Why we love Ilona Maher

Just like the rest of the world we have been watching Ilona Maher's rise with total admiration and delight. It's not too often that you witness an athlete completely break out of their industry and become a global sensation... Ilona Maher has done just that.   

Yes, she's a Rugby Union player, an Olympian, a TV star, a social media personality and she won the Best Breakthrough Athlete ESPY Award, but there's even more reasons to love her...

❤️‍🔥 She's unapologetically herself. From tackling people in half one minute, to a Sports Illustrated shoot the next.   

❤️‍🔥 She's a role model and a trailblazer in a male-dominated industry. It's hard to calculate the real-world effect on the game but the increasing crowd numbers off the back of Ilona's rising popularity paint a pretty clear picture.   

❤️‍🔥 She champions everyone around her - she is bringing the game and her teammates with her on the journey.

Ilona has 8m+ followers on her socials which is more than the next 5x top players in the world combined!   

This year we've teamed up with The Female Athlete Project (TFAP) to keep building visibility for women in sport. As part of the RWC we're supporting TFAP's new podcast series with Wallaroos Emily (Horse) Robinson and Bella McKenzie called "Rugby for Dummies". After narrowly missing World Cup selection, they've channeled their energy into sharing the game they love in this content series for new and old fans wanting to follow along. Check it out here.