Julia Lee

Summary

Julia surprised local officials in her home city of Hull by taking up refereeing at the age of 17. Her journey was never an easy one, but she went on to break barriers and achieved many ‘firsts’ in her career, an example of these achievements were the first to officiate in London, then officiated for a brief spell in Sydney, and returning to climb through the refereeing ranks and regularly take charge of matches in the National Conference League, the Alliance competition, and in 1993, historically, a professional fixture at Keighley. By the time Julia retired in 2000, having refereed more than 500 matches, she had already moved into administration, taking up a role as the RFL’s director of community projects and events, and has more recently moved into consultancy, advocating for women’s involvement in Rugby League, and documenting its history, including on the Life with the Lionesses project with National Lottery funding. In 2022 Julia was inducted in to the Rugby League Roll of Honour for her contribution to the sport. 

Julia Lee by Julia Lee

I am an ordinary person, born in Hull in 1968 Mum from East of the City, Dad from the West. 

I am the youngest of three children with a sister and brother, however, early on in my life I realised how I interpreted (saw) the world was different to my friends and family. Maybe this was due to personal circumstances which shaped me and my thinking.

In April 1971, my life direction changed when the police knocked on our front door to inform us that after consuming eight pints of beer my dad was driving home and been involved in a fatal car accident, he died immediately! 

My mum, at that time was very much a stay-at-home parent, and was left with three children aged 3, 5 and 8 years, the loss of my dad aged three was a major event which clearly shaped who and what I became

“We are influenced by what happens to us in our lives and this shapes us as a person. How we manage past labelling, beliefs and values is what leads to ultimate success”

From my recollection, my early role models were my Grandad and Uncle Arthur, they supported my mum while she tried to pick up the pieces of her life and take steps to move forward, this involved her learning to drive, training as a swimming teacher, getting a job to support her family and becoming a strong independent woman, absolutely a role model for me to aspire to.

I am often asked where my journey in rugby league started, well this was down to my Grandad and Uncle Arthur who were big rugby league supporters, initially they were not keen to take girls to games, as it wasn’t seen as a game for girls, I couldn’t play rugby league at school because I was a girl, but this didn’t stop my love of the game and wanting to be involved, my dream came alive in 1980 when the two Hull teams playing at Wembley made it inevitable that I would became a Hull KR supporter. 

On the terraces at Old Craven Park on Holderness Road Hull I found where I belonged, I had struggled in the school community and finally found a common bond with the rugby league and more importantly the robins’ supporters. 

Aged twelve my passion was to attend every game and due to my family circumstances, I had to fund my hobby. I got myself a paper round, looked after other people’s children, did shopping and gardening for those who could not go out and walked dogs. When I reached the age of sixteen, I managed to get a shop assistant job to fund my rugby habits. 

In schoolteachers labelled me as a lonely child, to a point they were right as I felt I didn’t fit into the ‘normal’ world, I was ungainly, self-conscious, shy, lacked confidence and self-esteem, clumsy; unattractive and labelled ‘thick’. This was reinforced by teachers who either said I ‘could do better’ but they never explained what this actually meant! Also when it came to sports, despite me turning up for all the training sessions I was not picked for teams, which confirmed in my head that all that was said and thought about me was correct, it confirmed that I had little or no value and wasn’t any good at anything. By the time I reached secondary school, I had dropped out of sport and eventually left school as soon as I possibly could. Outside of the school environment I found I enjoyed Brownies and Girl Guides, being the youngest Baden Powell at aged thirteen, what a success story, at least I felt I had some sort of value. I now know, having been diagnosed in my forties that I had work and number dyslexia, so I wasn’t stupid or thick, I just didn’t see and process information the same as others did, it even transpired that I had a visionary superpower. 

My obsession (as my mum called it) continually watching rugby league changed direction when at 17 I was dared to take a referee course….  I did take the course and I started refereeing rugby league, even though it was a ‘man’s game’ and was totally a men’s club where only one woman before me had taken up refereeing a lady called Julie Fitzpatrick from Leeds. Admitting women to ‘the club’ was clearly uncomfortable and unfamiliar for many, and when you think there was no actual referee training in place to show you how to referee, I had watched loads of rugby league games and had a copy of the Laws of the game but did not know how to interpret them on the pitch, I truly had baptism of fire. 

I refereed only two U13 games before I moved to London to work and there, I moved straight into refereeing open age men’s rugby league. Every time I was appointed a fixture it filled me with dread, I felt sick I knew I hadn’t been given the tools to officiate, this made it very difficult, almost impossible to build my confidence as an official. 

After a brawl between Fulham Amateurs and Fulham Travellers I knew I needed to do something about this if I was to succeed so I set up Fulham Women so I could play, took my coaching certificates and went to officiate in Manly Referee Association in Australia who had coaching sessions on the skills of refereeing as well as a great support system. 

On my return from Australia in 1991 I decided to take my officiating more seriously and moved back up north. Fred Lindop was in charge at the time, and I passed my grade three exam finishing top. The fitness test was more challenging having to complete five miles in 37 minutes, twenty laps of Thornes Park Athletics track in Wakefield, which I managed to pass after my third attempt. This meant I could now referee National Conference and touch judge Academy and A team games, in order to make sure I looked the part I then went out and with the help of my mum bought a smart skirt suit to wear to the games.

I became involved in the women and girls league playing for Hull Vixens, coaching a girls’ team and being on the committee for the Women’s Amateur Rugby League Association. 

When I played, I loved to tackle, however, I was very injury prone which took me away from refereeing, so I had to make a tough decision, playing or refereeing, so I took early retirement from playing after only 5 years.

My refereeing career took off in the 1990’s learning my trade on the Sunday rugby park pitches. I climbed through the refereeing ranks and regularly took charge of matches in the National Conference League, the Alliance competition, and in 1993, historically, a professional fixture at Keighley. I also had the honour of officiating in a student rugby league world cup, a women’s county game at Old Trafford before 42,000, Oxford v Cambridge and women’s International Test Matches in Australia and New Zealand. By the time I retired in 2000, I had refereed more than five hundred matches

My passion for refereeing and my desire to be the best I could be gave me an interest in sports science, so having been a real under achiever at school I decided I would take a degree in Sport Science, having retired from officiating, my career took another turn and in the 1990’s I was instrumental in developing the Rugby League Match Official pathway training and development. 

In 1997 I started working in the sport I loved and against the odds was employed as the Leeds Rugby League Development Officer, after two years in this role I started working for the Rugby Football League the National Governing Body to grow and develop the sport, I was eventually promoted to director of community projects and events

In this time, I was driven to further develop myself as a leader, I was reading everything I could around self-development, undertaking projects, and above all else that to become a leader of others I first had to learn to be a leader of myself. I used my experiences as a woman in a man’s world to implement change, offering opportunities for girls to play, women to officiate, coach and lead the sport. 

Regardless of the obstacles or barriers in whatever role I have undertaken at the rugby league I know I have made things more accessible for others. During my role with the Rugby League which spanned over 20 years, in 2008 I played a crucial role in securing £29 million from Sport England. Later I was appointed to the role as the Director of the 2013 Festival of World Cups where over a two-week period a total of twenty-five teams from eleven nations competed in forty-seven matches at eight different venues.

In recent years my career has taken even more positive turns, I am the Founder and Director of Common-sense Initiative, a social enterprise inspiring and empowering individuals or organisations to unlock and achieve their potential. I am a qualified coach and neuro linguistic program practitioner (NLP), using my experiences in rugby league, sport and my personal mental health challenges to support individuals and organisations to develop a culture which promotes positive mental health and wellbeing

In 2017 I moved into consultancy, advocating for women’s involvement in Rugby League, and documenting its history, including on the Life with the Lionesses project with National Lottery funding. In the two heritage lottery projects we have used a play written by Sarah Jane Dickenson which was inspired by my story. Ref; to inspire the next generation. 

In 2019 I was appointed as Chair of the International Rugby League Women and Girls Advisory Group, and I am currently leading the vision and strategy to globally grow the involvement of women and girls in rugby league, and of course I am delighted that I am a Trustee for my beloved Club Hull Kingston Rovers.

I am one of the founders and Directors of Team You along with Janie Frampton, one of the first women football referees, who together we have many years of experience in leadership and sports development. Our experience extends to world class global organisations who have shown a commitment to creating an instinctive and diverse workforce such as World Athletics, England and Wales Cricket Board, Association of Colleges, The International Federation for Sports Officials and Leadership Through Sports and Business. We have diversified into creating and delivering global social impact projects which positively effect local communities and individuals, by using sport as an education and development tool to effect positive life choices.

“Not bad for a girl who was told at school she could do better”