THERE’S palpable excitement already, ahead of the 2025-26 season, in the Women’s Student Rugby League.
The fledgling competition completed a second successful campaign earlier this month when Northumbria 1st (as the Rugby Football League quite properly likes to call them) accounted for Liverpool (termed, again quite properly, as the University of Liverpool by the RFL).
Half-a-dozen teams contested what was the second pilot campaign, and they were the same six as in 2023-24, with Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham and Northumbria A (or, with cap doffed to the RFL, Northumbria 2nd) joining who are already looking like the perennial ‘big two’, Liverpool and Northumbria having gone head-to-head in the inaugural clash, which the lasses from the north east won rather more comfortably than they did recently.
Everyone is now looking to the future, including I’m sure the good folk at British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) who surely – surely – cannot fail to have been impressed by the sterling work undertaken by the RFL’s national education manager Andrea Murray and the clubs themselves.
Yes, it’s unfortunate that Nottingham were unable to stay the course last season, after having struggled for numbers in the opening campaign, but I know from personal experience that there are some real stalwarts at the Midlands outfits, while a real strength of student sport is that there is inevitably a fresh cohort of new players available every autumn.
I’m sure Nottingham’s committee, with the help of Murray and her colleagues, will tap efficiently and enthusiastically into that pool.
And I suspect that full use can be made of the university’s successful men’s team, which lifted the National Trophy last Wednesday with a 34-4 win over Liverpool John Moores.
Freddie Ziegler, the England Students international who had such a huge impact in the triumph five days ago, could quite possibly play the role of talisman to telling effect.
I’m hoping to be able to report, come September or October, that ten teams will contest next season, with eight at least on the agenda.
Leeds Beckett are, it seems, inked in, while the likes of Salford and Uclan – and, I think, Hull – are strong candidates.
That group takes us to nine if Nottingham can (which I’m confident will be the case) remain in the fray, so Murray and her comrades are within touching distance of the ‘magic’ number which, in turn, can pretty much be guaranteed to turn heads at BUCS.
And that, consequently, would lead to vital funding and, almost inevitably, to further expansion.
Heady days, indeed, in what is a real growth area in grassroots Rugby League.
Another area that us burgeoning is Wales, where South Wales Jets have made immense progress since their launch in 2023.
South Wales Jets have been instrumental in forming their ‘sister’ club, West Wales Jets, and last week were able to announce that, jointly, the Jets ‘brand’ has around 500 players registered, from junior and youth levels to open age.
Phew – that really is astonishing and at that rate of progress (and with the wise owls of the Wales RL offering practical support) it’s no surprise that Liam Price and his colleagues are talking in terms of joining Betfred League One within a decade.
At the current rate of progress such a development is certainly achievable and, if it does come to pass, would be a huge boost to domestic Rugby League in this country, which would benefit from an increased professional presence in Wales.
I’ve also been delighted to publish details, in today’s League Express, of the 2025 Varsity Match, which actually took place the Friday before last.
I struggled to get details of scorers (indeed, as I mentioned in last week’s issue, I only learned that the game was taking place by chance) but Rob Ashton, who happens to be the coach of Cambridge, the defeated side, came to my rescue, and I’m very grateful to him.
I plan to have a chat with Rob this week ahead of an article to be published soon.
I’ve long felt that the Varsity Match is a very important event in the Rugby League calendar but since the tireless Mark Ramsdale withdrew from the scene (I understand that he’s now in New Zealand, and he is certainly a big loss) it seems to have slipped off the RFL’s agenda.
Perhaps this is one of the issues that Nigel Wood OBE, who has returned to the RFL as chair of its Implementation Committee, will address.
I fully appreciate that Wood has plenty on his plate regarding the professional game, initially, but I know for a fact that he has strong links to the amateur game, stretching back to when he played in the Bradford League.
As such he fully recognises how vital the health of the grassroots is to the sport as a whole, including with knowledge gained from his time on the Joint Policy Board which, around a quarter of a century ago, brought together key figures from the professional arena and the British Amateur Rugby League Association in a process that eventually led to unification.
I hope to catch up with him, once he’s got his foot under the table, to get his thoughts on the success or otherwise of that venture, and on his plans for the future of the grassroots.
