When local footy club, the Queanbeyan Blues, opened its new $600,000 dedicated female change room, there was a ribbon-cutting and a host of politicians present.<\/p>\n
The government-funded project was designed to get more women and girls to participate in rugby league in the New South Wales town.<\/p>\n
But just weeks earlier, the club’s women’s team had folded due to a player shortage.<\/p>\n
At the town’s rival club, the Queanbeyan Kangaroos, the women’s side had suffered the same fate.<\/p>\n
“I was actually pretty gutted,” Roos player Chenice Jordan said.<\/p>\n
“We really did want to play.<\/p>\n
“Some of us did go to other clubs and some of us decided to not play or play union [instead] \u2014 it was really sad.”<\/p>\n
Queanbeyan Kangaroos player Chenice Jordan. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Roos player Kate Warren saw the writing on the wall, especially as the already small playing group was struck down by injury.<\/p>\n
Despite that, the side’s collapse just a few rounds into the competition was a “tough pill to swallow”.<\/p>\n
“Just like the boys, we’re getting off work and we come here to be part of this culture and the club and put ourselves out there,” Ms Warren said.<\/p>\n
“For a lot of these women, they’re mums \u2026 so it’s an outlet, it’s being part of something bigger than yourself.”<\/p>\n
At the men’s first-grade level, the clubs thrived, with the two sides facing off in the grand final last month.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The number of females signing up to play the sport has increased by more than 17 per cent in the Canberra region. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Record participation<\/p>\n
Canberra Region Rugby League general manager Mark Vergano said while it was disappointing to see the demise of the two women’s teams, the remaining clubs were “very strong”.<\/p>\n
Loading…<\/p>\n
“Even though it was difficult from a competition perspective, we’re still very confident about the growth arc that we’ve got in female participation,” Mr Vergano said.<\/p>\n
This year, more than 2,000 women and girls in the Canberra region signed up to play rugby league across all local clubs and age groups.<\/p>\n
It is an annual increase of more than 17 per cent.<\/p>\n
“Culturally, across the board, we want to make sure that rugby league is seen as a sport for all and it’s an inclusive sport,” Mr Vergano said.<\/p>\n
“All our clubs, I think, embrace that. Some clubs are better at fostering that earlier than others.”<\/p>\n
Retaining female players beyond junior levels remains a challenge, as work, study, pregnancies and injuries get in the way.<\/p>\n
‘As important as the men’<\/p>\n
Queanbeyan Blues representative Rebecca Maher said there needed to be a stronger focus on pathways for the region’s strongest players.<\/p>\n
“We do tend to lose a lot of them to [the NSWRL Women’s Premiership] or the Queensland comp,” Ms Maher said.<\/p>\n
“If we could somehow make a viable pathway \u2026 giving those girls an option to be able to stay local, play for their junior clubs and then reach the ultimate goal [of the NRLW] if that’s what they choose, would help to build our comp immensely.”<\/p>\n
Both Queanbeyan clubs are hopeful about reviving their women’s teams next year.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
It is hoped that more female players will take up the sport in the coming years. (ABC News: Lily Nothling)<\/p>\n
Kate Warren is optimistic about the future.<\/p>\n
“Our junior club is working really hard to develop our under-17s girls, so hopefully in the next two years that’s looking more positive,” she said.<\/p>\n
“With any kind of change in an institution, it’s years before you see the effect of that.”<\/p>\n
Chenice Jordan is counting on it.<\/p>\n
“Everyone makes it a big deal about the men’s comp, but I feel like the women’s comp is very much as important as the men’s,” she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When local footy club, the Queanbeyan Blues, opened its new $600,000 dedicated female change room, there was a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,119797,119795,119796,760,159,85],"class_list":["post-188437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-canberra-region-rugby-league","tag-queanbeyan-blues","tag-queanbeyan-kangaroos","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-league","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}