Jodie Cunningham: England and St Helens captain revels in rugby league freedom of ‘being unfiltered on a pitch’

Jodie Cunningham has been at the forefront of the women’s rugby league revolution both on and off the field.

As captain of England and St Helens, she is one of the sport’s most recognisable personalities. Outside of playing, the 32-year-old has helped drive its growth through her role as the RFL’s national women’s and girls’ development manager.

Now Cunningham is combining playing for Saints with working as the club’s head of women’s pathways and performance, which involves collaborating with the commercial and marketing teams to spread the word as much as it does setting up the team for long-term success on the field.

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She knows there are unique aspects of the women’s game which can be harnessed to do that, and mean it can make an impact in ways the men’s team cannot too.

“I don’t think we can just copy and paste what we do with the men because actually, it’s not an eyeballs game for us at the minute but it is an impact and an inspiration piece where rugby league offers some really unique opportunities in the women’s game,” Cunningham told Sky Sports.

“One, the growth of the game is massive and with women’s sport in general, but more rugby league and what it offers from a body confidence perspective.

“That feeling of being unfiltered on a pitch – it doesn’t matter what you look like. It’s not about being perfect or Photoshopping pictures, we do look rough and ready, and our hair is everywhere and there are broken noses and blood, but actually, that’s brilliant and it’s celebrated.

“They are the sort of things we’re working with the commercial teams and sponsorship teams to go how do we bring more money into this club? How do we showcase for women a little bit differently? How do we embrace women and get them involved in things when they still have the balancing challenge of a full-time job, so they’re not as accessible as the men?”

Cunningham is helping blaze a trail for women in the rugby league media as well, this year joining Sky Sports’ roster of pundits along with her now-retired England team-mate from the 2021 Rugby League World Cup, Courtney Winfield-Hill.

Although a former Woman of Steel, 30-cap-and-counting international, not to mention a Women’s Super League and Women’s Challenge Cup winner, Cunningham has faced the same sort of abuse as female pundits in other sports when it comes to her commenting on the men’s game.

But she has little time for those views and wants to show women they can be involved in a sport which prides itself on being a family game in a variety of roles.

That feeling of being unfiltered on a pitch – it doesn’t matter what you look like. It’s not about being perfect or Photoshopping pictures, we do look rough and ready, and our hair is everywhere and there are broken noses and blood, but actually, that’s brilliant and it’s celebrated.

“I’ve had a little bit of comments and things on social media around my involvement with Sky around ‘Oh, well, you can’t get on the field and do what X player can do’,” Cunningham said.

“Well, no, I can’t, I’m not going to walk out in the men’s Super League and compete against the men because I’m a woman and it’s not possible, but actually it’s not all about that.

“Females are 50 per cent of the population and as a sport, we have a really high percentage of female fans, and we need a space and an outlet for them to be able to be involved in the game in whatever way they want to be.

“Rugby league, we say, it’s a family sport and I solely back that, and having more women involved in various aspects of clubs and playing and see they’re visible is really important because young girls need to feel part of this sport.”

As far as her on-field commitments go, Cunningham and her St Helens team-mates get their 2024 season under way on Saturday, March 16 when they begin the defence of their Challenge Cup title at home to London Broncos in the first round of group-stage matches.

Saints made history last year by becoming the first team to win a Women’s Challenge Cup final held at Wembley, beating Leeds Rhinos 22-8, but their quest to regain the Women’s Super League title they last won in 2021 was ended in the play-off semi-finals by the same opponent.

Leeds and reigning champions York Valkyrie have emerged as the pace-setters in the competition in the past two seasons, and although she wants to bring the Super League title back to St Helens, who have now joined the ranks of clubs paying their female players, Cunningham is pleased to see the strength in depth increasing.

“With my player hat on I want Saints to win everything and no one else gets a sniff!” Cunningham said with a laugh. “Of course, for the game, for that for that growth and development to get more media, more broadcasted games, you have to have a competitive league.

“There’s no point in being predictable, where one team wins everything. We want all the other teams to come up.

“For me, there’s nothing to separate York, Leeds and Saints really, on the day, especially as each team is quite different – the strengths of each team are very different.

“We just need to change three teams where that is the case to hopefully an eight-team comp where that’s the case and I do think the gap has closed between the likes of the top three and fourth or fifth.”

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