Leeds club celebrate greatest season but turn down Super League promotion

Now celebrating their 10th anniversary, Raidettes have grown from one open-age team in 2012 to now have a thriving junior set up with more than 125 women and girls playing rugby league.

This year was the most successful in the club’s history, the open-age side becoming the first

community club to reach the Betfred Women’s Challenge Cup quarter-finals and being invited into the inaugural women’s Nines tournament.

They also won the Championship Grand Final, coming from 10-0 down to beat Salford Red Devils 33-14.

That could have seen Raidettes promoted to the second tier of Women’s Super League, but Oulton declined promotion due to future RFL requirements.

Explaining that decision, Raidettes’ head coach Andy Williamson said: “Joining Super League Two would have been for a maximum of one season due to structure changes in 2024 and a criteria from them being teams must have a ground with a stand or stadium.

“We would have had to make a lot of changes and decided for one season it wasn’t worth the financial commitment and pressure.

“A big factor was also relying on people outside the club, such as medical staff and if this wasn’t in place games couldn’t go ahead, with heavy fines as a result.

“We’re looking forward to 2023 in the Championship and look forward to some of 2022’s title-winning under 16s joining the open-age squad.”

Leeds Rhinos’ Dannielle Anderson, who played for England in the Women’s World Cup, is an Oulton product, more than 20 players from the club have been invited to train with Super League academies and nine teenagers are on the England Diploma in Sporting Excellence programme, which identifies potential future internationals.

Vanessa Harriman has been part of Raidettes’ history from the very start, playing in their first game in 2012 and also this year’s Championship Grand Final victory.

She took up the sport after watching her husband, Matthew Bullough, play for Oulton. Harriman said: “I just said ‘I want to play and think we should start a women’s team’ and that’s where it all started.

“A member of the committee was there so I asked her and was told if we got enough regular

numbers we could, but needed coaches and volunteers too.

“Matt and Phil Craddick [a stalwart volunteer at Oulton] agreed to coach – I don’t think they thought it would happen!

“The rest, as we say, is history; we had 10 players at our first session, most of whom had never touched a rugby ball.

“Over the years we got more and more players down, and now have a full pathway for girls and women.”