Ilona Maher wants America to fall in love with rugby during Women's World Cup

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SUNDERLAND, England (AP) — Ilona Maher’s mission at the Women’s Rugby World Cup is about more than just winning games.

Heading into the United States’ tournament opener on Friday, the world’s most followed rugby player on social media wants to get more eyeballs on the sport as it ramps up attempts to crack the market in America.

“Not many people know that there’s a Women’s Rugby World Cup going on, so we try to get as many people as we can to spread that knowledge,” Maher said ahead of the match against host England in the World Cup curtain-raiser in Sunderland.

“We want the fans in America to see us play here because we’ve got a World Cup there in eight years and we need to start building for that.”

Rugby authorities see America as a vital new market for the sport. The United States will stage the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s tournament in 2033.

The presence of Maher is key to attracting attention on rugby in the U.S., given she has 5.2 million followers on Instagram and 3.6 million on TikTok — platforms on which she promotes body positivity.

The 29-year-old Vermont native believes she and her teammates are “changing the game on and off the field a lot.”

“This is a time where women’s rugby is in a state where it could grow massively,” she said, “and I do believe this team is at the forefront with how we present ourselves and people’s perception of us.”

Maher certainly stands out, having been named as the best breakthrough athlete at the ESPYs last month. In an interview with the BBC ahead of the World Cup, she said she has been approached by the WWE — joking that her ring name would be “Maher-vellous” if she ever became a wrestler — and that she’d love to get into acting.

First, though, she wants to deliver at the World Cup, starting with the match in front of 40,000 spectators against England, the tournament favorite, in the north of the country.

A star in rugby sevens, in which she won a bronze medal with the U.S. team at the Paris Olympics last year, Maher also had a three-month stint at English club Bristol in the 15 players-a-team format at the start of 2025.

“I think it’s so cool,” Maher said, “that we’re up here, so far away from maybe where rugby union is big, and yet we’re getting 40,000 people out to a game.”

The Americans also will play Australia and Samoa in Pool A at the World Cup.

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AP rugby: https://apnews.com/hub/rugby