New Heritage Quay display spotlights unsung heroes of women's rugby league

“The role played by Jackie, this amazing woman, was key to the Lionesses,” says Julia. “She was assistant coach on the tour of Australia in 1996, then head coach for the next four tours.

“These women took time off work unpaid and were away from their families for weeks. They also had to raise £70,000 for the tour to happen. A player had to raise £1,000, and if you didn’t, you couldn’t go. 

“But they won six out of seven matches and are the last rugby league team to beat any Australian side in Australia in a three Test series. It was, and remains, an incredible achievement but they had no recognition. They were invited to appear at Wembley at a subsequent international, and they thought they were going to be introduced to the crowd but instead they were asked to wave the flags in centre circle ahead of kick-off.”

Julia’s own rugby league story is one of overcoming obstacles for many years until she became a highly respected figure in the sport, working for the Rugby Football League (RFL) for 20 years and helping to secure £29m of funding for RL’s development. Key to that funding was Sport England insisting that the women’s game be brought ‘in-house’, leading to a revival of an international side under the flag of England in 20078.

Out of control on the terraces, but in control on the pitch

“It all started for me when the city of Hull decamped to Wembley when Hull met Hull Kingston Rovers, my team, in the 1980 Challenge Cup Final. I’d been told rugby league wasn’t somewhere for a girl to go, but I found where I belonged with the game. I didn’t belong at school, I was a bit of a loner and having lost my Dad aged three we just had to survive and show resilience to support my Mum.

“I found a place on the terraces that was just for me. I was wayward on the terraces, to say the least but it would have been worse if I was on the streets.”

And in a classic case of ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’, self-confessed terrace referee abuser Julia took the plunge to become a referee herself while still in her teens. She officiated in games of all age groups, including a stint in Australia, as well setting up the Fulham Women team during a spell living in London.

“The beauty of the archive is that I have found things I had forgotten about like my coaching badge from Australia. I loved refereeing in the National Conference, it was hard as it was a mix of older players and up-and-coming youngsters, both groups trying to get one over on the other, and the ref as well!”

Archive gives women’s game due recognition

The archive at Heritage Quay now has volunteers cataloguing items and data on a weekly basis, allowing players and unheralded achievements from the past to be finally recognised by the sport.

“The archive means that there is a collection that people can interrogate, that can give us more information that can go into academic research and that can get things right. On Wikipedia there is all sorts that is made up – we have changed it so that its correct.

“The other great thing on this project is that rugby league’s record keepers had nothing on the women’s game, now they are putting the GB and England games in there as a starter so there is a record of these players internationally as well.”

The cataloguing of the Lionesses means that many former ex-GB and England players will be awarded caps during the World Cup. But the success of the archive has also seen many Lionesses coming forward with their memorabilia, and renewed interest in Sarah Jane Dickenson’s play, ‘Ref!’, based on Julia’s life story.

“In Hull alone there are 11 former ex-Lionesses that had been forgotten. They had things in the attic, but in some cases had not told their kids they had played internationally or had forgotten they were a player in a World Cup.”

Life with the Lionesses is run in conjunction with Heritage Quay, the Rugby Football League and Rugby League Cares.