The York Valkyrie are the

women's rugby league Women's rugby league is the female-only version of Rugby league. There are women's clubs in Australia, Great Britain, and New Zealand, overseen internationally by the Women & Girls Rugby League. Australia, France, England and New Zealand comp ...

team of York RLFC (known as York City Knights from 2002 to 2022) based in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England. The Valkyrie, who were established in 2016 as the York City Knights Ladies, compete 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 ...

and play their home games at

York Community Stadium York Community Stadium (known for sponsorship purposes as the LNER Community Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium in Huntington, North Yorkshire, Huntington, York, England. It is owned by City of York Council, and is shared by York City F.C., Yo ...

which is also home to the York RLFC men's team, the York Knights, and football club,

York City F.C. York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

History

In May 2016 the York City Knights Ladies team was launched in partnership with the Knights Foundation. The team was formed to take part in the Women's Summer Merit League and although it included several players from the York Ladies team who had competed in the Women's Rugby League Association (winter season) League the head coach, Andy Fletcher, described it as "a brand new club and a brand new team". The partnership meant that the team had use of the facilities at the Knights training base at York St John University's sports park. In 2017 the team went undefeated in the Merit League and won the Women's Challenge Shield. They were accepted into the

RFL Women's Super League The Rugby Football League Women's Super League (known as the Betfred Women's Super League due to sponsorship) is the elite women's rugby league club competition in England. Originally competed between four teams in the 2017 season, the league has ...

in 2018 but had a poor start losing their first game 40–0 to St Helens. The team initially struggled in the Super League where their first win did not come until their tenth match when they defeated Featherstone Rovers 20–12, and they won only one game in the 2019 season. Following the Covid-enforced cancellation of the 2020 season, the team made several changes both on and off the field. To provide off-field support for the team coaches the club created the role of ladies team manager in 2020 and in April 2021 Lindsay Anfield was appointed as their first director of women's rugby league. A few weeks later five players from Anfield's former club,

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the town centre the River Calder joins the ...

, joined the team. York reached the final of

2021 Challenge Cup The 2021 Challenge Cup, known for sponsorship reasons as the 2021 Betfred Challenge Cup, was the 120th edition of the Challenge Cup, the main rugby league knockout tournament in British rugby league run by the Rugby Football League (RFL). This year ...

and were the winners of 2022 Women's Super League Leaders' Shield. They also had three players shortlisted for the 2022 Woman of Steel including

Tara-Jane Stanley Tara-Jane Stanley is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a for York Valkyrie in the Womens Super League. She has played at representative level for England, and club level for Thatto Heath Crusaders and Castleford Tigers Women. ...

who won the award. On 14 October 2022 York City Knights announced that the club had changed its name to York RLFC, with the men's team still being known as the Knights and the women's team becoming the Valkyrie. As part of the rebrand both teams introduced new logos.

Stadiums

York St John University Sports Park

In 2012 York St John University acquired a sports park on Haxby Road, York, which they named 'York St John University Sports Centre Nestlé Rowntree Park'. A multi-million-pound redevelopment included the creation of a

3G pitch Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass. It is most often used in arenas for sports that were originally or are normally played on grass. However, it is now being used on residential lawns and commerc ...

for football and rugby. The use of the sports park as a training base for the rugby club is part of a partnership agreement with the university. The women's team also used it for playing their home matches. On 23 April 2017 York City Knights Ladies played their first match at the sports park winning 10–8 against Huddersfield St Joseph’s Ladies. In 2021 a £1 million investment, partly funded by the Rugby League World Cup CreatedBy programme, was used to build a 4G pitch matching the specifications of York Community Stadium. During 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 ...

the sports park hosted the Cook Islands women's team and was the venue for the warm-up match between the Valkyrie and the

Papua New Guinea Orchids The Papua New Guinea women's national rugby league team, also known as the PNG Orchids represents Papua New Guinea in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Papua New Guinea Rugby Football League. Current squad Head coach: Ben Jeffri ...

on 20 October 2022.

York Community Stadium

The York Community Stadium, which is home to football club

and York RLFC, was first proposed in 2009 but due to numerous delays it was not completed until December 2020. However, the restrictions at the start of the 2021 Super League season meant that matches were the split between venues in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

and

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

. In May 2021 the Valkyrie played their Challenge Cup semi-final match at the Community Stadium. The stadium, which has a capacity of 8,500, is a venue for the

2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the sixth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup, and was be one of three major tournaments part of the 2021 Rugby League World Cup. The tournament was held in England from 1 November to 19 Novem ...

Players

2023 Squad

Internationals

Players who earned international caps while playing for York City Knights Ladies or York Valkyrie: *

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 ...

** Hollie Dodd ** Grace Field **

** Olivia Wood *

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

** Bettie Lambert

Seasons

Honours

*Challenge Shield: 2017 *

: **League Leaders Shield: 2022 *Women's Nines: 2022

References

External links

* {{York RLFC 2016 establishments in England Rugby clubs established in 2016 Sport in York Women's rugby league teams in England RFL Women's Super League York City Knights