The buildup, hype and buzz England’s women have experienced as they prepare for their tilt at the Rugby League World Cup could not be in greater contrast to the experiences of Jackie Sheldon and her squad of trailblazers 22 years ago.
It may be a little over two decades but the journey women’s rugby league has been on during that time feels much longer, a point that will be emphasised when Emily Rudge and her teammates kick off against Brazil on Tuesday at Headingley in front of a northern hemisphere record crowd for a women’s rugby league match. It will be markedly different to what the players experienced on a series of low-key, easily overlooked nights in November 2000.
