Women's rugby league is the female-only version of

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

. The sport has growing more popular in Australia, France, Great Britain, and New Zealand. These countries regularly compete in the

Women's Rugby League World Cup The Women's Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament, contested by the women's national teams of the International Rugby League (IRL). The competition has been held since 2000 and was incorporated into the Festival of ...

which has been in operation since 2000.

Governing bodies

International Rugby League

As with men's rugby league, the international game and national governing bodies are overseen by the

International Rugby League The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's Rugby League World Cup, Wom ...

National bodies

Australian Women's Rugby League

The

Australian Rugby League Commission The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

and

National Rugby League The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

are the governing bodies of female rugby league in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. From its establishment in 1993, the

Australian Women's Rugby League The Australian Women's Rugby League was the governing body of female rugby league in Australia and other parts of Oceania from its establishment in 1993 until December 2013, when its operations were integrated into the National Rugby League, unde ...

was the governing body of female rugby league in

and other parts of

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

. It took the association five years to be recognized by the ARL. From 1998, the AWRL was an affiliate of the ARL. The AWRL ran the

Australia women's national rugby league team The Australia women's national rugby league team, also known as the Australian Jillaroos, or Harvey Norman Jillaroos for sponsorship reasons, represents Australia in women's rugby league. They played their first formal international in 1995 und ...

and National Championships. Affiliated to the AWRL were state-level governing organisations in the Queensland Women's Rugby League, New South Wales Women's Rugby League, Canberra Women's Rugby League and the Western Australian Women's Rugby League. Following the advent of the

in 2012, the duties of the AWRL were absorbed by the ARLC and NRL. The main women's competitions in Australia are the National Rugby League Women's Premiership, New South Wales Women's Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League Women's Premiership.

Rugby Football League

The

Rugby Football League The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body for rugby league in England. Founded in 1895 as the Northern Rugby Football Union following 22 clubs resigning from the Rugby Football Union, it changed its name in 1922 to the Rugby Footb ...

is the governing body of female rugby league in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; although some activity is run by the independent Women's Amateur Rugby League Association established in 1985. With women's rugby becoming increasingly popular, the RFL has taken more control in running women's competitions. At the beginning of the 2006 season there were between thirty and forty female-only rugby league clubs running in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, not including clubs that have teams of both sexes. The majority of these clubs are located in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

. The RFL began control of the female sport in 2013 with the launch of the

RFL Women's Rugby League The RFL Women's Rugby League was an amateur women's rugby league competition in the United Kingdom. The competition was a successor to the Women's Rugby League Conference, but moved the season to run between March and October. The competition wa ...

. This became 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 ha ...

in 2017 as the top level women's rugby league competition in the United Kingdom. At international level the

Great Britain women's national rugby league team The Great Britain women's national rugby league team, also known as the Great Britain Lionesses, represents Great Britain in Women's rugby league. They are administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL). The Great Britain Lionesses were runner ...

represented the whole of Great Britain; however in 2006 the RFL announced that after the

2007 All Golds Tour The 2007 All Golds Tour was a tour by the New Zealand national rugby league team, the Kiwis, of Great Britain and France. The Kiwis played five test matches, winning one against France national rugby league team, France, but losing the game agains ...

the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, favouring national teams for the home nations of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

New Zealand Rugby League

Women's rugby league in New Zealand is controlled by the ''

New Zealand Rugby League The New Zealand Rugby League (NZRL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league, rugby league football in New Zealand.#SPARC-2009, SPARC, 2009: 13 The NZRL was founded on 25 April 1910 in preparation for a 1910 Great Britain Lions tour o ...

''. The national side is called the Kiwi Ferns. The NZRL Women's National Tournament is a competition for female rugby league teams. Women have been playing rugby in New Zealand since the 19th century.

International

The following list of nations that compete, or have competed, internationally in women's rugby league.
Table last updated: 3 March 2025. Notes: * In the Venues columns H: Home, A: Away, N: Neutral. * A Great Britain women's rugby league team toured France in 1989 but played only touch football games against French women. They did play a tackle match against a men's Under 21 team, losing 4–10. * The 2000 World Cup programme lists previous Test series occurring between 1995 and 1999. * An article previewing the 2007 match between England and France mentions that it was the first international to be played by an English or Great Britain side since the 2003 World Cup. * Jamaica played in a Nines tournament in 2019 (with Canada and Ontario teams), prior to making their full international debut in 2023. * Solomon Islands played in Nines tournaments at two Pacific Games, in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

. * Vanuatu played in the Nines tournament at the 2023 Pacific Games.

Women's Rugby League World Cup

The Women's Rugby League World Cup was first held in Great Britain during 2000 to coincide with the men's

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

. Australia, Great Britain and eventual winners New Zealand took part. New Zealand also won the second and third World Cups: a nine team tournament held at

North Harbour Stadium North Harbour Stadium is a stadium situated in Albany, in North Shore City, New Zealand. It was opened in 1997, after nearly a decade of discussion, planning and construction. Rugby union, association football, rugby league, and baseball are a ...

, in the Auckland suburb of Albany in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

; and an eight team tournament held at the Sunshine Coast Stadium and, for the final,

Suncorp Stadium Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Queensland, Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rect ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

. In the 2013 World Cup, the Australian Jillaroos won the cup, breaking New Zealand's 13 year winning streak. Australia again beat New Zealand in the 2017 World Cup Final. The World Cup is played every 4 years. Delayed by a year due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the most recent World Cup included eight teams and was held in November 2022 in England. It was played alongside Men's and Wheelchair tournaments. Australia won the tournament for the third time, all three in succession.

Domestic competitions

Australia

The NRL Women's Premiership is the top tier national competition. In the second tier are two state competitions in

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. There are tackle competitions at a local level in several areas of Sydney and Brisbane, and in regional areas of New South Wales, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory.
There are also competitions in the capital cites of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, Victoria and

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and these states send teams to the National Championships. The

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

has also promoted and supported non-tackle League tag competitions in Sydney and regional areas since the early 2010s. State of Origin is a state representative series played by

and

. This annual competition began in 1999 as an Interstate Challenge with selections based on the players' state of residence. In 2018, this changed to Origin. In 2023, the

extended what had usually been a single annual match to a two-match series.

Great Britain

The top tier of rugby league in Great Britain is the

which operates a promotion and relegation system with the RFL Women's Championship below it. The

Women's Challenge Cup The Women's Challenge Cup is a rugby league knockout competition organised by the Rugby Football League. The competition started in 2012. History 2012–2016: Foundations The Women's Challenge Cup was set up in 2012 to run alongside the men's ...

is Great Britain's primary cup competition.

References

External links

Women's NRL
{{Women's sports Variations of rugby league Rugby League pages needing cleanup