Jodie Cunningham (born 5 December 1991) is an English

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who plays as a or at international level for

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and domestically for St Helens in the

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

. Cunningham started paying rugby while a pupil at

Cardinal Newman Catholic High School, Warrington Cardinal Newman Catholic High School is a coeducational Roman Catholic secondary school. It is graded by Ofsted as a 'Good' school that educates approximately 739 children between 11 and 16 years of age. Ofsted also said that 'Cardinal Newman ...

and was selected to play for England while still in the sixth-form and playing for Warrington Ladies RC. In 2011, Cunningham was in the Warrington team that won the Championship Final of the

Women's Rugby League Conference The Women's Rugby League Conference was a competition for women's rugby league teams in Britain that ran from 2008 to 2011. The men's equivalent is the Rugby League Conference. History : The ''Southern Conference League'' began as a 10-team p ...

. While a student at

Leeds University The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed ...

, Cunningham played in the 2013 Women's Rugby League World Cup and joined

Thatto Heath Crusaders Thatto Heath Crusaders is an amateur rugby league club situated in Thatto Heath, St Helens, Merseyside. The club currently competes in the National Conference League Premier Division History ''Thatto Heath'' RLFC began life in 1981, original ...

and was a member of the team that won the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

in four successive seasons from 2013 to 2016. Cunningham was vice-captain of the England team in the

2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup The 2017 Women's Rugby League World Cup was the fifth staging of the Women's Rugby League World Cup and was held in Australia between 16 November and 2 December 2017. Pool and semi-final matches was held at Southern Cross Group Stadium in Sydn ...

and in March 2018 Cunningham became a member of the newly-formed St Helens women's team, though she missed most of the 2018 season due to rehabilitation after surgery on an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation. In ...

injury suffered during the 2017 season. For the 2019 season, Cunningham was appointed co-captain of the St Helens side alongside Tara Jones With the 2020 season cancelled, 2021 saw Cunningham appointed captain of the team and she led the side to the first treble since the creation of the Women's Super League. Cunningham was also named 2021 Woman of Steel. Cunningham worked as community engagement lead for the organisers of the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received � ...

as well as being an ambassador for the

women's tournament A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional uteruses ...

. Cunningham was appointed as the RFL's National Women’s and Girls’ Development Manager in November 2021. In January 2024 she left that post to take up a new post with St Helens as head of women’s pathways and performance. 2022 saw St Helens retain the

with Cunningham scoring a try in the final against

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

. In the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

Cunningham captained St Helens to second place in the league but the team were unable to repeat their 2021 successes losing in the play-off semi-final to eventual Grand Final winners Leeds. In April 2023, Cunningham was named as captain of the England team, succeeding St Helens teammate Emily Rudge.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Jodie 1991 births Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds England women's national rugby league team captains England women's national rugby league team players English female rugby league players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Warrington St Helens R.F.C. captains St Helens Women RLFC players 21st-century English sportswomen