Timeline of women's sports in the United States and fitness and creating an educated public that supports gender equity in sport." The first women's professional football league (WPFL) kicks off its inaugural season with seven teams. 1974 - The first women's professional football league in America (WPFL) kicked off its inaugural season with seven teams. 1974 - Lanny Moss was the first woman to manage a professional men's baseball team. She was hired by the minor league Portland Mavericks. 1976 - In the first Women's Professional Softball World Series Championship the Connecticut Falcons came out on top. 1977 - Janet Guthrie was the first woman to compete in
Rugby league in the United States the Boston Braves. The Fairfax Eagles joined the competition in 2007, and the Boston Thirteens joined in 2009. Another founder member, the Bucks County Sharks, suspended operations in 2010, while the Pittsburgh Vipers were added. In 2009, a new professional rugby league competition, the National Rugby League USA (NRLUS), was announced. The new league was to include administrators and talent from the AMNRL, and was intended to begin play in 2010. However, the league had not gotten off the ground. That year officials announced their hopes that play would begin in 2011, citing the late 2000s recession as a factor