Women's rugby league

Not to be confused with Women's rugby union.

Women's rugby league
Characteristics
Highest governing body	Rugby League International Federation
Nicknames	Rugger, Footy, The Greatest Game of All
First played	19th century
Registered players	2,360,000
Clubs	18,630
Contact	Full Contact
Team members	Thirteen
Mixed gender	Single
Type	Team sport, Outdoor
Equipment	Rugby ball
Venue	Rugby league playing field

Women's Rugby League is the female-only version of the game rugby league football. There are currently clubs for female only participation running in Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand which are overseen by the various individual organizations of those separate countries and internationally by the Women's & Girls Rugby League.

At International level Australia, France, Great Britain and New Zealand compete on a regular basis with a Women's Rugby League World Cup held at a regular interval after first being established in 2000.

Governing bodies

Women's & Girls Rugby League

The Women & Girls Rugby League is the international governing body of women's rugby league and was established in 2000 in conjunction with the first Women's Rugby League World Cup.

The organization currently oversees the running of the international game for women's rugby league and helps organize rugby league domestically in several countries.

Australian Women's Rugby League

The Australian Women's Rugby League is the governing body of female rugby league in Australia and other parts of Oceania and was established in 1993. It currently falls under the Australian Rugby League which oversees its running and management but it took the association five years to be recognized by the ARL.

The AWRL is run at state level by its own governing organizations 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. The main women's competitions in Australia are the Sydney Metropolitan Women's Rugby League and the Brisbane and District Women's Rugby League.

At international level the Women's Australian side is commonly referred to as the Australian Jillaroos.

Rugby Football League

The Rugby Football League (RFL) is the governing body of female rugby league in the United Kingdom; although some activity is run by the independent Women's Amateur Rugby League Association, originally established in 1985. With summer rugby becoming increasingly popular, the appeal of WARLA has waned, with the RFL running the largest women's rugby league competition in the world.

At the beginning of the 2006 season there were between thirty and forty female only rugby league clubs running in England not including clubs that have teams of both sexes. The majority of these clubs are located in Lancashire and Yorkshire.

The Women's Rugby League Conference is a competition for female rugby league teams.

At international level the Women's England side is commonly referred to as the Great Britain Lionesses In 2006, the RFL announced that after the 2007 All Golds Tour the Great Britain team would no longer compete on a regular basis, and that players would be able to represent England, Wales and Scotland at Test level. It is planned that the Great Britain team will come together in future only for occasional tours.

New Zealand Rugby League

Women's rugby league in New Zealand is controlled by the New Zealand Rugby League. The national side is called the Kiwi Ferns.

International

Currently the following international teams compete on a regular basis:


Nation	Confederation	Year joined	Ranking
Australia	Oceania	1993	2nd
France	Europe	-	4th
Great Britain	Europe	1985	3rd
New Zealand	Oceania	1993	1st