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    Ilona Maher, US rugby and social media star, endorses Kamala Harris

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    The Democratic nominee for US president, Kamala Harris, picked up an endorsement from a key social media influencer: the Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher.“I think it’s going to be cool because there is an opportunity to have female representation and to change this country in a way that I think will benefit us,” Maher told Sports Illustrated, in an interview accompanying a swimwear shoot which saw the 28-year-old center praised as “a feminist trailblazer”.“That’s a Kamala Harris endorsement,” Maher told the magazine, which said she cited abortion rights and access to contraception as key concerns as the presidential election looms.Harris, the current vice-president, has made protecting such rights a central part of her campaign against Donald Trump. As president, the Republican nominee appointed three hardline rightwingers to the US supreme court, which then removed the federal right to abortion and suggested contraception access could also be brought into question.“I have enough money that if I didn’t need an abortion, I could raise a baby myself,” Maher said. “If I wanted to get abortion, I could do that. So I have that privilege [but] it scares me about the other girls. I have options and I want to remember that my followers don’t all have that. And so it’s like, for me, but also mostly for them.”Maher took up rugby in high school in Vermont then won three national collegiate titles with Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. She built a significant social media following in the first phase of her international career, which began in sevens in 2018 and has also brought her two 15-a-side caps. The recent Paris Games saw her rocket to global fame.Maher is now the most-followed rugby player in the world, eclipsing giants such as Siya Kolisi, the South Africa captain and double World Cup winner, and the former New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter.Speaking to SI, Maher said men “get to play rugby and they get paid millions of dollars while we make minimum wage and this won’t be a career for us. I have teammates going into the workforce now, whereas these guys are down there and rugby’s it” for them.Nonetheless, Maher has achieved fame (and endorsement deals) with a message based on body positivity and irreverent humor but also the sort of dynamic and aggressive play that helped the US win bronze in Paris. This week, Maher told followers she wanted to win a place on the US squad for the 15-a-side World Cup, to be held in England next summer.Such has been Maher’s impact since Paris, her Sports Illustrated shoot followed an appearance on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers in which she called rugby “a sport that just really encourages you to be physical and show what your body’s capable of”.“I know what it’s done for me,” Maher said, “and how it’s changed my body confidence by making me feel so good about myself, and I know it can do it for so many other girls.”Speaking to Sports Illustrated, Maher said she “was a big girl growing up so I didn’t love being in pictures” and “was always … called masculine or whatever. But I never felt that way. But I don’t think you’re going to bully the girl who could probably beat you up in a rage. I love that [rugby] showed me what I can do. It showed me how capable my body is and it’s not just like a tool to be looked at and objectified.”skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionShe also said: “If my cellulite was lower in that perfect range, I wouldn’t be doing what I could do. I wouldn’t be that powerful for it [so] I just really think sports have been so helpful.”MJ Day, editor in chief of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, called Maher a “revolutionary athlete and feminist trailblazer… a modern-day role model of strength, conviction and authenticity”.Maher expressed unease with being seen as a role model, saying: “I just try to really stress like I am human. But I think I do really care a lot. And I do want people to like me.”Harris, 59, has no known ties to rugby. But her current boss, Joe Biden, has often spoken of his love for the game, having played at college in New York and through following the Irish national team, two recent members of which, Rob and Dave Kearney, are the president’s distant cousins.The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. More

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      USA Rugby World Cup bid attracts bipartisan support in Congress

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      USA Rugby World Cup bid attracts bipartisan support in CongressRepublicans and Democrats call on Joe Biden and federal agencies to support hosting men’s and women’s events US hopes of hosting men’s and women’s Rugby World Cups in 2029 and 2031 got a boost from Capitol Hill on Thursday, with the introduction of a bipartisan congressional resolution expressing support for the bid.USA will host Rugby World Cup in 2031 – or it’s back to the drawing boardRead moreThe resolution was introduced by the co-chairs of the Congressional Rugby Caucus, Alex Mooney, a West Virginia Republican, and Eleanor Holmes Norton, a Democrat from Washington DC.Mooney said: “As a former college rugby player at Dartmouth College, I continue to enjoy watching the sport … as co-chairman of the Congressional Rugby Caucus, I am proud to be an advocate for the Rugby World Cup.”Holmes Norton said: “Rugby has made a difference to the youth of the District of Columbia and across the country in terms of health, self-esteem, teamwork and social skills. I am proud to support the US bids to host the men’s and women’s Rugby World Cup tournaments.”Sean Casten, an Illinois Democrat, and two Republicans, Richard Hudson from North Carolina and Paul Gosar from Arizona, also co-sponsored the measure.The US will compete at the next women’s event, in New Zealand this October, a tournament delayed by the Covid pandemic. England is World Rugby’s preferred host for the women’s tournament in 2025 while the US is in exclusive talks for 2029.The next men’s Rugby World Cup will be played in France in 2023. The US will face Chile in a two-legged qualifier this year. Australia has preferred candidate status for 2027 while the US is in “exclusive targeted dialogue” for 2031.In December, USA Rugby chief executive Ross Young told the Guardian: “We’ll either be awarded the World Cup in ’31 in May, or they’ll go back to the drawing board. They’re not going to announce anyone else.”‘Rugby was a lifeline’: Bipoc group seeks to establish game in US Black collegesRead moreRussia also launched a bid – before the invasion of Ukraine and the political, business and sporting pariah status it brought.The US men’s professional competition, Major League Rugby, is in its fifth season. Some around the world saw a Test between the US Eagles and New Zealand in Maryland last October – won 104-14 by the All Blacks – as a reversal for the US World Cup bid. Young disagreed.He said: “The huge attraction of a World Cup coming here is rugby really starting to unlock, or using this 10-year pathway to unlock, the biggest media market in the world. Or unlock the potential for that media market.”The US bid includes NFL and college football stadiums.On Thursday, the chair of the USA bid, Jim Brown, said: “Today’s resolution demonstrates a clear commitment to growing the game of rugby and advancing the United States’ Rugby World Cup bid – which will have important economic and cultural benefits at both the domestic and international level.”USA Rugby said that “in addition to conveying congressional enthusiasm for the bid”, the resolution “encourages President Joe Biden and relevant federal agencies to support the bid committee in their ongoing efforts. It also pledges that Congress will give full consideration to legislative proposals or other requests to support preparations for these important events”.Say it’s so, Joe: we know Biden’s a rugby fan – but who did he play for?Read moreThe governing body also said: “Co-ordination across local, state and federal government agencies is … ongoing. The bid leadership team has been in close contact with officials across all levels of government to discuss the commercial and cultural value of bringing one of the world’s largest sporting events to US soil for the first time.”There is a rugby fan in the White House. Biden has said he played at law school, and spoken fondly of following an All Blacks tour in Ireland when he was a young senator.The administration has not responded to Guardian requests for comment about the president’s playing and touring days.In November, however, Biden both wished Ireland’s men luck before their game against the All Blacks in Dublin and celebrated the stirring victory which followed.TopicsRugby World CupRugby unionUS sportsUSA rugby union teamWomen’s rugby unionUS CongressUS politicsnewsReuse this content More