York City Knights are delighted to announce the signing of forward Jasmine Bell for the upcoming Betfred Women’s Super League season, in association with Atropa Pharmacy!
22-year-old Bell joins the club from Castleford Tigers, with whom she won three end-of-season awards at the end of 2021, including Players’ Player of the Year, and will add further strength and competition to an already imposing pack of forwards at the Knights.
A loose-forward or prop, Bell initially played rugby league at school with Castleford Academy before joining Featherstone Rovers in the Women’s Super League prior to making the short switch to Castleford.
Highly-skilled, Bell will bring further ball-playing ability to the Knights as Lindsay Anfield and her squad look to improve on a strong 2021 season where the Knights Ladies reached their first Women’s Challenge Cup Final before falling agonisingly short in the Women’s Super League Play-Off Semi-Finals against Leeds Rhinos – both matches shown live on BBC 2 and Sky Sports, respectively.
Experienced in both codes of rugby, Bell has now opted to focus solely on the thirteen-aside game and Ladies’ Assistant Coach Callum Windley admitted he was delighted to bring Bell to the club.
“First of all, she is going to be a brilliant addition to the squad. We soon realised that, having reviewed last year, that we were definitely scraping the barrel with quite a few players getting injured in the front row.
“Jas can play in the front-row, as well as loose-forward, and she offers us a different opportunity to play with her having fantastic hands for a forward. We’re looking forward to using those skills in the season ahead and we have had to fight off some competition to sign her, as she was highly-sought after by a few clubs.
“She was blown away by the facilities and she couldn’t wait to join the club. We’re looking forward to her joining the squad and I’m sure she will fit in brilliantly.”
After signing for the club, Bell pointed to the quality of coaching available to the Knights Ladies as a motivating factor for joining the club ahead of what will be a big 2022.
“It’s amazing. I’m looking forward to the opportunity of being at a new club and having new experiences.
“I’m wanting a new challenge and a change of scenery. I have obviously worked with Lindsay before and I wanted to be coached by her again.
“The stuff that she did for me off the field as well as on the field, in her own time like taking me running was great.
On what Knights fans can expect from their new forward in 2022, Bell was unequivocal in her response: “Big contact!”
In each of our 2022 Membership Packages, every single home league match of the Knights Ladies team is included, giving you great value ahead of the new campaign to give both our Men and Ladies the brilliant Knights support! For full information on the packages available, head to our website at yorkcityknights.com/22Memberships!
