Today is International Women’s Day, and hullfc.com sat down with Hull FC Women’s player Jade Key for a feature-length interview to discuss how Rugby League has become more inclusive for female players in the region in recent years.
Jade, who is 32-years old, has been playing Rugby League for the majority of her life.
Back when she was just a little girl at the age of six, Jade was inspired by the Black & Whites, having watched Hull FC at The Boulevard with her dad. But when she went to join West Hull’s junior team, she quickly discovered that she was the only girl in the team.
In fact, she would scarcely come across another female in an opposition team.
Such were the lack of provisions for young girls playing Rugby League in the late 1990s, that once Jade reached the age of 11, she was stopped from playing for West Hull.
Whilst she stayed within the sport as a match official for a while, it wasn’t until West Hull established a Women’s team that Jade was able to be reunited with playing the sport. After ten years of playing at Johnny Whiteley Park, she moved to play for her beloved Hull FC once a Women’s team had been established at the Black & Whites.
The Women’s game has completely skyrocketed in the last few years, and Jade is thrilled to see the progress Hull FC are making with giving more and more local young girls the opportunity to play Rugby League.
“You only have to go back a few years and there was no Under 12s or Under 14s Girls teams in Hull,” she said.
That has obviously changed, and we have some really competitive girls teams that are creating development platforms for girls playing Rugby League, starting with an Under 12s team,” she said.
“The whole Women’s game is on the rise. It’s hitting the TV more and more now, which is going to bring more revenue and more investment to the sport.”
Now there are over 100 females representing Hull FC in a playing capacity. That stretches all the way from the Women’s team, right down to the Under 12s Girls squad. It also includes female players for the club’s Wheelchair and Learning Disability teams, with more and more provisions available for women wanting to play Rugby League.
In particular, the new formation of an Under 18s team at Hull FC will look to help bridge the gap for young females making the step up into open-age Rugby League.
“It’s great to see some of the Under 18s players feed into the Women’s team – they bring so much energy and they are the future of the Women’s game,” she said.
“Two of our Under 18s players are part of England’s DiSE programme, and they are already starting to push the Women’s squad for starting positions.
“The maturity from the girls who have stepped up this year and also last year has helped build a whole new culture for the team.
“I’ll mention Charlie Lawson as a good example. She’s only 18 but she’s already been selected to become part of the new-look leadership group for the new season by the coaching staff.”
Hull FC’s Women’s team get their 2024 campaign started with a trip to face Wakefield Trinity Women next Sunday.
It’s a young Black & Whites squad, with many of the young stars ready to spread their wings in open-age Women’s Rugby League, as Jade expresses her excitement for the season ahead.
“With the amount of Under 18s who have made the step up and new recruits I am genuinely excited,” she said.
“Like in any competition, we want to win. We’ve trained hard as a unit during pre-season with our new layout, adding to the intensity.
“We’re just in the final stages before our first match and we are really starting to see the benefits on and off the pitch, because competition for places are really high.”
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