Wigan have announced they'll also be starting a women's team. Things building nicely for the women's game.

Widnes, Wakefield, St Helens, Wigan, Leeds, Bradford, Featherstone, Batley all have Women’s teams now, building massively.

Im all for this but how is it getting funded when GH's biggest excuse for not running a reserve grade is cost?

On my Sport Development degree we found that there is actually a hell of a lot of funding for women's sports. Chances are they are delving into different funding pots, plus there's an increased revenue with sponsors. Opens up a whole new market to sponsors if they sponsor a women's team rather than reserve. Plus the women's team's are either part time or don't get paid to play and won't cost much to run.

Reserve grade players would be taking a wage and most would be full time players. I very much doubt the Women’s team will be getting paid.

Not so much cost, more return on investment (maybe perceived)

No pay, but talking to a Bulls England player, she’s tempted because been promised full use of Rhinos facilities & conditioning team, which is far better than Bulls
She’s also not getting paid by England, and will lose financially from loss of wages

Leeds never really took the reserve grade seriously when we did have a team. The club's mentality seemed to be that it was better for its reserves to be playing in other clubs' first teams.

I remember when Bramley used to have serveral Rhinos players turning out, and we historically sent a lot of younger players to London Broncos in the past. With that history, it's not surprising that the clubs seems to prefer Dual Reg.

Team confirmed today:

Aimee Staveley - Bradford Bulls Ladies
Amy Johnson
Beth Lockwood - Lindley Ladies
Charlotte Booth - Bradford Bulls Ladies
Danika Priim - Bradford Bulls Ladies
Dannielle Anderson - Oulton Raidettes
Hanna Butcher - Thornhill Ladies
Hayley Fielding - Huddersfield Ladies
Larissa Deaves - Stanningley Ladies
Leah Birkin - Harrogate Ladies RU
Lois Forsell - Bradford Bulls Ladies
Manina Spurr - Featherstone Rovers Ladies
Megan Price - Huddersfield Ladies
Reagan Walker - Oulton Raidettes
Rhiannon Marshall - Bradford Bulls Ladies
Shannon Lacey - Stanningley Ladies
Sophie Robinson - Stanningley Ladies
Suze Hill
Tasha Gaines - Stanningley Ladies
Vanessa Harriman - Oulton Raidettes

Isn't the term 'ladies' horribly dated?

Don`t you start BR


Someone a couple of weeks ago want Schools to ban calling boys, boys and girls, girls as it could be confusing to a child who might have gender issues/concerns.

Oh the world has gone mad - I read about a teacher suing for constructive dismissal after he'd been disciplined for calling a group of girls 'girls', as one of them wished to identify as a boy.... the world has gone stark raving bonkers!

Good news on the women's team - there are absolutely no negatives to doing this and an unmeasurable potential upside.

Some people are transgender, get over it.

They are, and so what? Not a problem at all with that - doesn't mean kids shouldn't be called boys/girls.

There's a whole arguement around kids not being deemed not old enough or mature enough to make responsible sexual choices (hence the age of consent laws), yet we seem happy enough to say they're mature enough to 'choose' their gender (which is actually not a choice, but a biological certainty). The same people that say being gay isn't a choice, it's how they were born are the same folk saying gender should be a choice, and it isn't about 'how they were born'. You've then also got the celeb types and usual folk who're desperate to be offended deciding 'for' their children that they should be 'gender neutral' - nobody is born 'gender neutral' - somhow about letting them just be boys/girls (and letting folk call them that) as they were born and then as the child grows, if they make the decision that they feel they're biologically the 'wrong' gender, then let them go through whatever process, lifestyle change that they wish. Feels like people are trying to force an issue that in reality impacts the tiniest amount of people. I mean, 'gender neutral' toilets... or blokes that decide to 'identify' as a woman using the women's toilets.... please!

As I say, I'm happy for anyone to be whatever they want/are, what I don't agree with is people being punished for using terms such as boy/girl that are actually factually correct.

What’s the problem with gender neutral toilets?

Usually they don't have a loo seat, so you cant sit down and have to stand up.

Or so I have found......

Do you have separate gender toilets in your house?

No, but generally there is only one person in there at once, with a lockable door. If there is more than one person in there, they have intimate knowledge of each others' bodies already, so not really an issue.

We also don't have a disabled toilet in our house.

Toilet cubicles have lockable doors.

I can't wait for the start of the new season, so we can get back to arguing about the team the coach anything RL rather than this decent into discussing the finer points of toilet etiquette. That it should come to this on the once might SS site

And damn it toilet etiquette should only be discussed in the context of glass coffee tables...

3/3 now the girls and some class players in that team

Leeds Rhinos women’s team clinched their place in the grand final next Saturday with a great performance vs Castleford Tigers winning 24-10. They are on their way to clinching a debut season treble. Only Wigan or St Helens stand in their way.

Well Done Leeds Women's Team! Please take note Leeds Rhinos Mens 1st Team

Tax dodge. I mean loophole. I mean totally legal way of minimizing payments to the exchequer.