MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – American Ilona Maher is arguably the world’s most popular rugby player, boasting the largest social media following of anyone in the sport, but the 28-year-old said her focus on growing her social media profile was born out of financial necessity.
Maher’s popularity soared during the Paris Olympics, where she helped the U.S. to bronze in rugby sevens. Following the Games, she was featured in Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit issue, and last week finished runner-up on the U.S. show “Dancing With the Stars.”
Maher, who has a master’s degree in business, told the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly that she realised early in her career that her bank account would be linked to her social media following.
“I have had to do it in a different way,” she told the BBC, after arriving in south west England earlier this week to play for the Bristol Bears.
“Rugby is my thing, but I have had to create this whole other thing around me. Being on the pitch is amazing, but as a female athlete, as a female rugby player, I have to do 10 times as much off the field.
“I can’t just play the sport I love. I’m not going to make millions playing rugby, I’m not even going to make six figures playing rugby – that’s the sad truth.
“I’m not going to be like a men’s player – I can’t put all my focus here. I have to put it into everything else as well and somehow that’s translated into being the biggest star in rugby because of my personality.”
By her own admission, Maher is not the world’s best player, mentioning New Zealand’s two-time Olympic gold winner Portia Woodman and Maddi Levi of Australia, among others.
“But I have something else I can bring, which is personality,” she said.
Maher has it in spades. With just shy of eight million followers on TikTok and Instagram, she has gained fans through her posts about body positivity and femininity in the athletic form, plus her cheeky Olympic village flirting.
Maher, who earlier this week was featured in Forbes’ annual 30 Under 30 list, said the sport needs to connect with a younger audience.
“I think rugby is, in many ways, stuck in the old ways – on the field you have just got to work and that’s where it stops,” she said.
“But we have to grow as the world changes and as society changes. We want to get more players into the game – where are those players? They’re on TikTok. They’re scrolling the apps, they’re watching my little videos and going ‘oh, look at this girl play rugby’.”
Maher put her 15s career on the back-burner to focus on the Olympics, but will begin her three-month contract with Bristol in Premiership Women’s Rugby in January.
She could be back in the UK in August for the Rugby World Cup, with the U.S. taking on England in the Aug. 22 opener at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light.
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Toby Davis)
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