Wembley day Sophie became the ‘First Lady’ of rugby league
SOPHIE Cox just wanted to play the sport she loved. But 25 years ago rugby league’s powers that be were determined to stop her.
What followed would change the course of the game, ignited a debate about girls playing contact sports - and ended up with the Rochdale lass bagging a place in the Guinness Book of World Records and becoming a Trivial Pursuit answer!
Sophie, then 11, stepped into sporting history on May 1, 1993, when she became the first girl to play rugby league at Wembley.
But the archaic regulations of the game meant her dreams of stepping out on the hallowed turf were almost shattered before they’d even got off the ground.
Talented Sophie, captain of her school’s mixed sex football and rugby league teams and scorer of 67 tries in the 1991/92 season, had been picked to represent Rochdale U11s who were due to take on a Sheffield schools side in the traditional ‘schoolboys’ Challenge Cup Final curtainraiser.
But in December 1992, a week before her 11th birthday, the game’s authorities told her she wasn’t permitted to play.
It all came down to a rule in the English Schools Rugby League constitution, drawn up 25 years before, which stated that games were to be played by boys.
But Sophie, of Littleborough, was determined to take her place on the sport’s biggest stage.
And, as it turned out, many other powerful and influential people and organisations were willing to back her fight.
What would become known as the ‘Sophie Cox Affair’ came to national attention when the Independent newspaper published an article on her plight headlined ‘Sophie’s choice is denied.’
Several TV appearances followed, the issue was the subject of radio phone-ins and was discussed on Woman’s Hour.
Even broadsheet newspapers such as the Times and the Telegraph, which then rarely covered rugby league, let alone the schools game, picked up the story.
Sophie had become an unlikely symbol of the fight for equal rights.
MPs, Parliamentary Committees, doctors, the Department for Education, the Sports Council, the Women’s Sports Foundation and numerous other women’s organisations threw their weight behind her campaign, and wrote to the English Schools Rugby League secretary, calling for Sophie to be allowed to play.
She even had the support of the professional body of the Rugby Football League.
Under pressure from all sides the authorities eventually saw sense and backed down.
Sophie was allowed to take her place in the team and set up the winning try as Rochdale triumphed 12-6 in front of a crowd of 60,000.
Footage from the game was later broadcast on Blue Peter and includes a lovely moment when legendary commentator Roy French, known as ‘Mr Rugby League,’ utters the words “and that’s a beautiful long pass from Sophie Cox” as she made the crucial assist.
Later that day rugby league greats such as Martin Offiah, Jonathan Davies, and Joe Lydon took to the field as Wigan beat Widnes to lift the Challenge Cup.
But it’s arguable that Sophie’s contribution to the ●●Sophie Cox, then aged 11, with rival captains Joe Lydon (left) of Wigan and David Hulme of Widnes before the 1993 Rugby League Challenge Cup final, where she made history game rivals even theirs.
At its AGM the following month the ESRL made good on its promise to review its constitution, changing the word “schoolboys” to schoolchildren.
It meant in future years girls would not have to face the same obstacles that Sophie had battled to overcome.
They would, as Blue Peter presenter Diane Louise Jordan put it, be able to tread in her bootsteps.
Looking back Sophie, now a married 36-year-old mum-of-one, who still lives in Littleborough, is proud of the impact she had on the game.
She said: “At the time I was aware of the fuss, but not too conscious of its implications.
“I just wanted to play rugby, make the tackles, score the tries, give the passes, be a valued member of the team.
“As the years have passed I’ve come to realise the significance of being Wembley’s ‘First Lady.’
“Reading one of the interviews at the time raises a smile. I’m quoted saying: “It might have been nice to be a boy so I could have gone professional but the ladies game is spreading and maybe when I grow up there will be a women’s professional league”.
“Twenty five years later and it’s happened!”
But Sophie’s appearance at Wembley was by no means the peak of her sporting career.
After studying at Leeds University she gave up rugby to concentrate on judo - and eventually competed at the sport’s highest level.
She won two European silver medals, was a quarter finalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and after retiring from the sport for five years to become an English teacher in Thailand, also made a comeback to fight in the 2012 London games.
Now Sophie is focused on coaching and mentoring future sports stars through her work with the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, Sky Sports for Living and Street Games.
She is also a regional development coach for England Judo - and still occasionally competes at masters level in jiu jitsu and judo.
And rugby league has also come a long way in the last 25 years.
Last year the inaugural Women’s Super League was launched.
And in an apt role reversal the opening game saw the men playing second fiddle, with Bradford Bulls and Coventry acting as the curtain raiser to the Bradford Bulls Women versus Leeds Rhinos Women main event.