When asked if she felt tired after posing for photos with hundreds of fans for over an hour, Ilona Maher gave Taylor Swift her answer.
“I’m tired, but as Taylor Swift said, ‘I’m very tired, but I’m not tired.’”
‘It’, the 28-year-old rugby union player from Burlington, Vermont, says, is the fanfare that follows her every move.
Maher, who made his 20-minute debut for Bristol Bears, the English side he joined on a three-month contract, had to follow a line of picture seekers stretching over 250 yards, covering three sides of the pitch. Some people traveled across the Atlantic from Washington, D.C., to see an athlete who transcended his sport. A 2024 Olympic bronze medalist who also appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition last year and was named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list, Maher’s fame continues to snowball.
There were no expectations that Maher would spend time with what seemed like every fan who attended her Bristol debut, but she did. “I saw people lined up outside and I thought, ‘I’m going to try to take as many pictures as I can,’” she told reporters.
With over 8 million followers on Instagram and TikTok combined, Maher is the most followed rugby player in the world. She’s taken followers behind the scenes of Japan’s previous 2021 Olympics, when fans were barred from attending due to ongoing pandemic-related restrictions, and has a sense of humor that wouldn’t be out of place in some Saturday Night Live sketches. Combine this with our back catalog of empowering and confidence-inspiring video messages, and you have a legion of supporters among young women and girls around the world.
Maher came on as a second-half substitute for Bristol Bears on Sunday (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
More than 9,000 people attended Maher’s debut in the western English city of Bristol, just over 100 miles from London, known among other things as the birthplace of street artist Banksy. And just as one of the anonymous political activist’s latest works garnered a lot of attention, Maher demands the same level of excitement in everything he does.
Less than 72 hours after news of the move to England was announced, Sunday’s match against local rivals Gloucester-Hartpury will be played at Shaftesbury Park (the 2,000-capacity stadium where the team usually plays) at Bristol’s 27,000-seat stadium. It was moved to Ashton Gate Stadium. City’s men’s and women’s soccer teams and the Bears’ men’s rugby team.
At the time, there was no guarantee that Maher, whose every move was being tracked by documentary filmmakers from Hello Sunshine (a production company specializing in women’s stories founded by actress Reese Witherspoon), would appear at the game after she put her name forward. Substitute on team sheet 48 hours prior to kick-off. However, the team’s attendance record of 4,101 set in 2022 was broken. There has never been a bigger crowd for an independent match of Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR).
Rose Kooper-Johnson is a fellow New Englander from Rhode Island and has been living in England for the past six years. The 29-year-old works in student communications at the Bristol-based University of the West of England and had never seen live rugby before Sunday.
“I was really excited to hear she was coming to Bristol,” says Kooper-Johnson. Athletic. “She was on Dancing with the Stars (Maher was runner-up on that show in November) and she’s so cool and inspiring. If she can be a catalyst to get more people involved in women’s sports, that would be amazing. “She has the ability to bring people together.”
Maher takes a selfie with fans following his Bristol Bears debut (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
Maher’s arrival in England was always going to have a huge impact.
After helping the U.S. rugby union women’s sevens team dramatically win an Olympic bronze medal in the final in Paris last summer, she timed the switch to a 15-a-side format where matches last more than four times as long. to the 14th minute), there are twice as many players on the pitch and the game is generally more attritional to the point of perfection. It’s a World Cup year and Maher is looking to make the U.S. roster. The tournament begins on August 22 when hosts England face the United States.
Friends Lucy Parkinson, Elvira Berninger, Abby Bevan and Maria East traveled 130 miles from Bournemouth on England’s south coast for the must-go moment on Sunday. As rugby union team-mates at Ellingham & Ringwood RFC, they usually only attend international women’s matches.
“We love all the other players, but she (Maher) was the instigator. We were 50/50. ‘Are we just here for the Ilona Maher effect? Yeah, let’s enjoy the hype,’ says Bevan. work out, East added that interest in Maher “could be a good thing for rugby”.
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Chloe and Luke Glover are season ticket holders for the Bears men’s team and are also regulars at Ashton Gate. But the couple had never watched a women’s game before they got caught up in the ‘Maher craze’. “She’s been quite interested in it, so we thought we’d come and find out what it was,” says Luke.
Standing in line near a food truck selling churros and barbecue pulled pork is Cathy and her 16-year-old daughter Jasmine, who plays rugby union. “She (Maher) has had a huge influence on a lot of young girls starting out and getting into sports in general. Ilona’s arrival created a buzz,” says Jasmine. “There were a lot of people around Bristol looking for a team to join, and with her joining there were a lot more people coming here… This time tickets were a lot harder to get.”
The Dings Crusaders Under-14 Girls team didn’t have to worry about securing tickets. That’s because many players were hired to retrieve loose balls during Sunday’s games. Nellie MacDonald, 12, who plays for the Dings, feels Maher has “already made a huge difference to everything”. Her mother Sam agrees, saying: “You can see that the number of people here is already higher than before.”
Maher speaks with TNT Sports host Jenny Drummond after the game (Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
The game was broadcast live on TNT Sports in the UK, and the league shared a pre-game social media post detailing kickoff times in various time zones.
Thousands of people gathered in the Dolman Stand and South Stand erupted in cheers every time Maher’s face was projected on the stadium’s big screen. The decibels rose when her name was called before kick-off and even when she appeared as a substitute in the second half.
Playing on the wing and wearing knee pads and her iconic matte red lipstick, Maher launched into a nerve-calming tackle within seconds. The Americans love to run with the ball in their hands, but Gloucester-Hartpury turned up the heat and gave the home side some space in a match the visitors won 40-17, scoring a total of six tries.
Although Maher failed to touch the ball during the game, her introduction lifted the crowd and the team. Bristol scored their third and final try four minutes after being introduced.
Finally, 1 hour and 11 minutes after he started taking his first fan selfies after the final whistle, Maher sat down for the post-game press conference.
“I try to be as equal as possible. Because they will do as much for me as I do for them,” Maher said. “They bought seats and those seats will hopefully lead to more seats. Fans are the revenue we need to bring in to make this league bigger. So it almost feels like my duty. I want to do more for them because they are doing so much.
“Some people come from America. Some people said they came from Washington DC to watch this game… I put that (social media) video out there for them. I want them to be confident, love themselves, enjoy sports and understand what their bodies can do. It’s always really cool to see them out there and staying there.”
Humble yet confident, Maher takes ownership of the empire he has created. She has achieved without necessarily being the best player in women’s rugby.
“It’s great to be the face of a sport that isn’t thought of as a women’s sport,” she said. “It’s a man’s sport. So to make sure the impact I’m having is felt across men’s and women’s (rugby), I say to the best male players in the world, ‘Keep doing what you’re doing.’ ‘Because I think everyone sees value in it. And when one person rises, we all rise.
“I’m really proud of what I’ve done and the impact I’ve had on social media. Not only in rugby, but also in terms of body positivity and the way people treat themselves. So I’m proud. “I think my family is 10 times more proud.” Maher added, smiling from the back of the room, with her younger sister, Olivia, who has since moved to England. “And I love what I do.”
Millions of people do.
(Top photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images)
