How The Women’s Rugby World Cup Changed Female Body Image

This year I absolutely loved watching the Women’s Rugby World Cup. My goodness, it was extraordinary. I loved the way it showed us powerful women who don’t fit the typical ideal of womanhood that’s so prevalent today. I believe its impact was truly ground-breaking.

I spent many years on the rugby pitch line when my son was a teenager. So I officially classify as a rugby mum. I understand what it’s all about. And I know it’s not an easy game to understand. But this year is my first really getting to grips with women’s rugby.

One thing I love about rugby for both sexes is that it requires people (men and women) of all different shapes and sizes. The team needs all sorts to succeed. There’s no one ideal rugby player. I believe this is incredibly powerful for women of all ages and especially for young girls who can finally see different female role models to aspire to.

I’ve long been a fan of Ilona Maher, an incredible American rugby player, who’s become a beacon for strong, powerful, unapologetic young women. She’s the big tall athlete who’s the world’s most followed rugby player on social media and wears red lippy on the pitch. She also came second in Dancing with the Stars!

The impact she’s had on the game is revolutionary. She played a season with the Bristol Bears to get experience playing Rugby Union for the World Cup. This is because previously she played Sevens Rugby, winning a bronze medal for that in the 2024 Olympics. Here she is introducing her favourite game and the Women’s Rugby World Cup. And acknowledging that rugby isn’t the easiest of sports to understand…at first.

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Since storming onto the international stage at the Olympics, Ilona’s been vociferous about promoting body-positivity and confidence for younger women. Stadiums have seen record crowds, with young women coming along for the first time for a chance to see their idol play.

I know there are now lots more strong, unapologetic women following along behind Ilona – following her every move. Sadly the USA got knocked out in the group stage of the World Cup, despite incredible performances – a draw with Australia which is almost unheard of in rugby and a score of 60-0 to Samoa. Here is Ilona talking about what she might do next after the World Cup. She definitely doesn’t see any limits on what she can achieve.

During the tournament and thanks to Instagram’s algorithm, my feed was filled with clips of the matches, and I couldn’t have been happier. Why? Because what we’ve been witnessing is powerful. We’re seeing women – young women – of all shapes and sizes, excelling at sport and delighting in the whole experience.

Banished is the cliché that you must be thin and delicate to embody womanhood. These athletes are big, strong, fast, powerful, and utterly inspirational. Watching them just blows my mind.

Ilona has spoken beautifully about this too. She shared how, for years, she was described as “big.” Recently, an older woman told her, “You’re not big, you’re beautiful.” Ilona’s response: I am big. And I am beautiful. And I am powerful. And I am strong. That’s the kind of reframe we all need.

The Women’s Rugby World Cup showed us a spectrum of what it means to be a woman. Strength, beauty, resilience—it comes in all shapes, sizes, and ages. And that’s such a vital message, especially for younger women, who are so often bombarded with narrow ideals of beauty.

Here are winners, the English Red Roses.

And here they are doing their bit to inspire the girls. Finally it can be cool to be big and strong.

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I deeply believe beauty is for all women and also that it doesn’t disappear as we age. We evolve. Just as we don’t fall off a cliff when we go through menopause—our bodies are meant to have a different hormonal profile post menopause—we also don’t lose our worth, our power, or our beauty. I write more about this here.

So if you haven’t yet, go and watch some of the Women’s Rugby World Cup (there’s plenty on catch-up and on IG). I promise you’ll come away feeling inspired, uplifted, and shouting wow! Just like I did and continue to do.

Go Red Roses!