Asked to describe Ilona Maher, some may remember Sports Illustrated’s 2024 coverline: “Beast. Beauty. Brains.” Yet the American rugby star’s influence extends far beyond. With almost five million followers on Instagram, the 28-year-old has become not only rugby’s most followed player but one of the most important and influential figures in women’s sport, a power athlete weaponising her image to inspire future generations.
Australians get their chance to see the Maher juggernaut up close when she runs out for the USA Eagles against the Wallaroos on Saturday. Canberra might just be the centre of the rugby universe this weekend. League and union are both showcasing major events in the Australian capital – the Rabbitohs against the Raiders in an NRL showdown, and ACT Brumbies against Queensland Reds in a Super Rugby grudge match. But Maher is by far the biggest star in that constellation.
“Ilona wants her success to grow in parallel to a rise in women’s rugby,” says Alica Lucas, an Olympic gold-medallist in rugby sevens for Australia in 2016. “She realises that if people fall in love with the personalities in our sport on TikTok they’ll connect on deeper levels next – buying tickets to games, signing up to play, watching on TV.”
Maher could have been with the glitterati on the red carpet at the Met Gala last week. Instead she’s at Canberra’s GIO Stadium for the Pacific Four Series, a runway of a different kind which leads to the Rugby World Cup kicking off in England this August. Despite the Eagles being ranked No 9 in the world, Maher will be the tournament’s star attraction.
England’s Red Roses are the No 1 team in the world and favourites for the World Cup. But Maher is the figure people have been buying tickets to see. When she signed a short-term UK contract to play for the Bristol Bears earlier this year, the demand to see Maher in action meant the club had to move their games to a bigger stadium.
Ilona Maher helps Bristol Bears attract new and old fans during a brief stint with the rugby side. Photograph: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
Back home, the “Ilona Maher Effect” is taking rugby to new audiences, a boon for the sport ahead of the US hosting Rugby World Cups in 2031 (men) and 2033 (women). This month’s Pacific Four Test against Canada drew a record crowd of 10,518, “a landmark moment for women’s rugby in the US,” says Bill Goren, CEO of USA Rugby
Off the field, Maher’s blue-chip brand is growing fast. Americans know she won a bronze medal in rugby sevens at the Paris Olympics. They bought the Sports Illustrated she graced and they’ve seen her ads for L’Oréal. Millions more watched her on Dancing with the Stars as the first female contestant to lift her male partner.
“I am strong and powerful, but I also can be graceful,” Maher told DWTS viewers before vowing to win “for all the girls who’ve been told they’re too big, or they’re too muscly or they’re not pretty.” Despite a 30+ body mass index putting her in the “obese” range, Maher’s socials flipped the script, telling fans she’d been bullied as “overweight” her whole life and that her 90 kg (200lb) frame was actually “170 pounds of lean muscle mass”.
Ilona Maher steers the USA to a breakthrough rugby sevens bronze medal at Paris 2024. Photograph: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Most of all, people love Maher as the funny, feisty figure from TikTok and Instagram. Her star began rising at the Tokyo Games in 2020 where she lit up a Covid-disrupted Olympics with sharply edited videos and behind-the-scenes sketches in the Village. Maher swept past Siya Kolisi and Antoine Dupont, captains of the South Africa and France men’s teams, to become the most followed rugby player on the planet.
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Maher uses social media to vamp in beautiful locations and poke fun at herself. Mostly though, she uses her social media to alter perceptions on body image. In Paris she posted: “All body types matter, all body types are worthy, from the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball player, from a rugby player to a shot-putter to a sprinter. So truly see yourself in these athletes and know that you can do it, too.”
Given Maher is a sevens veteran now learning the very different dark arts of 15s, the American star was taking a “team-first” approach this week and not doing interviews. But Canberra knows she’s in town. When Maher posted a photo from “Bunda St and Thicc Thigh Ave” one fan gasped: “OMG. This is not a drill. The Queen is Here.”
Georgina Friedrichs has the onerous task of marking Maher in Saturday’s Test but despite giving away 26 kg in weight advantage, the Wallaroos centre isn’t intimidated. “Ilona is a powerful runner in the fast and furious world of sevens but she’s still new to 15s tactics so our backline will try and expose that with footwork and deception.”
Good luck with that. Yet despite the Australia wanting revenge on Maher and the USA for beating them to the bronze medal in Paris, even Friedrichs sees the bigger game. “Ilona has shown us the pathway to building a fanbase for women’s rugby in Australia in time for the World Cup in 2029. She’s pretty, authentic and humorous. Our girls have watched and learned from her and the connections are coming fast.”