Women's Challenge Cup

The Women's Challenge Cup is a rugby league knockout competition organised by the Rugby Football League. The competition started in 2012.

Women's Challenge Cup

Current season or competition: 2024 Women's Challenge Cup
The women's, men's, and wheelchair Challenge Cup trophies
Sport	Rugby league
Instituted	2012
Inaugural season	2012
Country	England Wales
Winners	St. Helens (2024)
Most titles	St Helens (8 titles)
Website	Women's Challenge Cup
Broadcast partner	BBC
Related competition	Women's Super League Women's Super League South Championship League 1

History

2012–2016: Foundations

The Women's Challenge Cup was set up in 2012^[1] to run alongside the men's competition to give women's rugby teams more competitive games and to give the sport a bigger profile by attaching it to the Challenge Cup. Most teams in the first few years were community clubs and had no links to professional men's clubs. In 2014 the RFL set up an amateur league for the women's game, to help more women's teams get regular game time.^[2]

2017–2020: Exposure

In 2018 the competition started to receive a much higher profile, with the final being broadcast live on the BBC Sport website.^[2][3] In 2019 bookmakers Coral agreed to sponsor the competition – in addition to their sponsorship of the men's Challenge Cup – and it was also announced that the final of the 2019 Cup would be played as part of a triple-header with the semi-finals of the men's 2019 Challenge Cup at the University of Bolton Stadium on 27 July 2019.^[2][4] The 2019 competition also saw the introduction of a new trophy commissioned by the RFL.^[2][5] In 2020, the competition was suspended after the first round and later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6][7]

2021–present: Restructuring

In the 2021 competition, entry was restricted to the ten teams in the Super League.^[8] The following year the competition expanded to 16 teams (12 Super League, three Championship and one Super League South) and a group stage was introduced with the top two teams from the four groups advancing to the quarter-final stage.^[9]

Finals

List of finals

Year	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Venue	Ref.
2012	Featherstone Rovers	46–00	Bradford Thunderbirds	Crown Flatt	[10]
2013	Thatto Heath Crusaders	54–12	Bradford Thunderbirds	Mount Pleasant	[11]
2014	Thatto Heath Crusaders	32–24	Bradford Thunderbirds	Crown Flatt	[12][13]
2015	Thatto Heath Crusaders	22–60	Featherstone Rovers	Odsal Stadium	[14][15]
2016	Thatto Heath Crusaders	62–60	Leigh Miners Rangers		[16]
2017	Bradford Bulls	50–16	Featherstone Rovers	Heworth ARLFC	[17]
2018	Leeds Rhinos	20–14	Castleford Tigers	Halliwell Jones Stadium	[18]
2019	Leeds Rhinos	16–10	Castleford Tigers	University of Bolton Stadium	[19]
2020	Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic				[6][7]
2021	St. Helens	34–60	York City Knights	Leigh Sports Village	[20]
2022	St. Helens	18–80	Leeds Rhinos	Elland Road	[21]
2023	St. Helens	22–80	Leeds Rhinos	Wembley Stadium	[22]
2024	St. Helens	22–00	Leeds Rhinos	Wembley Stadium	[23]

List of teams by number of wins

List of teams by number of wins

	Club	Wins	Runners up	Winners	Runners up
1	St. Helens[lower-alpha 1]	8	0	2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024
2	Leeds Rhinos	2	3	2018, 2019	2022, 2023, 2024
3	Bradford Bulls[lower-alpha 2]	1	3	2017	2012, 2013, 2014
4	Featherstone Rovers	1	2	2012	2015, 2017
5	Castleford Tigers	0	2		2018, 2019
6	Leigh Miners Rangers	0	1		2016
	York City Knights	0	1		2021

1. as Thatto Heath (2013–2016)
2. as Bradford Thunderbirds (up to 2015)

Challenge Shield

Between 2012 and 2019 teams that were knocked out of the cup in the early rounds went on to compete in the Challenge Shield competition.^[24] In 2021, with entry to the Challenge Cup restricted, the Rugby Football League launched a Women's League Cup for teams outside of the Super League and Championship.^[25] In 2022, the League Cup was opened to teams from the Championship, with the two sides that did not progress from the group stage of the Challenge Cup entering the League Cup at the quarter-final round.^[26]

List of finals

Year	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Ref.
2012	Widnes Vikings	40–10	Stanningley	[27]
2013	Normanton Knights	34–14	Featherstone Rovers	[28]
2014	Featherstone Rovers	64–14	Stanningley	[29]
2015	unknown
2016	Thatto Heath Reserves	62–60	Whitley Bay Barbarians	[30]
2017	York City Knights	26–24	Army RL	[31]
2018	Bradford Bulls	44–16	Stanningley	[32]
2019	Army RL	40–40	York City Knights	[33]

Sponsorship

Year	Sponsor	Name
2019–2020[34]	Coral	Coral Women's Challenge Cup
2021–present[35]	Betfred	Betfred Women's Challenge Cup

See also

• Sports portal

• Double (rugby league)
• Treble (rugby league)
• Wheelchair Challenge Cup

References

1. "Coral Women's Rugby League Challenge Cup Roll of Honour". Rugby Football League. 2019. Archived from the original on 25 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
2. "These Girl Can: The Wider Impacts of the Development and Growth of Women's & Girls' Rugby League (March 2021)" (PDF). Rugby Football League. pp. 16–19. Retrieved 19 May 2023.
3. "Women's Challenge Cup final and Shield to be streamed live". Bradford Bulls. 3 August 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
4. "Challenge Cup 2019: RFL confirm new sponsor and semi-finals double-header". The Mail. 21 January 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
5. "Coral Women's Challenge Cup - new trophy for Rugby League". Rugby-League.com. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
6. "Update | Betfred Women's Super League / Coral Women's Challenge Cup". Rugby-League.com. 20 May 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
7. "Covid-19 forces cancellation of Women's Competitions in 2020". Rugby-League.com. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 23 May 2023.
8. "Draw details for AB Sundecks 1895 Cup and Betfred Women's Challenge Cup". Rugby-League.com. 24 April 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
9. "A new format, a new final venue - Why we should look forward to the 2022 Women's Challenge Cup". Serious About Rugby League. 11 December 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
10. "Featherstone win Women's Challenge Cup". Love Rugby League. 16 July 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
11. "RFL Womens Challenge Cup Final". Rugby Leaguer & League Express. No. 2, 868. 24 June 2013. p. 33.
12. "Amateur game: Women's Rugby League round-up". Total RL. 4 August 2014. Archived from the original on 5 April 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
13. "Thatto Heath win the Ladies' Challenge Cup". St Helens Star. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
14. "Stanley racks up points in Challenge Cup triumph". St Helen's Star. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
15. "Coral Women's Rugby League Challenge Cup". Rugby-League.com. Archived from the original on 22 March 2019.
16. "Women's Rugby League Challenge Cup Final". 4 The Love of Sport. 1 August 2016. Archived from the original on 26 April 2019. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
17. "Bradford Bulls win Women's RL Challenge Cup". Telegraph & Argus. 30 July 2017. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
18. "Women's Challenge Cup: Leeds Rhinos women beat Castleford Tigers 20-14 to lift trophy". BBC Sport. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 26 April 2019.
19. "Women's Challenge Cup final: Castleford Tigers 10-16 Leeds Rhinos". BBC Sport. 27 July 2019. Retrieved 17 September 2019.
20. "St Helens outclass York to take Women's Challenge Cup with Woosey double". The Guardian. 5 June 2021. Archived from the original on 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
21. "St Helens retain Women's Challenge Cup in front of record UK crowd". Rugby-League.com. 7 May 2022. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
22. Bower, Aaron (12 August 2023). "Hoyle makes sure Saints fight off Leeds in Women's Challenge Cup final". The Observer. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
23. "Saints beat Leeds to retain Women's Challenge Cup". BBC Sport. 8 June 2024. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
24. "Women's Rugby League heads into summer". A Brighter Future. Rugby Football League. 9 March 2012. Archived from the original on 19 September 2012.
25. "Dewsbury Moor Ladies win inaugural Women's League Cup". Rugby-League.com. 11 August 2021. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
26. "Hull FC To Face Hull KR In Women's League Cup Quarter-Finals". Hull F.C. 5 April 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2024.
27. Smith, Sophia (16 July 2012). "Rugby: Widnes win Challenge Shield Final". Sport Sister. Archived from the original on 23 July 2012.
28. "Knights lift Challenge Shield". Women's Rugby League. 24 June 2013. Archived from the original on 30 June 2013.
29. "Rovers take Challenge Shield". Rugby-League.com. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
30. "Thatto Heath double up!". Rugby-League.com. 31 July 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
31. "Bradford Bulls win Women's Challenge Cup". Rugby-League.com. 2 August 2017. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
32. "Catch-up: Women's Challenge Cup & Challenge Shield finals". BBC Sport. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
33. "REPLAY | Army Rugby League 40-4 York City Knights | Women's Challenge Shield". Rugby-League.com. 26 July 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2023.
34. "Coral to sponsor the Challenge Cup". www.rugby-league.com. 21 January 2019. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
35. "Betfred up for the Cups". www.rugby-league.com. 4 February 2021. Retrieved 11 May 2023.