Hull KR fan's key role in helping Great Britain Lionesses into Hall of Fame

Great Britain Lionesses of 1996 became the first team collectively inducted into the Rugby League Hall of Fame - and a decades-long Hull KR fan is delighted having been a driving force in them being recognised.

Julia Lee, who became passionate about rugby league when a young Rovers fan, worked to help make sure that the 1996 Ashes-winning Lionesses were finally awarded caps in 2022, with the team having not previously been recognised as internationals. Those caps have been followed by the Lionesses making history by receiving team recognition at the recent Hall of Fame event in Wigan. They were a self-funded squad that went and clinched a hard-fought 2-1 series win in Australia - coming back from losing 16-14 in the first Test to then win 18-12 to level the series and 20-18 in the decider.

Lee, who still regularly attends Hull KR home and away games, is the founder of Women in Rugby League, having been the first woman to referee in professional men's rugby league. She is also a trustee on the Hull KR Foundation, and a former RFL director, and has been inducted in to the Rugby League Roll of Honour for her contribution to the sport.

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"They weren't recognised internationally by the international federation," Lee explains. "We started off with collecting and recording the Great Britain information with the help of (former coach) Jackie Sheldon and there were videos too, so we could make an account of what games were played and who played. With that information we were able to put heritage numbers together. And then they all got their caps. The Hall of Fame night was a very special night."

The Lionesses team that was honoured included players from Hull - Donna Parker and Lisa Hunter - and the tour manager Nikki Carter, and the head coach Ian Harris was also from the city. The team were presented with a scroll marking their induction by Wigan legend and current women's coach Denis Betts. Additionally, two players from that squad - Jane Banks and Michelle Land - were added as individuals to the Hall of Fame on the night. Land has said that characteristics of that squad included trust in each other, having each other's backs, and being like a family. Lee helped with the organisation of the tour off the pitch. Those collective efforts have been celebrated now, decades later.

Remembering how her own passion for rugby league started, Lee - who was at Rovers' 1980 Challenge Cup final win over Hull FC as a child - says: "It was a sense of belonging - I loved rugby league because I felt part of something, part of a community. And Rovers at that time were phenomenal. I started watching them then stuck with them through thick and thin. And I love Robins and I love red! What the club is doing these days has been a long time coming. It's lovely to see the club getting things right on and off the pitch."

Lee began refereeing in Hull as a 17-year-old after seeing an advert in the programme and was later trained for a year as a referee in Australia. She took charge of women's internationals, women's Roses match Yorkshire v Lancashire at Old Trafford, and she was the first woman to referee an Oxford v Cambridge varsity match. She also played for Hull Vixens - a former club of 1996 Lionesses Parker and Hunter - and set up a London-based team Fulham Women.

Lee was one of those who was involved in bucket collections to raise £50,000 for the Lionesses 1996 trip to Australia. Women's rugby league had no governing body at the time in the UK and there was also little assistance for the women's game in Australia. Despite that, a memorable series took place with a proud outcome for the tourists.

"It was a phenomenal achievement," Lee says of the 1996 Ashes win. "Nobody knew what each other was like playing, because they had never seen each other play. And it was a hard tour, going from Sydney to Canberra to Brisbane. Five of the women in the Hall of Fame as individuals are from that 1996 group - captain Lisa McIntosh, Brenda Dobeck, Sally Milburn, Jane Banks, Shelly Land.

"They had to do all the fund-raising themselves. And they had to get sponsorship to go. And players had to do training while having jobs. They worked hard to get there and fully deserve the recognition now."

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