Salford Red Devils Foundation hosted April training sessions and game opportunities for girls in Salford in a bid to increase female participation in rugby.
The training session was held on Friday April 5 at Eccles community college with around 12 girls in attendance, from ages 12-16.
The sessions helped the girls learn the basic skills of rugby, including practicing passing, throwing and ball movement.
The game opportunities happened on Monday April 8 at Cadishead Rhinos, where the girls were able to put on the Red Devils badge and play competitive games in a Salford shirt, with the aim to eventually offer women a chance to play rugby professionally.
Earlier in the week, they held a boys training session where they had around 200 boys, compared to the 12 girls that attended Friday’s session, showing the need for further exposure of women’s rugby.
The games on Monday were played against Leigh Leopards and Leigh Miners in a series of modified touch games which challenged the girl’s skills that they had learnt and practiced at the training session on Friday.
Salford Red Devils development pathway is delivered across several local amateur clubs- including the main development club at Eccles Sixth Form College, Salford roosters, Cadishead Rhinos, Langworthy Reds and more.
Evie and Amelia, who both play rugby for Warrington Girls, said: “We just wanted to gain some extra experience and get as many opportunities as we could, as we both play rugby.
We’ve met lots of new people, which has been really nice, and we would 100 per cent recommend this to other girls.
“We’ve been focusing on stepping, doing some ball work and getting the ball out through our hands and we’re excited to pull on the Salford shirt.”
Neil Blackburn, foundation director at the Salford Red Devils Foundation, said: “The sessions today are part of our girl’s development pathway, mimicking the boys rising stars development program.
“They are about developing the local talent and hopefully will get the girls into our initial rising stars pathway and then follow through into our dual development academy at Eccles Sixth Form College and ideally into the Salford Red Devils first team.”
He spoke on the importance of the growth and women’s sport and the club accepting this, saying:“Female sport is a real big growth area for us, it is important rugby league is accessible for all, over the years there’s been a focus on boys but we want to change that and focus on the girl’s demographic.
“The fact girls get an opportunity to pull on the Red Devil’s badge and represent us is essential and we want to development girls sport and rugby league locally.
It’s important girls can have role models so our women’s team get involved in the community sessions in schools.
“We are a community club so the community aspect of the sessions is big, most of our sessions are open access and mixed gender, but providing a girls specific session takes away any barriers or embarrassment from anyone and breaks down barriers, opening it up and making it accessible.
“Rugby league is the most accessible sport in the world, alone we run learning disability, psychical disability wheelchair, girls, women’s, men’s sessions and any demographic can get involved in rugby league. If you want to play rugby league- there is an opportunity here within Salford Red Devils Foundation.”
More information about other sessions can be found here.
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