Mary Coleman: from Cambridge graduate and Home Office civil servant to an England rugby league prop
Mary Coleman, a 28-year-old Wigan prop who works for the Home Office, was among the Wigan players in England’s 38-4 victory over France in Toulouse last week and only took up rugby league after moving north for work in her 20s.
Coleman holds a first-class degree in psychological and behavioural sciences from Cambridge University and says she “didn’t grow up in a rugby household.” She first tried the sport in sixth form to try to win back a boyfriend, attended a contact session and recalled: “I immediately fell in love with someone encouraging me to run at someone as hard as I could.” At Cambridge she signed up for the women’s union side, was the only freshman with rugby experience and soon played in the varsity match against Oxford at Twickenham.
Her switch to rugby league began while playing union in Preston when a coach asked if she wanted to play at Wigan; she initially replied “not really” because she “hadn’t really heard of rugby league,” then agreed after a friend told her “Wigan is really quite a big deal.” After trying a pre-season game she “fell in love with the sport,” and within four years she was playing for England, having earned her first cap by winning the treble with Wigan last season. Wigan have since retained the Challenge Cup this year and are top of the Super League again this year.
Coleman says her first seasons at Wigan were difficult as the team suffered heavy defeats while she learned the code in a Super League environment: “In 2022 and 2023 we were losing 40, 50, 60-0 against Saints, Leeds and York.” She added that several players who moved from union were in a similar position, and that the squad “lacked depth and knowledge” rather than talent.
On the differences between players who grew up with the game and those who did not, Coleman said: “The biggest difference is probably the core skill, being comfortable with the ball in hand and being able to move it quickly. You’ll see it in some of the younger players who just have better coordination, their speed of pass is so much better than those of us who haven’t grown up with a rugby ball in our hands.” She also reflected on timing: “I came in at a lucky time,” and added that “Women’s league is maybe where rugby union was about 10 years ago.”
Denis Betts, now in his third season as Wigan women’s coach, repositioned Coleman into the middle of the pack and told her: “You’re not a second row, you’re a prop. You’ve got the energy level of a prop. All you want to do is carry it to other people, so I should put you in the middle so you can do that.” Coleman credits Betts and increased club investment for improving the team’s support structure.
She said: “The biggest has been the way the club has invested in the fundamental support we’ve had. Denis coming in is the epitome of that. We get a small amount of expenses, and I’m still not paid to play, but the difference is the medical support – if someone gets injured, they are sent for a scan the next day and don’t have to wait for the NHS – and facilities, gym, supplements, all the things that enable you to do your job well.”
Coleman joined the civil service graduate scheme hoping for a London posting but was sent to Blackpool, lived in St Annes and later moved to Preston before settling in Salford; she works on immigration and asylum projects and trains in the evenings at Robin Park. She said of the move north: “I was like, oh, my God: Blackpool! But I lived in St Annes and fell in love with the north, the people, the culture. Everyone is so nice. One of my first experiences was walking down the high street in Lytham and the local bakery was selling hash brown butty. Carbs on carbs! This is my dream. After about three months living here, I knew I wasn’t going anywhere else.” A workplace newsletter proclaimed “Mary is playing for England!” and she expects many colleagues to watch on Sky Sports on Thursday night when Wigan play their arch-rivals St Helens.
Her family and wife, Sinead Doria — a former Wigan player who now coaches in the club’s academy — share Coleman’s rugby life; Coleman said: “It can be an interesting dynamic but she primarily coaches the backs. When she’s reffing our touch games or something competitive, it always gets a bit tense! But it’s nice because we get to experience it all together, like Wembley. Having a full-time job and then rugby, which is basically another full-time job, I probably wouldn’t see her if she wasn’t involved in rugby.” Since first picking up a ball in sixth form Coleman has achieved selection for England and remains part of the squad hoping to play at the World Cup later this year, a progression she described as “an amazing experience, a privilege and an honour.”