OLDHAM’s women’s side are set to play their first game in front of a home crowd this Sunday at the Vestacare Stadium.
The newly-established team, coached by former St Helens assistant Ste Fitzmartin, will face North Wales Crusaders at 12:15pm as a curtain-raiser.
The girls will be looking to improve on the reverse fixture from a few weeks back when they were losing 36-4, before the match was abandoned due to a serious injury to Crusaders player Erica Mullins.
That was the women’s second ever game, after they beat Heysham Atoms 26-10 at the start of June.
The side is relatively inexperienced with many players new to the sport and several adapting from union to league.
One with previous experience in the sport is second-rower Rebekah Wilson who has played at Super League level for both St Helens and Warrington Wolves.
Before playing rugby league, Wilson was part of the Great Britain bobsleigh team which took part in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
The 32-year-old was also a sprinter before turning her hand to bobsleigh, and she is excited to play in front of a home crowd.
“All our friends and family will be there watching us and because of that we all want to step up,” she said.
“It’s a good motivator for everybody to really increase their level and hopefully we can show what we’re made of.
“We have to show improvement from last time, it’s going to be tough because they’re well-drilled girls that have a lot of experience.
“They are a development side but they have a lot of rugby union experience so they put us to the test, but we know what we need to work on to do better.”
Another set to feature at the weekend is centre Chelsey Calder, who also plays for football for Oldham Athletic Community Trust’s Recreational Women’s side.
It was after she watched the Oldham v Rochdale Good Friday derby that she was convinced to give rugby league a go.
“I knew a few of the (women’s) players already so I came to watch them when they walked out on the pitch before the game, and that was when I fell in love with the sport,” she said.
“We’re just at the beginning but I can see a lot of potential in us and hopefully, by playing these games, we can keep developing and getting better.
“We’re training as hard as we can to get ready for the game on our home patch.”
