Emily Rudge: England captain says being paid to play at World Cup is welcome 'first step'

Emily Rudge made her World Cup debut as a 16-year-old in Australia in 2008

England captain Emily Rudge has said being paid to play at the World Cup is a welcome "first step" towards the domestic women's game going full-time.

The St Helens second row is set to play in her fourth World Cup after featuring in 2008, 2013 and 2017.

However, this will be her first with equal participation fees, prize money and a mainstream media platform, with all the games being shown on the BBC.

And Rudge, who also works as a PE teacher, believes the tournament could prove to be a seminal moment for the sport in England.

"Professionalism is ultimately the goal," she told BBC Sport.

"We definitely play because we love it - but we want to see that investment in the game and see players be paid. To reach your true full potential, you have to be a full-time athlete.

"It is so difficult balancing work and rugby. You always want to do more and there are work commitments that don't allow that.

"That has to be the next stage for the growth of the game to continue and for us to compete at the highest level. We have to see that movement. Us being paid is definitely the first step in that direction so hopefully that momentum will continue."

On Sunday, Leeds Rhinos announced they will award win bonuses and "meritocratic payments for success in the Challenge Cup and Grand Final competitions" to their players from 2023.

Leeds, who won the Women's Super League Grand Final in September, said it is the next phase in their move to make their women's team fully professional.

England coach Craig Richards added: "We want to be in a position to go and win the World Cup, but do it with great individuals and ambassadors for the game and hopefully it attracts some more money into the game and the girls can get what they deserve.

"We have made massive strides, but like anything else it just needs that little bit more, especially when you are looking at the other side of the pond and the NRLW.

"We can't allow that gap to get much bigger so we have to do something special and not allow that gap to widen from a financial point of view."

Australia - whose players already compete in the fully professional NRL women's competition - head into the tournament as clear favourites to claim a third consecutive title.

Greater visibility than following finals on social media

A record crowd of up to 15,000 fans is expected when England feature in the curtain-raising match against Brazil in Leeds on Tuesday.

And 14 years after her World Cup debut, Rudge is relishing the opportunity that the tournament - which contains eight teams for the first time since 2008 - presents for further growth of the women's game.

"When I started all those years back, we had so few players it was difficult to even get an England team together," Rudge added.

"In 2008 the visibility wasn't there. Nobody knew that women play rugby league and when you're going out there to represent your country and people don't even know the sport exists, that makes it really difficult.

"To go from there to where the game is now, with so many talented girls coming through and so many people wanting to be a part of it, is phenomenal and it is only going to continue to filter through to the international game."

Australia's joint-captain Samantha Bremner echoed that view, saying: "There have been so many big changes but there have been a significant amount of small changes [to the women's game].

"At my very first World Cup in 2013, we had a meat raffle and sold tickets at our local club.

"When we played in 2013 nobody could watch us. My husband said he remembered waiting on Facebook to see a status update from the Jillaroos to see how we had got on in the final.

"We have come so far in such a short amount of time."

England name squad for opener

England have announced their 19-player squad to face World Cup debutants Brazil at Headingley.

Captain Rudge is joined by all four Woman of Steel award winners - Leeds Rhinos pair Georgia Roche and Courtney Winfield-Hill, her club-mate Jodie Cunningham and York City Knights' Tara-Jane Stanley.

Wigan's Vicky Molyneux, the only survivor from England's first international with France in 2007, has also been named.

England squad to face Brazil: Rudge, Stanley, Beevers, Goldthorp, Hardcastle, Burke, Roche, Winfield-Hill, Field, Jones, Dodd, Cunningham, Molyneux, Whitfield, Hoyle, Wood, Bennett, Harris, Hornby.

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