Although London Broncos men’s team face relegation, it’s not all doom and gloom for the capital club as their women’s team travels in the opposite direction towards promotion, writes IAN GOLDEN.
LONDON BRONCOS’ women’s head coach Colin Baker was delighted at his side’s RFL Championship South Grand Final win over Cardiff Demons in early September, but he knows that the job isn’t over yet.
The Broncos had to travel to the Welsh capital to defend their title and they won in style with a 28-8 victory, the scoreline in each half being equal at 14-4.
It was the third time that these two sides had met this season, with London winning twice, including this one when it really mattered.
It now means that they’re two games away from promotion into the Women’s Super League, just as their men’s side are preparing to go down.
But unlike in the men’s game, it’s the old fashioned quality on the pitch that’s the deciding factor and London now need to beat the winners of the Northern Championship, Leigh Leopards, in neutral Birmingham on Sunday, September 29th, with the victors of that game taking on Super League’s bottom side Featherstone Rovers in a final play-off which will be played as a curtain raiser to the Women’s Super League Grand Final on Sunday, 6th October.
Baker said: “It’s been a really challenging season in a lot of ways. We started with the Challenge Cup which was played during a tough time as we didn’t have anywhere to train at the start of the year and had to find different venues.
“But whilst it’s been challenging, days like this (the final against Cardiff) make it worthwhile. But we don’t want to finish yet. It’s going to be a different challenge and whoever we play in the national final, we’ll have prepared well – we’ve played Cardiff three times this season and every time was a challenge. We’ve had other tough games this year, but hopefully the games against Cardiff will stand us in good stead.”
Most eyes will be on the London Broncos men’s side who, thanks to the IMG ratings were doomed before a ball was kicked. They’ve seen improvement in recent weeks and have been unfortunate not to have a few more wins under their belts. Baker says that two more good performances from his side will help to lift the club as a whole.
“For women’s rugby league, it’ll be a real positive thing if we can go all the way,” he said. “Whether it was us or Cardiff, to increase the demographic at the top level is good for the sport, in terms of nationally with the coverage we’ll get and the spread of the game.
“From the club’s point of view, it’s well documented what’s happening with the men’s side and we’re all really upset about that, so if we can bring some positivity to the club, then that’s a good thing. However, the men’s side have also been positive with their performances near to the end of this season. We hope to increase that positivity with a couple more wins.”
Looking at the bigger picture of women’s rugby league in the south of Britain, London and Cardiff have been head and shoulders above the rest. If London go up to Super League, there are fears that Cardiff may not have a lot of competitive opposition with both The Army and Bedford Tigers, the only other teams in the Championship South this year, pulling out of their respective semi-finals.
So perhaps a restructure is in order with a chance for Cardiff, and London if they stay down, to join the other northern sides and for the Championship to have just one section next year?
Baker agrees: “I do think that Cardiff, and us if we don’t go up, should be added to the Championship in the north to make a national competition. Some clubs may look at the cost factor for that, but perhaps we should play each other just the once, so if both Cardiff and us remain in the Championship, they only have one trip down south, and that fixture gets reversed next year?
“There are a lot of ways where it could be made to work and you could get the right number of fixtures from it too. Again, that would improve the diversity of that competition. Next year, you’d have Cardiff in there at least, and anybody then looking at the Championship will see it’s a good diverse competition with an extended demographic.
“The problem we’ve had so far is that regions develop at a different rate, even within our region and I think Cardiff and us were ahead of everyone else. We’ve really kicked on as have Cardiff, I don’t think anyone else in this competition is any worse than they were in previous years, it’s just they haven’t developed as quickly as us. We want other clubs in the south to thrive, we want other teams playing in the midlands and the south. I’d see a regional League One competition as an important development below the Championship.”
Tom Brindle, the head of development at the Rugby Football League hasn’t ruled any of this out.
“We’ve had a long-term strategy for women’s rugby league,” he said. “This year we’ve moved into phase three of that strategy which is a national pyramid meaning that after three years of playing (from 2021-23), teams in the south now have had a chance to get promoted into Super League. There’s real talent across the whole of England and Wales and we want all women to have the opportunity to play.
“Like every year, we have to review and make some decisions. There are still two games left as to where this leaves the north and south competitions and the promotion into Super League. We know there’s work to do and we’ll keep looking at it.
“We’ve grown three new leagues this year with a total 11 teams in the midlands and south that we’ve had up and running. The growth is there, it’ll just take some time to build. Whatever we do next season is up for review, but we’ve seen some positive signs and we’ll keep working across the whole country to give women and girls opportunities to play.”
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 501 (October 2024)
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