Barrow Raiders Ladies

In 2016, Barrow Ladies played in the Merit League and were based at Barrow Island ARLFC. They initially had difficulty in finding opponents as many of their games were cancelled.^[2] Barrow had previously had a women's team that had included Great Britain internationals such as Lindsay Anfield,^[3] Sally Milburn^[4] and Allie and Liz Kitchin,^[5] but by 2016 it had been more than ten years since Barrow had last played a competitive home fixture.^[6] Barrow entered in the 2016/17 WRLA Winter League, but by the end of January they had withdrawn from the competition^[7] and in March 2017 they joined the Women's Premier Division.^[8] At the end of April they made their Challenge Cup debut in a 58–13 loss to the Oulton Raidettes.^[9] In 2018, Barrow recorded their first win in the Challenge Cup defeating Brighouse Rangers 62–10 to reach the second round (quarter-finals).^[10] In 2019, Barrow finished second in the Championship. On 15 September, for their final home game of the regular season, Barrow faced Oulton in the first women's game to be played at Craven Park.^[11] Barrow reached the Championship Grand Final with a 14–12 semi-final victory over Stanningley,^[12] but lost 40–4 to Warrington Wolves^[13] who had also knocked Barrow out of the Challenge Cup earlier in the season.^[14] In 2020, Barrow were to face Warrington in the second round of the Challenge Cup again.^[15] However, a week before the match the RFL suspended all competitions.^[16]

On 14 March 2021, it was announced that the Barrow Island Ladies team had been adopted by Barrow Raiders to form the Barrow Raiders Ladies team.^[17][18] In the 2021 season, Barrow reached the Grand Final of the Championship by defeating Widnes Vikings 16–6 in the play-offs.^[19] They lost the final 10–6 to the league leaders, Leigh Miners Rangers,^[20] but a top two finish in the league meant promotion along with Leigh to Group 2 of the Super League.^[21] In November 2021, Amanda Wilkinson was appointed as Head Coach.^[22] The 2022 season began for Barrow with the Challenge Cup. After defeats to St Helens and Warrington Wolves, a 36–0 win over the Army was not enough for Barrow to progress from the group stage.^[23] Barrow made their Super League debut on 15 May with a 32–6 loss at home to Warrington.^[24][25] Barrow finished second in Group 2 before losing 12–10 to Featherstone Rovers in the play-off semi-final.^[26] As with the 2022 season, Barrow began 2023 with two defeats in the Challenge Cup before ending their campaign with a win; 20–11 over Hull KR.^[27][28] A closely fought Super League competition saw the top three teams in Group 2 (Leigh Leopards, Barrow and Featherstone) separated by only one point going into the final day of the regular season. In the last round of matches Barrow defeated Leigh but missed out on automatic promotion as they finished behind the league leaders, Featherstone, on points difference.^[29][30] However, a 14–8 victory over Leigh in the Group 2 Final secured their place in the restructured Super League in 2024.^[31]

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