Jodie Cunningham is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who plays as a or at international level for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and domestically for St Helens in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. Cunningham started paying rugby while a pupil at Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, Warrington and was selected to play for England while still in the sixth-form and playing for Warrington Ladies RC. While a student at

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

, Cunningham played in the

2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fourth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was held in Great Britain from 26 October, culminating in the final between Australia and New Zealand on 14 July. It was held a ...

and joined

Thatto Heath Crusaders Thatto Heath Crusaders is an amateur rugby league club situated in Thatto Heath, St Helens, Merseyside. The club currently competes in the National Conference League Premier Division History ''Thatto Heath'' RLFC began life in 1981, originall ...

and was a member of the team that won the Challenge Cup in four successive seasons from 2013 to 2016. Cunningham was vice-captain of the England team in the

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydney ...

and in March 2018 Cunningham became a member of the newly-formed St Helens women's team, though she missed most of the 2018 season due to rehabilitation after surgery on an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

injury suffered during the 2017 season. For the 2019 season, Cunningham was appointed co-captain of the St Helens side alongside

Tara Jones Tara Jones is an English rugby league player and referee. She is the starting hooker for St Helens and the England national team. In both disciplines, her career took off in 2018, when she captained St Helens in their debut women's Super ...

With the 2020 season cancelled, 2021 saw Cunningham appointed captain of the team and she led the side to the first

treble Treble may refer to: In music: *Treble (sound), tones of high frequency or range, the counterpart of bass *Treble voice, a choirboy or choirgirl singing in the soprano range *Treble (musical group), a three-piece girl group from the Netherlands *T ...

since the creation of the Women's Super League. Cunningham was also named 2021 Woman of Steel. Cunningham works as community engagement lead for the organisers of the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

as well as being an ambassador for the

women's tournament A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. Cunningham was appointed as the RFL's National Women’s and Girls’ Development Manager in November 2021. 2022 saw St Helens retain the

Challenge Cup The Challenge Cup is a knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, with the exception of 1915–1919 and 1939–1940, due to World War I and World War II respectively. It involves am ...

with Cunningham scoring a try in the final against

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club was formed in 1870 as Leeds St John's and play in the Super League, the top tier of English rugby league. They have played home matches at Headi ...

. In the Super League Cunningham captained St Helens to second place in the league but the team were unable to repeat their 2021 successes losing in the play-off semi-final to eventual Grand Final winners Leeds.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Jodie 1991 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds England women's national rugby league team players English female rugby league players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Warrington St Helens R.F.C. captains St Helens Women RLFC players