WOMEN'S GAME IN GAME FOCUS
Sarah Rendell takes a weekly look at some important women players
THIS WEEK... ZOE TEECE DMP DURHAM SHARKS TIGHTHEAD
DMP Durham Sharks prop Zoe Teece began rugby in Year 8 when her PE teacher spotted her skill.
The 22-year-old was encouraged to go to a club and it evoked memories of her childhood so she took the plunge.
“I used to play with my cousins in the back garden growing up, at my grandma and grandad’s,” she says. “It was something I always used to enjoy and my family were fans. I knew the game. I thought I’d give it a try and I’ve never looked back.”
She began her journey in Rugby League but she now plays both codes. Teece, who is also studying a PGCE in primary education at Northumbria University, is at DMP and League club Featherstone Rovers.
“I have got an understanding with the coaches that if I’m feeling extra sore from the game or from a training session that I take that time for recovery,” she adds. “The spare weekends I do have I use them as recovery. I’ve never noticed the full workload of it being all year round. I’ve never recognised when I should be resting because it’s what I know. “Going from League to Union
and back, don’t think it’s made any difference because it’s what I’ve been doing since a young age.”
Being in both codes she can see the difference in progress across the sports. Union have gone from strength to strength with professional contracts being offered to a select few England players in 2019 and Wales players contracts come into effect in January 2022. In comparison no players are fully professional in women’s Rugby League. What has it been like witnessing the difference for Teece?
“The difference in Union with players getting contracts is just massive,” she says. “In League it’s almost like you still have to pay to play for most teams. So it’s mind-blowing that contracts are set-up for those playersin Union.
“Union is down south and there’s more money down south and the fans are more willing to buy the membership and merchandise. Honestly I think it’s just because you could go anywhere in the world and say ‘oh I play Rugby Union’ and everybody would pick it up. But you say I play Rugby League and they’ll say ‘what’sthat?’ Rugby Union is more well known.”