Featherstone Rovers Women

Featherstone Rovers Women
Club information
Full nameFeatherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club
Colours Blue and White
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
WebsiteOfficial website
Current details
Ground(s)
CompetitionRFL Women's Championship
20248th (Super League)
Current season
Records
Challenge Cup1 (2012)

Featherstone Rovers Women are the women's rugby league team of Featherstone Rovers in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Post Office Road which is also home to the men's team. They played in the RFL Women's Super League from its inaugural season in 2017 until 2024 when they were relegated to the RFL Women's Championship.

History

The women's team of Featherstone Rovers was founded in 2011 and initially competed in the Women's Rugby League Conference.[1] The club, which had previously been Wakefield Panthers,[2][3] included numerous England internationals[4] and were one of the most successful women's teams of the previous twenty years having won the Women's Amateur Rugby League Association Challenge Cup 14 times between 1991 and 2007.[5] They won the cup again in 2011 in their first season as Featherstone Rovers.[5][6] In 2012, Featherstone won the inaugural RFL Women's Challenge Cup defeating Bradford Thunderbirds 46–0 in the final.[7] They also finished top of the Premier Division and defeated Bradford 46–8 in the Championship play-off final.[8][9] In 2013, they reached the final of the Challenge Shield but lost 16-34 to Normanton Knights.[10][11] The following season they won the Challenge Shield with a 64–14 win against Stanningley in the final.[12] In the RFL Women's Rugby League, Featherstone finished top of the league in 2015[13] and also reached the final of the Challenge Cup in the same season.[14]

In 2017, they were one of the four teams to take part in the first season of the RFL Women's Super League and were runners-up in the Grand Final to Bradford Bulls,[15][16] who also defeated Featherstone in final of the 2017 Challenge Cup.[14] In 2021, when the Super League split part way through the season, Featherstone finished top of group two, but lost 24–22 to Huddersfield Giants in the Shield final.[17] Featherstone reached the Shield final again in 2022, but lost 34–6 to Warrington Wolves.[18] In 2023, they won the group two League Leaders' Shield on the final day of the regular season with a 28–18 win over Salford Red Devils that saw them overtake Barrow Raiders on points difference and earn promotion to the 2024 Super League.[19][20] The promotion led to Marie Colley being nominated for the Women's Super League Coach of the Year award, but she lost out to former Featherstone player Lindsay Anfield of York Valkyrie.[7][21][22] Featherstone began their 2024 season with a win over Sheffield Eagles in the Challenge Cup and qualified for the quarter-finals.[23][24] This was followed by an unsuccessful league campaign in which they lost every match to finish bottom of the table.[25] They lost in a play-off against Leigh Leopards to be relegated to the Championship for the 2025 season.[26]

Players

2024 squad

Featherstone Rovers 2024 Squad
First team squad Coaching staff
  • 1 Danielle Waters
  • 2 Elland Lamb
  • 3 Francessca Copley
  • 4 Ella Johnson
  • 5 Brooke Price
  • 6 Tally Bryer
  • 7 Olivia Grace
  • 8 Shanelle Mannion
  • 9 Charley Blackburn
  • 10 Brogan Mellor-Churm
  • 11 Hannah Watt
  • 12
  • 13 Chloe Billingham
  • 14 Kacey Davies
  • 15 Chloe Smith
  • 16 Gabrielle Harrison
  • 17 Kirsty Higo
  • 18 Alyssa Courtney
  • 19 Ashlea Prescott
  • 20 Brogan Kennedy
  • 21 Gabrielle Cochrane-Kaney
  • 22 Natalie Carr
  • 23 Ellie Wainhouse
  • 24 Rachael Eastwood
  • 25 Saskia Lewis
  • 26 Katie Evans
  • 28 Shavon Craven
  • 29 Kaya-Jo Laing
  • 30 Madison Rainey
  • 31 Emillie Holmes



Legend:
  • (c) Captain(s)
  • (vc) Vice-captain(s)

Updated: 23 March 2024
Source(s): [27]


Internationals

Players who earned international caps while playing for Featherstone Rovers:

Seasons

Season League Play-offs Challenge Cup Ref.
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos
2012 Premier 13 Unknown 26 1st Won in Final W [7][8]
2013 Premier 11 6 0 5 237 278 12 3rd Lost in Round 1 R2 [42][43][44]
2014 Premier Unknown Lost in Round 2 R1 [45][46][47][48]
2015 Premier 14 14 0 0 493 95 28 1st Lost in Grand Final RU [13][14][49]
2016 Premier 5 4 0 1 208 38 8 3rd Lost in Semi Final R2 [50][51][52][53]
Super Six 10 7 1 2 302 156 15 2nd
2017 Super League 6 2 0 4 116 208 4 3rd Lost in Grand Final RU [14][15]
2018 Super League 12 1 0 11 180 461 2 6th Did not qualify QF [54]
2019 Super League 14 6 0 8 237 450 12 5th Did not qualify R2 [55][56]
2020 Super League Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Super League 8 3 0 5 152 308 6 6th Did not qualify QF [57][58][17][59]
League Shield 4 4 0 0 130 36 8 1st Lost in Shield Final
2022 Super League Group 2 12 8 0 4 364 154 16 3rd Lost in Shield Final SF [60][61][18]
2023 Super League Group 2 10 8 0 2 356 103 16 1st Promoted as Champions GS [62][63]
2024 Super League 14 0 0 14 128 606 0 8th Lost in play-off QF [64][65]

Honours

References

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