Rugby league’s Women’s Super League will return next month after an absence of more than 18 months in a major boost to England’s chances in this autumn’s home World Cup. The entire professional season was abandoned in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, stunting the encouraging progress the game has made in recent years since the launch of the WSL in 2017.
After the sport’s leading women returned to training at their clubs for the first time last weekend, the Rugby Football League have now confirmed that the elite competition will kick off again in April as a newly expanded 10-team competition, with the return of the Challenge Cup also confirmed.
Warrington and Huddersfield, who were due to be elevated to the WSL in 2020, will join the likes of St Helens and the defending champions Leeds Rhinos in the competition.
“It has been a long wait, but this will be worth waiting for,” said Thomas Brindle, the general manager of the WSL. “2021 is such a huge year for women’s rugby league in this country, with a home World Cup to anticipate, that it’s essential for the Women’s Super League to resume.”
As well as the WSL and the Challenge Cup, the domestic season for the women’s game will also include a two-match Origin series between Yorkshire and Lancashire in July and August, devised to help Craig Richards, England’s head coach, prepare for the Women’s World Cup, which starts in October.
Brindle said: “We saw such great progress in 2019, with Castleford leading the way in attendances and for results in the regular season, only to lose out twice to Leeds in two memorable occasions, as we attracted title sponsors for the Women’s Challenge Cup and Women’s Super League for the first time, and unprecedented coverage of both games on the BBC and Sky Sports respectively.”
In the men’s game, Super League have confirmed that clubs will return to their home stadiums for fixtures from the third weekend of the season, which begins later this month. Since the competition restarted last August, all fixtures have been played at a single venue each weekend, but the competition will now take a step closer to normality with all teams playing at home.
