THE Great Britain Lionesses of 1996 have been chosen as the first team to be inducted into the RFL Hall of Fame.
After the latest inductions, which will take place at an induction dinner hosted by Rugby League Cares on Tuesday, October 22, there will be 41 individual players in the select group.
That’s with the additions of Super League greats Jamie Peacock and Paul Sculthorpe, women’s pioneers Jane Banks and Michelle Land, and posthumous inductions for James Lomas and Alan Prescott.
Never before has a whole team been inducted, but the Lionesses will be the first to receive the honour.
They are the last British team to win an Ashes series against Australia, having won the second and third match of a three-game series in Brisbane and Sydney respectively.
The Lionesses also won matches against Sydney Select XIII, Australian Capital Territories, Queensland and a President’s Select XIII, to return from down under with six wins from seven in total.
Women’s rugby league was not even recognised by the RFL in 1996, so the players had to fund the entire trip themselves and arrange their own accommodation, transport and training facilities.
The 26-player squad included Banks and Land plus the first female trio to join the Hall of Fame, captain Brenda Dobek, Lisa McIntosh and Sally Milburn.
RFL chief executive Tony Sutton said: “When introducing a new teams category into the Hall of Fame we wanted to set a very high bar for entry, and there can be no doubt that the Great Britain women’s tour team of 1996 meet that bar.
“What they achieved with so little backing, both at home or in Australia, is simply outstanding and a huge credit to the quality of everyone involved.
“Thankfully, women’s and girls’ rugby league now gets the recognition and support it so richly deserves and the many thousands of female players we have in the game owe a great debt to these pioneering legends.”
Peacock won nine Super League titles – still a record – and four Challenge Cups across his time with Bradford and Leeds.
He also appeared 47 times internationally for Great Britain and England, including captaining a Lions win in Australia in 2006.
Sculthorpe is the only player to win the Man of Steel in successive years, after doing so in 2001 and 2002.
After beginning his career with Warrington, he won Super League, the Challenge Cup and the World Club Challenge three times each with St Helens, and earned 30 international caps.
Banks played 19 times for Great Britain and was named the best player in the 2000 World Series, while Land made 16 Lionesses appearances and captained Wakefield Panthers when they dominated the women’s game.
Lomas played for Bramley, Salford, Oldham and York in the early 20th century, and Alan Prescott starred for St Helens in the 1950s.
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