Jackie Sheldon

Jackie, hailing from Featherstone, has a strong background in Sports Development, having worked for Wakefield, Calderdale and Doncaster councils. This included programmes aimed at increasing participation in sport and recreation for women and girls.

Jackie was a founder member of Wakefield Panthers and Redhill Ladies and trained in sports leadership and development as a single mother in her twenties.  She was the driving force behind the ground-breaking Ashes tour in 1996 to Australia in terms of fund-raising in her role as secretary of the Women’s Amateur Rugby League Association. 

The 1996, pioneering British Lionesses team set out on the first ever international tour by a women’s rugby league team, the team had to raise over £60,000 with each player raising £1000 to fund their trip.   They went out and beat the Australians, playing a seven-match tour and won a memorable test series 2-1. 

Jackie became the head coach for the tour to New Zealand in 1998 and was named as Sports Administrator/Coach of the Year in the Sunday Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards in 1998. She continued as Head Coach in the first World Cup in 2000 in England, a tour to Australia in 2002 and the second World Cup in New Zealand in 2003

Jackie became Women and Girls Development Officer in 1997 and in a voluntary capacity coached Great Britain.  Great Britain went on to become a catalyst in the development of the women’s game. Thirteen new girls’ teams were set up in England as a result of the world series programme in 2000 (part-funded by Lottery funded Awards for All).  

Jackie was the first woman to gain the RFL’s Level 4 Coaching Certificate and was instrumental in supporting 5 women in to the rugby league high-performance coaching programme, these women went on to coach an under 21’s team, which went toured France then Russia, and some of those team members went on to play for England later on.

Jackie was inducted into the Rugby League Roll of Honour (Inductee 48) for her contribution to coaching and her driving force in development of women's rugby league.