Girls Teams - BRIGHTON & HOVE RUGBY LEAGUE

The RFL Futures Programme is built to uncover future England players and to get more girls into Rugby League.

As the first step on the England Talent Pathway (ETP), it’s about finding and developing athletes who could go on to careers in the Women’s Super League and even play for England.

But it’s also about giving more girls the chance to take up Rugby League and creating more fixture opportunities between the clubs.

Brighton & Hove Rugby League are delivering one of the eight Future Hubs in the Southern Regions covering the Sussex and South Coast area.

The 2024 programme runs for 12 weeks between May and July and includes three festival opportunities against the other Future Hubs across the South.

The primary focus of the programme is U16 (Year 10 & Year 11) but we will also be running U14s (Year 8 & Year 9) and if we get enough players will play festivals with this group also. If there is demand at U12 (Year 7) then we may look at introducing a training opportunity for this age group.

What the Programme looks like

The 12 week programme consists of a weekly session on Thursdays and three festivals against the other Regional Futures Hubs.

Thursday 9th May – first training session

Sunday 26th May – Hertfordshire Festival (location TBC)

Sunday 23rd June – London Broncos Festival @ Rosslyn Park FC

Sunday 21st July – Brentwood Eels Festival

Training Sessions are Thursday 6pm – 7:15pm @ Brighton University, Falmer Campus

The weekly sessions will focus on creating a positive environment for players to practice and develop the skills required and support excellent lifestyle choices to maximise their potential. They will support players in the key elements of Rugby League specifically, but with a big focus on the core skills of Carry, Catch-Pass and Tackle that will also have huge transfer for Rugby Union players.

Our Lead Coach is RFU Level 3 qualified, in addition to his Rugby League qualifications and has significant experience in the female game of both codes of Rugby, coaching teams to multiple National Championships as well as coaching players who have played Internationally.

The programme sits at the “talent development” stage, so there is no assessment phase. Each player will be given an Individual Growth Plan to aid their development.

The programme has received funding from the RFL and so the club has decided to remove any cost for the 2024 Programme, meaning that players can access the sessions for free.

Potential Pathway

For players coming into the Futures Hubs at U16, there are several exit routes available.

Players who impress in the Futures Hub Festivals may be selected for London Origin Elite, which is a programme ran by London Broncos who are the top club in the Southern Regions for both men’s and women’s Rugby League. This programme is a representative programme and features a London Origin match of North vs South.

After finishing U16, players move up to the Open Age category, meaning they have a number of options:

College Rugby League
U18 Origin Elite
Open Age at Brighton & Hove Rugby League (Southern League 1)
Open Age at London Broncos Women (Southern Championship)

One player who has already taken her first steps is Cat Moody, who started playing Rugby League as an U17 at College, before playing Open Age for Brighton and impressing enough to get invited to London Broncos, where she won the 2023 Super League South. After playing a season of Rugby League, she also went on to captain her Rugby Union team and win Player of the Tournament at the Rosslyn Park National Schools 7s!