[Head Coach Glenn Tyreman]
Southern Rugby League stalwart Glenn Tyreman sees the huge opportunity to grow women’s Rugby League in the Bath and surrounding area after many years’ experiences in the sport.
Arrangements have been made with GLL/Better the local leisure facilities operator to play the home summer festival for Bath Bees Rugby League to be played at their Odd Down Sports Ground Complex in the heart of Bath.
The clubs open training session will take place on Sunday 9th June 10am till 12noon at Odd Down Sports Ground, beginners and all abilities welcome. If you are interested in attending this session, please either contact Glenn direct or via one of the Bath Bees Rugby League social media channels to confirm your attendance, registration required.
Glenn is also keen to recruit some local assistant coaches and administrative personnel to support the growth and development of the club.
The plans for the new club are to enter as many of the following Rugby Football League Women’s Southern Festivals as possible:
Sunday 23rd June @ London Broncos ‘A’ (Reserves)
Sunday 14th July @ Bristol Golden Ferns
Sunday 28th July @ Bath Bees, Odd Down Sports Ground
Saturday 10th August @ Elmbridge Eagles
It is understood from club officials that Brighton & Hove on the south coast and West Warriors from London are also new clubs, the warriors men’s team have been very successful in the Southern Conference League and getting through some of the early rounds of the prestigious Challenge Cup. London Broncos are an established professional club their men’s side were promoted to Super League ahead of the 2024 season and their women’s side have in recent years finished at the top end of Super League South and recently beat Bradford Bulls, launching an ‘A’ team into the Southern Festivals this year. Elmbridge Eagles are another club from the London area and the Bristol Golden Ferns have dropped down from Super League South after struggling against stronger opposition but could prove to be
good local rivals for the Bees.
The festival format is ideal for clubs just getting started as they can enter as many festivals as they like but without the commitment of league fixtures home and away every week. The festival format allows for clubs to play shorter fixtures against all clubs attending the festivals.
Glenn Tyreman is heading up this exciting project who is a product of New Earswick All Blacks (York) where he started as a junior player. Along the road he also played for Heworth (York based National Conference League Club), Bognor Regis, Basingstoke Beasts and Southampton Spitfires.
Glenn’s first coaching job was St. Albans Centurions in the RLC taking them to the Semi Finals in his first season. From St. Albans he moved to Crawley Jets winning the Harry Jepson Cup (for the best teams from each regional competition) in 1998 and 2000. After Crawley Jets he had stints at Kent Ravens, a return to St. Albans in NL3 and finally heading up the Southampton Spitfires after setting the club up. He last coaching appointment was with Reading Raiders back in 2021. He also set up a women’s section at the Spitfires before the huge expansion of women’s Rugby League, a trailblazer for giving women the opportunity to play Rugby League in developmental areas for the sport. His success also attracted interest from representative rugby and London Broncos Academy. Tyreman was one of the assistant coaches in the Broncos scholarship program and was involved with such players as Tony Clubb (former London, Wigan and England) and Mike McMeeken (Catalan Dragons & England) who both ended up Super League. In representative Rugby League was charged with looking after the West of England Wildcats who came last in the first ever RLC regional event. The year later then came second only losing out on champions after drawing with Yorkshire. His efforts were noticed where he went onto work with England Lionheart’s for several seasons as well as heading up the South of England squad who beat the North in 2005, 2006 and 2007. Recently, he has been working once again with the South of England for a short spell before Covid suspended the game of RL.
Tyreman is currently still involved at master’s level as a player, which is an adapted version of the sport for players over 35, and said the following of this exciting opportunity, “we will stay humble and are looking for players and volunteers who want to make Rugby League part of their lives in the local area. The opportunities are endless, and we would also like to hear from anyone who would be interested in assistant coach positions, strength and conditioning, and team manager roles. The club would like to hear from businesses who would be interested in partnering with them to help grow and sustain the infrastructure of the club.”
Steve Guan, RFL Southern Regional Development Manager, said “It’s fantastic to see the emergence of Bath Bees a new Rugby League club in the West of England. With their first focus on creating a Women’s team it amplifies the progressive status of the RFL‘s Women’s RL competition structure and pathway and is pleasing to see. Their collaborative approach with the local community and GLL will strengthen the club’s stability and allow a strong initial promotion to help with recruitment’’.
Mark Harrison, Community Sports Manager, GLL, said “We are always looking at new ways to attract the local community to use the leisure facilities we operate across Bath and North East Somerset. We hope that this new activity encourages more local people to get physically active which will contribute towards improving local health and wellbeing outcomes.”
It is notable in the Sport England data published recently that women’s participation in Rugby League has increased and it is hoped that this new club can contribute positively to a growing trend of women and girls taking up the opportunity to play the sport.
Social media channels have been established on Facebook, X and Instagram:
Facebook: Bath Bees Ladies Rugby League
X: @BathBeesRL
Instagram: @bathbeesrugbyleague (already nearly 300 followers)
If you would like to play, volunteer, support or partner with the club please contact on any
social media channels or call/email Glenn Tyreman on:
