Departing head coach Craig Richards says women’s rugby league has to go professional if England are to have any hope of catching Australia and New Zealand.
Richards broke down in tears after his side’s hopes of a first ever World Cup final ended at the semi-final stage again, as a powerful New Zealand ran out 20-6 winners in York.
He will now leave the role, a decision he says was taken before the tournament, and has urged the sport to start paying its players and adopting more professional attitudes if it is realistic in its desire to rein in the Southern Hemisphere superpowers.
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“Professionalism is the answer,” said a visibly distraught Richards as England’s women followed the men out of the competition.
“A decision has to be made - ‘do you want to compete with them or not?’.
“Professionalism is also about behaviours. Money isn’t everything. I just hope teams, clubs, coaches, roll their sleeves up and dig in. The money needs to be a bonus, there needs to be an attitude change and everyone needs to work hard.
“I’ve not spent five years trying to close a gap, I’ve spent five years trying to win a World Cup.”
Finalists Australia and most of the New Zealand side are professional athletes playing in the NRL women’s competition. England’s players all have full-time jobs and train in the mornings and evenings. Recently Leeds Rhinos announced they will pay win bonuses next season - the only club to do so.
“I think at times the competition doesn’t help,” Richards added.
“All the talent is in two or three sides, and there needs to be more work done to strengthen the sides that are behind. Until you get that you will struggle to beat these sides.”
“A lot of our players could go to the NRLW and thrive, some of the girls are ambitious and do occasionally mention it. They are good enough without a shadow of a doubt. Some would do more than thrive. But for me it’s not about being a feeder for the NRLW, we need to strengthen our competition.”
Richards says his part-time squad could not have done anything more in their shot at glory, and still came up short. And that is why it hurts so much.
“From day one I have asked them for 100 percent effort in everything we do and I feel as though that’s what we got, but it’s hard to take.
“Initially the task was let’s just get close to them (Australia and New Zealand).
“But my attitude was not to get close to them, but to beat them. I thought we had a side to beat them.
“I’m a positive guy and will get over it no problem. I’ve seen how hard they have worked and the changes and sacrifices made. I can’t put into words how proud I am of them. Could I have done any more, are there lessons for me to learn? I’m more upset for the girls than anything.”
Despite the rawness of the pain, Richards is already able to see the bigger picture, with the women’s game excelling on the biggest stage it has ever had.
“We have talked about the legacy we want to leave behind and that has been just as important as rugby league.
“We have talked about inspiring young female rugby league players to take up the game. Let’s see what happens off the back of this.
“But it will be someone else that takes the team forward. That decision was made a while ago. It won’t be me, I will support from afar and push the girls forward for club and country. One thing that won’t leave me is the passion for England.”
Australia face New Zealand in the World Cup final again, as part of a double-header at Old Trafford on Saturday before the tournament climaxes with the men’s final between Australia and Samoa.
Prior to that on Friday night England have one final shot at glory as they meet France in a much-anticipated wheelchair final.
*18+ | BeGambleAware
