off for Under 14s, Under 17s and Open Age.
The number of players in the North Coast Women’s Premiership grew by 11 per cent, while the Newcastle and Hunter Rugby League expanded its teams with an extra 884 registered players across the region.
The Northern Region is planning to introduce a women’s Open Age tackle competition in October, while competitions in Newcastle, Maitland and Central Coast region are planned for the 2023 season.
Harvey Norman CEO, and founder of Women in League Round, Katie Page said the initiative was created “to ensure the code is a true reflection of all the faces in the crowd, at training or on the couch watching at home.”
“When we started Harvey Norman Women in League Round in 2007, we wanted to recognise the thousands of women who work tirelessly in voluntary roles to bind and drive the rugby league community from the grassroots,” Page said at the launch earlier this week.
“We need to step up and not get complacent. Over the 16 years we have built the pathways to increase female participation across the board, but now we need to ask ourselves what we want to achieve by 2026, when we celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Harvey Norman Women in League. Now is the time to set new targets and we need to aim high.”
Education programs were also offered this year, including the Women in Sport Leadership initiative conducted in April, which helped 13 female coaches develop their leadership skills.
The NSW Government has already signed on to commit $50,000 in funding for future programs.
At the launch this week, NRL CEO, Andrew Abdo, said that Harvey Norman Women in League Round was a chance to celebrate women’s progress in the sport while also addressing the issues that required improvement.
“But this round is also a reminder that we need to keep working for greater representation at all levels of the game – particularly when it comes to leadership positions across the game and creating pathways for future executives.”
“Like any high performing team, we need everyone in the Rugby League community to play their part to change the story.”