HISTORY will be made on Saturday (22 January) when the BARLA Under 12s Yorkshire Cup Final will be controlled by an all-female panel of officials.
Rhiannin Horsman (Leeds Society) will referee the match, between Lock Lane and West Hull, while Annabelle Jackson (Leeds) and Megan Mills (Hull) have been named as touch-judges. The Huddersfield Society’s Beth Neilson is reserve.
The game, at the Millennium Stadium, Post Office Road, Featherstone Rovers, kicks off at 10.30am and is the first of five Yorkshire finals taking place at the famous ground over the weekend.
Yorkshire Match Officials Manager Steve Race said: “When I was given this role back in November I made it a goal to have an all-girls match officials team take charge of a Yorkshire Cup Final for the first time.
“I believe this is huge for our sport, which is male-dominant and has been for decades. It just shows how the game is growing and how many females are wanting to take up the whistle.
“It’s great to see an all-female match officials team take charge of a final. Female involvement is getting stronger and stronger each year and I extend huge congratulations to the girls, who should be proud of their appointments; they’ve been selected in recognition of the hard work and dedication they’ve shown throughout the season.”
BARLA Chair Sue Taylor added: “I would like to congratulate the girls. It’s an honour for them, their families and their respective referees’ societies, and is a reward for the hard work they have all put in to get to this stage of their careers. It will be a day that none of them will ever forget.
“In years to come it will become the norm for all-girls match officials teams to take of games of any genders. Girls taking up the match officials programme will now be aware of the pathway that is open to them.”
The weekend’s schedule is:
Saturday 22 January 2022
UNDER 12S
YORKSHIRE CUP FINAL: Lock Lane v West Hull (10.30am)
UNDER 13S
SUPPLEMENTARY CUP FINAL: Skirlaugh v West Hull (11.45am)
UNDER 13S
YORKSHIRE CUP FINAL: Greetland All Rounders v Lock Lane (1.15pm).
Sunday 23 January 2022
UNDER 12S
SUPPLEMENTARY CUP FINAL: Kippax v Stanningley (10.30am)
UNDER 14S
YORKSHIRE CUP FINAL: East Hull v Siddal (11.45am)
Admission is £3 (£2 concessions, Under 16s free).