Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Thu May 26, 2016 10:42 pm  

Under 12s is where the girls can't play with the boys (year 7 in new money)
Officially it's when they start high school but now we play in the summer they start part way through a season so most leagues allow them to see the u11s season out. The junior leagues are trying to get an answer from the RFL whether that's ok or not, but guess what.....

Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Fri May 27, 2016 12:08 am  

PurpleCheeseWarrior wrote:

Surely it's earlier than 13. The size of some lads at that age the girls would get seriously hurt.

What more do you think could be done to "encourage" young girls to take up Rugby League when most of them aren't interested in sport as a whole?

You think 6,7,8,9 year old girls aren't interested in sport? Of course some aren't, but loads of them are they're just often put off by the environment that most sport takes place in.

Firstly, get the women's game sorted. Give it much more prominence. Have them play curtain raisers to the men's games and establish a small group of the top women players to be given publicity and go round schools etc etc.

Girls will play if they see it's not just all boys/men.
The sport can actively target girls. Get groups of girls to go to clubs together and then when they have to split off, there'll be enough demand for a dedicated girls/women's team.

Give the girls some encouragement and they'll respond in pretty much the same way boys do. Like the boys, some will be in for the long haul, others just want some entertainment. We should cater for and welcome both views and get as many as people playing and involved in the game as we can.
The amateur game is a gateway to our sport, and far far too often it's closed to too many people.

Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Fri May 27, 2016 1:08 pm  

Him wrote:

You think 6,7,8,9 year old girls aren't interested in sport? Of course some aren't, but loads of them are they're just often put off by the environment that most sport takes place in.

Firstly, get the women's game sorted. Give it much more prominence. Have them play curtain raisers to the men's games and establish a small group of the top women players to be given publicity and go round schools etc etc.

Girls will play if they see it's not just all boys/men.
The sport can actively target girls. Get groups of girls to go to clubs together and then when they have to split off, there'll be enough demand for a dedicated girls/women's team.

Give the girls some encouragement and they'll respond in pretty much the same way boys do. Like the boys, some will be in for the long haul, others just want some entertainment. We should cater for and welcome both views and get as many as people playing and involved in the game as we can.
The amateur game is a gateway to our sport, and far far too often it's closed to too many people.

Possibly delving into feminist politics here; but I don't think encouragement (or lack thereof) is the problem, perhaps the demand just isn't there? I mean, why aren't young boys encouraged to take up netball or horse riding? Because they'd much rather be trying to knock the living day lights out of other lads on a rugby field. Speaking in general terms of course.

And of course young girls are interested in sport, but the majority of them really aren't that bothered.

Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Fri May 27, 2016 4:39 pm  

PurpleCheeseWarrior wrote:

Possibly delving into feminist politics here; but I don't think encouragement (or lack thereof) is the problem, perhaps the demand just isn't there? I mean, why aren't young boys encouraged to take up netball or horse riding? Because they'd much rather be trying to knock the living day lights out of other lads on a rugby field. Speaking in general terms of course.

And of course young girls are interested in sport, but the majority of them really aren't that bothered.

Why is there enough demand for the other code to have women world cups and women 6 nations.

Maybe if women's rugby league was actually given a chance we may get somewhere .

Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Fri May 27, 2016 6:49 pm  

kobashi wrote:

Why is there enough demand for the other code to have women world cups and women 6 nations.

Maybe if women's rugby league was actually given a chance we may get somewhere .

For the same reason women's football is quite big. Rugby Union is just a bigger sport than League these days so there's a bigger interest at grass roots level.

Re: England Ladies RL - RFL Incompetence : Fri May 27, 2016 7:06 pm  

PurpleCheeseWarrior wrote:

Possibly delving into feminist politics here; but I don't think encouragement (or lack thereof) is the problem, perhaps the demand just isn't there? I mean, why aren't young boys encouraged to take up netball or horse riding? Because they'd much rather be trying to knock the living day lights out of other lads on a rugby field. Speaking in general terms of course.

And of course young girls are interested in sport, but the majority of them really aren't that bothered.

Horse riding is the money involved, lack of access and image of it.
Netball is that it's a girls sport. If you had higher profile men playing netball with men's/boys netball teams eventually you'd have more boys playing it.

As said, the demand is there it's just unrecognised/unrealised. Give it a boost, some encouragement, some profile, a positive image and some access and the demand is there. As proved by football and Union.