Jane Banks tells tour tales as 1996 Lionesses get hall of fame recognition

JANE Banks heard it all. Why are women playing rugby league? You should beryllium successful the kitchen. What is the point?

Being inducted into the sport’s hallway of fame, on with the history-making Great Britain Lionesses broadside she was portion of successful 1996, is simply a beauteous bully reason.

She tin besides accidental thing galore antheral players tin lone imagination of saying. I bushed the Aussies successful Australia.

Aged 17, the Royal Mail idiosyncratic Jane was the youngest subordinate of the trailblazing broadside that funded itself to marque the travel 28 years ago. She had to hold 26 to get the headdress for it.

Now arsenic she joins greats similar Jim Sullivan, Billy Boston, Brian Bevan, Ellery Hanley, Martin Offiah and Andy Farrell – some individually and with her team-mates – it each seems worthy it.

Jane, who was moving part-time successful a Pizza Hut erstwhile she was selected astatine 16, said: “It was each self-funded, we had nary backing from anybody.

“We had to rise conscionable implicit £50,000 to get there. It was things similar bucket collections and container packing. We did loads of bucket collections, we were astatine each lucifer shaking a bucket!

“And we got radical coming up going, ‘Women can’t play rugby league,’ arsenic we were shaking a bucket trying to rise wealth to spell connected circuit to Australia.

“Attitudes past were precise different. We had, ‘Women can’t play rugby,’ a lot. Now we’re the lone squad to person won a bid against Australia connected their turf to this day.”

Even though it was the mid-1990s, slope transfers were unknown. So, the Lionesses’ circuit manager flew Down Under with a suitcase afloat of wealth to wage for accommodation and travel!

And designation of their 2-1 bid triumph was not precisely forthcoming.

“We were invited to Wembley for the Challenge Cup final,” Jane added. “We were thinking, 'We’re Ashes winners, they’re going to parade america around.’

“We got determination and it was like, ‘Here’s achromatic tracksuits, achromatic caps. You’re ging to shingle that emblem portion the players travel out.’

“It was crazy. At the time, we were like, ‘Are we dancing? A flag?’ It’s an ongoing gag now. It was bloody heavy, I’ll archer you!”

It whitethorn beryllium much than 25 years late, but deserving designation volition travel contiguous erstwhile Jane, on with Michelle Land, is inducted individually into the hallway of fame, on with the Lionesses – the archetypal squad to person the honour.

Now moving arsenic a smoking cessation serviceman for Warrington Borough Council, the erstwhile subordinate for her hometown squad is acceptable for different ‘special’ moment.

She went connected to beryllium named subordinate of the circuit connected the 1998 bid successful New Zealand and secured the subordinate of the bid grant successful the 2000 World Series, portion playing successful nine matches her location town’s Victoria Park.

But Jane told SunSport: “It’s immense designation for what we did. I was shocked erstwhile I recovered retired I was being inducted arsenic an idiosyncratic but to beryllium arsenic a squad arsenic good makes it much special.

“I’ve not seen a batch of them for a while. We each got backmost successful interaction astir 2 years agone erstwhile we got Great Britain caps, which we ne'er received astatine the time.

“A batch of that was due to the fact that it was each reasonably hidden. No-one truly knew what we’d achieved, past the practice programme went done everything and sought america each out.

“At that point, we hadn’t seen each different for beauteous overmuch 20 years. Now we’re each connected a radical chat and talking each the time.”