Ilona Maher: Bristol Bears move and TikTok viral hit

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Ilona Maher: Bristol Bears move and TikTok viral hit

On the pitch, it will be a learning curve for Maher. She last played 15-a-side rugby in 2021, having concentrated on sevens which, with Olympic status, is better funded in the United States.

But some of her team-mates will be learning from her too.

Maher, who has a master’s degree in business, realised early on in her rugby career that the bottom line of her bank account was going to be closely linked to her social media follower count.

“I have had to do it in a different way,” she said.

“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.”

Rugby has traditionally shied away from such individualism, valuing the team above memes.

But Maher says it can’t afford not to get involved in the self-promotional social media hustle.

“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 added.

“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’.”

When this girl actually does play rugby for Bristol is not yet decided.

She will be at Bristol’s match against Exeter this weekend.

The clash with last season’s champions Gloucester-Hartpury on 5 January has been shifted from 200-seater Shaftesbury Park to 27,000-capacity Ashton Gate due to “unprecedented demand”, even though Maher is quick to stress she is unlikely to be ready to make her debut then.

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