in sydney in 1921, two women's teams played a game of rugby league in front a crowd of 30,000—a photograph appeared in "the times" in 1922—but pressure from authorities ensured that they did not play again. throughout the 1920s a popular form of women's football game very similar to rugby called "barette" was played across france. the game had only minor differences to the full game (games were 10-a-side and had some minor restrictions on tackling) and there were national championships throughout the decade. it received support from several male rugby players and film also exists of a game being played in 1928. both barette and the full game of rugby featured in several newspaper cartoons and many photographs exist. for reasons unknown the game appears to fade away in the 1930s.