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,” Olympic medalist Ilona Mehar had claimed in her BBC interview in 2024. This statement was just the beginning of many such instances that went on to unravel the challenges the women’s rugby team faces. The Olympian that we see and admire as a social media star had no choice but to make this decision. Yes, her media presence was a result of financial necessity rather than fame. And Ilona is now talking about these battles that she fights on all fronts!
“Even in a country like England, where rugby is huge, the women’s game is still fighting for its place. We’re training at 8:30 p.m. because our girls have full-time jobs,” Ilona Maher said to TNT Sports. The rugby star is living through the problem and trying her best to raise finances for her team. An Olympic medalist and a powerhouse on the pitch and yet she still needed two jobs to make her dreams come true.
In the House of Maher podcast co-hosted by the Maher sisters, the rugby star established her love for rugby, but the brutal reality of pay gaps in women’s sports. Maher had made history when a record-breaking 9,420 fans arrived to see her Premiership Women’s Rugby debut against Gloucester-Hartpury. The request was so heightened that the match had to be shifted to a more significant stadium.
But despite her soaring popularity, the financial struggles are so deep that she makes her family buy the tickets rather than give them for free. She said, “It’s a growing sport. We are still trying to figure out that we’re already at a Disadvantage to some of these teams who can just train all the time together. And who have you known funding from their other side? England, like New Zealand they has very successful men’s programs; they have the all blacks, they have the English Roses, so it’s like they get the money filtered down from them. We’re struggling, I mean Canada’s struggling. The Canadian women are No. 2 in the world. They are trying to raise $1 million, which sounds like a lot. $1 million is nothing to fund a team.”
According to data from 2023, the team’s salary cap for the entire squad is just £190,000 ($240,000) in the Premiership Women’s Rugby league. This was also divided among 45 to 50 players. Maher added, “It requires money, and how do you get money? By fans coming to watch, but that means we need fans to buy the tickets. And what I have loved is that now whenever I invite my family to the game, I try not to get them free tickets. I make you go buy them, you know I paid, but I am like you buy the tickets for yourself because I am at a place of privilege now where I can afford these tickets. And I want to buy the seat I want to show my support for any event, even if it’s in a small way. We have so much work to do, we have a World Cup coming up here. We are going to do the men’s and women’s World Cup in America in like 2030 or something?”
Maher spoke about the dire state of women’s rugby teams in the USA, where they neither get enough training time by coming together nor get proper funds. Her sister Olivia chimed in with her opinion that 1 million dollars was nothing to fund a team that needs to travel and come together to train for a game. Amid this ongoing crisis, Maher is also focusing her sights on the World Cup glory.
But Ilona Maher remains focused
Last summer, the U.S. Women’s National Rugby team won against Australia to take the bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Since then, the team’s star Maher has not stopped dreaming about her next milestone. The 5’10” 3-time NIRA college rugby champion not only has a huge social media presence with 5 million followers on Instagram, but also participated in ABC’s TV hit series Dancing With The Stars. But all this was for one thing only— her desire to grow the game of rugby and provide more opportunities for the sport’s top players.
Despite her success in sevens, Maher has voiced a wish to shift into the 15s format and compete in the Women’s Rugby World Cup. The competition takes place in England in August with matches set to start in 8 cities, including London, Manchester, Brighton, and Bristol.
The USA’s first match against England is on August 22, and there are 16 countries vying for the trophy. “That’s the focus right now, and my hope for the game (of rugby) is that more eyes will be on it,” Maher said to Forbes. “I hope it’s not just eyes on me. We have so many more great athletes, and people are recognizing us and what we’re capable of.” Do you think she can bring more eyes and funds to the women’s rugby scene?
The post “We’re Struggling”: Olympic Star Ilona Maher Makes Stirring Family Admission While Exposing Rugby’s Harsh Reality appeared first on EssentiallySports.