Here's a real piece of rugby league history.

This trophy was named in honour of Ann Gibson, a women's RL pioneer from Keighley.

We'd love to find out more about Ann - as well as the trophy.

If you can help, please get in touch via DM or email us at [email protected]

These fantastic pics were shared with us by women's RL pioneer Allison Fallon.

We're really looking forward to hearing Allison's story for our new project 'The Pioneering Years' and we'd love to hear yours, too.

You can get in touch via DM or email [email protected]

On this day in 2018, the Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ Womens Team played their first match against Featherstone Rovers, winning 54-0 before going on to win the Grand Final later the same season. This Friday, they will play their first game at the DW Stadium against Barrow

History 💪

Tara Jones has become the first woman to referee a men's professional northern hemisphere rugby league game.

#BBCRL

👏 Congratulations to St.Helens Women and England Rugby League player Tara Jones on her first professional game as a referee!

🫡 Tara has made history and is the first woman to referee a senior domestic professional Rugby League fixture in the Northern Hemisphere!

Looking forward to joining the Sporting Heritage online conference next month to hear from empowering sporting heroes & get inspired by projects & organisations that are similar to our own!

Want to join us? Register here for FREE: bit.ly/3TAB430

📅 May 9am to 3:30pm.

Another excellent snippet sent to us from the personal collection of Jill Deadman!

We're digging deep in to the collection now, ready for the next stage of our project 🌟The Pioneering Years!🌟 Got something stored away that you think might pique our interest? Get in touch!

We've had a whole host of press clippings and memorabilia sent by Jill Deadman! Articles such as this will help us to paint a picture of where women's RL started, & the people who helped to build the women's game - we can't wait to get stuck in to recording this history!

🚨IMPORTANT UPDATE! 2024 Sporting Heritage Online Conference

🗓️Thursday, May 9th - 9:45am – 3:30pm

We've shifted our conference online. Join us virtually, FREE of charge!

Details & Registration: bit.ly/3TAB430

#SportingHeritage24

Some interesting comments and phrases used in this 1991 Premiership Trophy Final Programme whilst detailing the rise of the women's game... 👀

Big thank you to Angela Potter for sending through this article from 1989 📰 it's clippings such as this that are helping us to paint a picture of the origins of the women's game, and to recognise the pioneers of the sport.

Great article about the success of York Ladies ARL team, sent to us by International Women's Rugby League icon (and former York Ladies Captain) Julie Cronin.

Interesting to read of the struggles for sponsorship &support that almost all women's teams were experiencing at the time

One for Women In Rugby League 🏉💪!

Love this, including that legendary Yorkshire shirt… Andrew Foster

👕The Pioneering Years👕

We'll be digging in to the regional history of women's RL from the 1980's & we need YOUR help! Do you have memorabilia, photos & documents that record the history of the women's game such as this article from the 1980's? We'd love to hear from you!

Great action shot of the infamous Brenda Dobek taken by Malcolm Billingham in the early 1990's! 💪🏆

We're digging deep in to the collection now, ready for the next stage of our project 🌟The Pioneering Years!🌟 Got something stored away that we need to see? Get in touch!

In case you missed it, we've officially moved in to the next leg of our project, which we've titled 👕The Pioneering Years👕 during which we will be collating data and information from regional women's teams and leagues from the 1980s onwards.

Can you help? Get in touch!

💚this action shot from a Halifax V Guiseley women's match (we think late 80's/early 90's🤔)

Busy having conversations with LOTS of people who have been sharing their personal history of the women's game with us - we love it!

Thank you to Lindsay England for this pic 📸

👕Calderdale Ladies RLFC👕

Some familiar faces from this Calderdale Ladies line-up! Snippets such as this are really helping us to build the bigger picture of the regional women's leagues and teams that were the real pioneers in getting the women's game off the ground.

Check out this program from 1985 detailing the team line-up from the first ever game that Acorn Ladies played, which was against Heworth Ladies. Added amusement for the comments about the coaches of both teams 😅

Thank you to RL Legend Julie Cronin for sending this snippet to us