Featherstone Rovers Women
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue and White| Club information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Featherstone Rovers Rugby League Football Club |
| Colours | Blue and White |
| Founded | 2011 |
| Current details | |
| Ground | |
| Competition | RFL Women's Super League |
| 2025 | 2th (Northern Championship) |
 Current season | |
| Records | |
| Challenge Cup | 1 (2012) |
Featherstone Rovers Women are the women's rugby league team of Featherstone Rovers in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, England. They play their home games at Post Office Road which is also home to the men's team. They played in the RFL Women's Super League from its inaugural season in 2017 until 2024 when they were relegated to the RFL Women's Championship. In 2025, they won the Northern Championship to earn promotion back to the Super League.
The women's team of Featherstone Rovers was founded in 2011 and initially competed in the Women's Rugby League Conference.[1] The club, which had previously been Wakefield Panthers,[2][3] included numerous England internationals[4] and were one of the most successful women's teams of the previous twenty years having won the Women's Amateur Rugby League Association Challenge Cup 14 times between 1991 and 2007.[5] They won the cup again in 2011 in their first season as Featherstone Rovers.[5][6] In 2012, Featherstone won the inaugural RFL Women's Challenge Cup defeating Bradford Thunderbirds 46–0 in the final.[7] They also finished top of the Premier Division and defeated Bradford 46–8 in the Championship play-off final.[8][9] In 2013, they reached the final of the Challenge Shield but lost 16–34 to Normanton Knights.[10][11] The following season they won the Challenge Shield with a 64–14 win against Stanningley in the final.[12] In the RFL Women's Rugby League, Featherstone finished top of the league in 2015[13] and also reached the final of the Challenge Cup in the same season.[14]
In 2017, they were one of the four teams to take part in the first season of the RFL Women's Super League and were runners-up in the Grand Final to Bradford Bulls,[15][16] who also defeated Featherstone in final of the 2017 Challenge Cup.[14] In 2021, when the Super League split part way through the season, Featherstone finished top of group two, but lost 24–22 to Huddersfield Giants in the Shield final.[17] Featherstone reached the Shield final again in 2022, but lost 34–6 to Warrington Wolves.[18] In 2023, they won the group two League Leaders' Shield on the final day of the regular season with a 28–18 win over Salford Red Devils that saw them overtake Barrow Raiders on points difference and earn promotion to the 2024 Super League.[19][20] The promotion led to Marie Colley being nominated for the Women's Super League Coach of the Year award, but she lost out to former Featherstone player Lindsay Anfield of York Valkyrie.[7][21][22] Featherstone began their 2024 season with a win over Sheffield Eagles in the Challenge Cup and qualified for the quarter-finals.[23][24] This was followed by an unsuccessful league campaign in which they lost every match to finish bottom of the table.[25] They lost in a play-off against Leigh Leopards to be relegated to the Championship for the 2025 season.[26] In the 2025 season, Featherstone defeated London Broncos 20–10 in the Northern Championship Grand Final to return to the Super League.[27]
In December 2025, the Featherstone Rovers club went into administration and in January 2026 the men's team were denied entry to the 2026 RFL Championship.[28] Following negotiations with the Rugby Football League, the decision was made for the women's team to continue to use the Post Office Road ground for the 2026 season[29] in which they were drawn at home against Wigan Warriors in their opening fixture of the Challenge Cup.[30] Losses against the defending champions and at Cardiff Demons saw them exit the cup at the group stage.[31][32]
