Bradford Bulls Women

Last updated

Bradford Bulls Women
Club information
Full nameBradford Bulls Women
Nickname(s)Bulls
Founded1999 (as Dudley Hill Thunderbirds)
Current details
Ground(s)
CoachConnor Matheson
Competition Women's Super League
2023 Season 5th (Group 2)
Records
Women's Super League 1 (2017)
Challenge Cups 1 (2017)

The Bradford Bulls Women are an English professional women's rugby league team based in Bradford, West Yorkshire. Formed in 1999 as an autonomous club, Dudley Hill Thunderbirds, the team was also known as Bradford Thunderbirds and Bradford Clayton Thunderbirds. As the Thunderbirds the club played in the Women's Rugby League Conference and later the Women's Rugby League. [1] As of 2024 they compete in the Northern Women's Championship.

Contents

History

1999–2011: Origins

The club were founded in 1999 as Dudley Hill Thunderbirds to partner the men's Dudley Hill team. Later on the Thunderbirds and Dudley Hill split and became Bradford Clayton Thunderbirds to reflect playing in the Clayton area of Bradford and later just becoming Bradford Thunderbirds. Since there was no official league for many years they played sporadic fixtures until leagues started being formed such as the Women's Rugby League Conference in 2008 which gave the Thunderbirds and women's rugby league more competitive games. They also won regional leagues of the competition.

2012–2013: Challenge Cup

The RFL Women's Challenge Cup was founded in 2012 to give the Women's Conference a competitive cup competition. Bradford had some early success in the cup appearing in the first two editions, losing both to Featherstone Rovers and Thatto Heath Crusaders respectively.

2014–2016: Women's Rugby League

In 2012 the club entered the newly formed RFL Women's Rugby League alongside mostly men's community clubs that ran a women's team. In 2014, the club lost a third consecutive Challenge Cup Final to Thatto Heath Crusaders 32–24. They also reached the Premiership Play-Off final. [2]

After the early success and more popularity in Bradford women's rugby league, the club dropped the Thunderbirds moniker and linked up with the Bradford Bulls adopting the Bulls' colours, name and playing at Odsal Stadium. [3] In their first season as the Bulls they reached a second Grand Final in three years, although they lost 36-8 to treble winners Thatto Heath Crusaders. [4]

2017–present: Super League

After the 2016 season the Women's Rugby League was disbanded and new competition was set up. The Women's Super League was set up in 2017 to give the sport a bigger profile and more professionalism. The first edition featured only four clubs with Bradford finishing first at the end of the season and going onto win the Grand Final 36–6 against Featherstone. [5] This win completed a league and cup double for the team as earlier in the season they had won the Women's Challenge Cup beating Featherstone Ladies 50–16. [6] On 22 December 2023, the Bradford Bulls Foundation announced that Connor Matheson had been appointed as Head Coach. [7] In January 2024, following the restructuring of the women's league pyramid, it was announced that Bradford would be in the Northern Women's Championship. [8]

Players

2023 Squad

Bradford Bulls Women 2022 squad
First team squadCoaching staff



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


Seasons

SeasonLeaguePlay-offs Challenge
Cup
DivisionPWDLFAPtsPos
2012 RLC Premier 14Unknown183rd [9] Lost in Grand Final [9] RU
201311902380195182nd [10] Lost in Grand Final [11] RU
2014 WRL UnknownLost in Grand Final [2] RU
2015141103560221223rd [3] [12] Lost in Round 2 [13]  ?
2016UnknownLost in Grand Final [4] SF [14]
2017 Super League 660030076121stWon in Grand FinalW
2018 Super League 12507292312105thDid not qualifyR2
2019 Super League 1341830028296thDid not qualifyQF
2020 Super League Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 Super League 820612829449thDid not qualifyQF
2022 Super League (G2)12606202296124thDid not qualifyGS
2023 Super League (G2)1021712435055thLost in Semi FinalGS
2024Northern ChampionshipGS

Honours

Leagues

Winners (1): 2017
Runners up (2): 2014, 2016

Cups

Winners (1): 2017
Runners up (3): 2012, 2013, 2014

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bradford Bulls</span> English rugby league football club

The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thatto Heath Crusaders</span> English amateur rugby league club

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

The National Conference League is the top league in the pyramid of amateur rugby leagues. It was formerly run by the British Amateur Rugby League Association (BARLA) in winter but now forms tier 3 of the RFL's pyramid in summer.

The Women's Rugby League Conference was a rugby league for female teams in Britain that ran from 2008 to 2013.

In British rugby league, winning the Treble currently refers to winning the Super League Grand Final, League Leaders' Shield, and Challenge Cup in the same season. Up until 1973 this was achieved by winning the Championship Final, finishing top of the league during the regular season, and winning the Challenge Cup.

The RFL Women's Rugby League was an amateur women's rugby league competition in the United Kingdom. First played for in 2014, the league ran for three seasons. It was replaced in 2017 by a new three division structure comprising the Women's Super League, the Women's Championship and the Women's Championship 1.

The 2018 RFL Women's Super League was the second season of the rugby league Women's Super League for female players in clubs affiliated to the Rugby Football League. The grand final was won by Wigan Warriors Women, who beat Leeds Rhinos Women 18–16 at the Grand Final at the Manchester Regional Arena. Wigan finished second to League Leaders Shield winners Leeds in the regular season.

The Rugby Football League Women's Super League is the elite women's rugby league club competition in England. Originally competed between four teams in the 2017 season, the league has developed with the 2023 season being contested by 12 teams playing home and away against each other in two groups with subsequent play-offs and Grand Final. In January 2023 it was announced that the league would be reduced to eight teams in the 2024 season.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castleford Tigers Women</span>

The Castleford Tigers Women are a female rugby league club in Castleford, West Yorkshire, England. Nicknamed the Tigresses, the club formed in 2016 and in 2017 were one of the four teams that participated in the inaugural season of the Women's Super League, the top-level Women's rugby league club competition in the United Kingdom. As of 2024 they compete in the Northern Women's Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Women's Challenge Cup</span> Womens rugby league competition

The Women's Challenge Cup is a rugby league knockout competition organised by the Rugby Football League. The competition started in 2012.

Emily Rudge is a British rugby league player who plays for St Helens Women in the Women's Super League. She plays at second-row. Born in Warrington Rudge attended Cardinal Newman High School and first played rugby league for a local Warrington club before joining Thatto Heath Crusaders. While at Warrington she was first selected for the England women's national rugby league team in 2008, aged 16. In 2011, Rudge was in the Warrington team that won the Championship Final of the Women's Rugby League Conference in August, before joining for Featherstone Rovers for the interim season before the launch of the first summer-based season.

The 2017 Women's Super League was the inaugural season of the top level rugby league competition for women in England. Run by the Rugby Football League there were four teams in the league; three associated with professional clubs in West Yorkshire and one associated with a leading amateur club in Lancashire.

The rugby league club St Helens R.F.C. have operated a women's team since they took some women from Thatto Heath Crusaders, and other women's sides in 2017 ahead of the 2018 season. They won four successive Challenge Cups from 2013 to 2016. The 2016 win formed part of their treble winning season. The side won the 2021 Women's Challenge Cup after beating York City Knights, adding to the four cup titles won as Thatto Heath. That season, they also completed the treble for the second time.

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 League and became the first female men's Super League match official.

The 2017 RFL Women's Challenge Cup was an English rugby league knockout tournament competed for by 16 teams during the summer of 2017. The competition was won by Bradford Bulls who beat Featherstone Rovers 50–18 in the final on 30 July 2017.

The 2019 National Conference League was the 34th season of the National Conference League, the top league for British amateur rugby league clubs.

The Featherstone Rovers Women are the women's rugby league team of Featherstone Rovers in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in the RFL Women's Super League and play their home games at Post Office Road which is also home to the men's team.

The 2016 RFL Women's Challenge Cup was an English rugby league knockout tournament competed for by 12 teams during the summer of 2016. The Challenge Cup was won by Thatto Heath St Helens who beat Leigh Miners Rangers 6–62 in the final. The Challenge Shield was won by the Thatto Heath Reserves team who beat Whitley Bay Barbarians 0–44 in the final. Both finals took place on 31 July 2016 at the Provident Stadium, Bradford.

The 2013 Women's Challenge Cup was an English rugby league knockout tournament competed for during the summer of 2013. This was the second staging of the Challenge Cup and it was won by Thatto Heath who beat Bradford Thunderbirds 54–12 in the final. The Challenge Shield was won by Normanton Knights who beat Featherstone Rovers 34–16 in the final. Both finals took place on 23 June 2013 at The LoveRugbyLeague.Com Stadium, Batley.

The 2014 Women's Challenge Cup was an English rugby league knockout tournament competed for during the summer of 2014. The Challenge Cup was won by Thatto Heath St Helens who beat Bradford Thunderbirds 32–24 in the final. The Challenge Shield was won by Fetherstone Rovers who beat Stanningley 64–14 in the final. Both finals took place on 3 August 2014 at the Tetley's Stadium, Dewsbury.

References

  1. ↑ Ben Turner (30 May 2013). "Thunderbirds ready to take on the world". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Thatto are just champion". Rugby-League.com. 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  3. 1 2 "Club of the Week: Bradford Bulls Women". Rugby Football League. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 27 April 2023.
  4. 1 2 "Leigh Miners and Thatto Heath take the honours at Grand Finals Day". 4 The Love Of Sport. 2 October 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Bradford Bulls become first-ever Women's Super League champions". Rugby Football League. 8 October 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  6. ↑ Bill Marshall (30 July 2017). "Bradford Bulls women win Challenge Cup". Telegraph & Argus. Retrieved 14 August 2018.
  7. ↑ "Bradford Bulls Foundation welcomes new head coach of women's team". Bradford Bulls. 22 December 2023. Retrieved 27 December 2023.
  8. ↑ "New era for Tier Two of Women's Rugby League". Rugby-League.com. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 27 January 2024.
  9. 1 2 "Women's Rugby League". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 29 December 2012.
  10. ↑ "Premier League Table". Women's Rugby league. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "News". Women's Rugby League. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "Premier league table". Women's Super League. Archived from the original on 13 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Women's Rugby League Play Offs : 27 September 2015". 4 The Love Of Sport. 27 September 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Womens Weekly Round up". Rugby-League.com. 18 July 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.