‘That crazy rugby spirit’: US pro league seeks to follow Ilona Maher in raising women’s game

As Vice President of Women’s Elite Rugby, Katherine Aversano, is part of a team working to launch the first U.S. professional women’s rugby union competition. On Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, WER will host the semifinals of the Legacy Cupwith the top teams in the amateur championship Women’s Premier League: a showcase for talent that could grace the new location next year.

Over coffee in Washington, Aversano connects WER to the growth of American women’s soccer over the past 50 years. By day, she’s a “public historian and information specialist” for the U.S. Department of Justice, but she also runs “the American Women’s Rugby History Museumwhich is all about collecting our history that lies in the attics of all those beautiful old girls, before someone throws it away.

“I see all of this as a huge build-up, but we can capitalize on the issues that women’s sport has been struggling with for decades. How are women perceived? Is it OK to see women as aggressive? And now you have rugby, and I think we’re at a peak where people are clearly ready for it, especially because it comes with the huge excitement that everyone saw at the Olympics.”

In July, Alex “Spiff” Sedrick scored the dramatic try in Paris that gave the U.S. a victory over Australia and a bronze in rugby sevens. Spurred on by a real social media star, Ilona Maher, that success resonated back home. But while the U.S. women’s sevens players get paid, the 15s players have to travel abroad, most to England, even to play semi-pro. To change that, with a league that will initially be functionally semi-pro, Aversano and WER know that every bit of exposure for Maher, from late-night TV to swimsuit shoots to Dancing With the Stars, is good for the game.

“Her message resonates because no matter who you are in women’s rugby, it’s about body inclusion. You’re strong, we want you to be as strong as you can be. You’re fast, we want you to be as fast as you can be. Be the best you can be.

“I think people are starting to see a glimpse of the diversity of personalities that exist in women’s rugby as well. I think it’s great that Sammy Sullivan is being showcased for her idiosyncrasy with Lego and also being in the military. Naya Tapper, I love that she’s such a stoic, steady leader. It shows that there’s just a huge spectrum of who you can be authentically within rugby. And I think that’s really appealing.”

In Madison, New York Rugby Club will face Colorado Gray Wolves and Berkeley All Blues will face Life West, both from California. The final will be a week later in Greenville, North Carolina, as WER heads toward 2033, when the World Cup will be held on American soil.

ILike many Americans, Aversano discovered rugby in college. She now coaches, most recently at Howard University in Washington, Kamala Harris’s alma mater. Maher recently endorsed Harris, a decision that made waves. But Aversano also looks away from the spotlight, to the fields, often poorly mowed or muddy, usually marked for other sports, where most American kids pick up the ball and run.

“The generation coming up is different. In DC and other cities, we have kids that specialize in rugby, so that old adage, ‘get them in high school,’ doesn’t really apply. I think you have to have rugby as an introduction, in the whole spectrum of sports that kids experience. Normally, kids come in and out, but just a fundamental education at a young age so that they say, ‘I’m not unfamiliar with that ball, I played a season with it,’ that’s OK.

“Because one of the biggest things I think we’ve not been very good at in rugby is inviting people to become fans. You know, the old saying is, ‘Oh, come and play rugby.’ And then someone says, ‘Oh, I don’t think that’s for me.’ The conversation shouldn’t stop there.

“This is someone reaching out and saying, ‘Hey, you guys are really great. You guys are crazy. You guys have a lot of personality. I want to interact with you, but not in that specific way. Like, be a fan.’ We need fans. That’s the biggest thing. It’s got to go beyond the idea of ​​a bunch of people playing together, to a real entertainment product.”

Looking for fans, WER has announced the first six “markets”: Boston, New York, Chicago, the Twin Cities, Denver and the San Francisco Bay Area, which echoes WPL.

“We’re building it from the women who built the WPL in 2009,” Aversano says, “but the intent of the WPL was to play at a higher level of competition and ultimately minimize costs. The first part happened, the second part didn’t. Not that you to have to sacrifice one for the other, but in a capitalist society you sometimes do that.”

As WER continues to seek investment, “there are certainly going to be elements of the grassroots game that don’t exist in the professional league. You know, you can’t show up on the field early in the morning, smelling like that fresh grass, and you’re all alone, the first one there. The old mentality of ‘Stick your eye on and send me back’ isn’t going to exist because you’re going to have medical personnel saying, ‘No, you’re out.’

“We’re going to treat people with care, we expect a high standard of professionalism that hopefully trickles down. But we’re not telling anyone that the grassroots shouldn’t exist. We need the grassroots. We need that crazy rugby spirit. My mission, personally, is to make sure that everyone really knows that this is not new. We stand on the shoulders of giants. [and] what we can achieve really shows the ebb and flow of when women were in control, when they were supported, when they weren’t. When were they allowed to [national team’s] What are the eagles called? When weren’t they?

Aversano has been on tour with her women’s rugby museum, organising exhibitions during tournaments and play-offs.

“Nothing in the progression of the game has been linear,” she says. “I always try to keep that in mind. People like something new, but they want to know that it’s rooted in something real. Rugby has a deep tribalism. A rebellious spirit.”

AVersano says other professional women’s leagues, including the NWSL and PWHL, have been “generous” in sharing expertise with WER, in the spirit of “a high tide raises all ships.” She sees “a commonality that can overcome the lack of knowledge about rugby and keep people engaged, get them excited, get them wanting to know.”

Inevitably our conversation turns back to Ilona Maher.

“We spoke to her parents at the beginning of the summer,” Aversano said. “We need to show people that women’s rugby has a market value. I can tell you she doesn’t know much [about WER]which I think people are surprised about. But the sevens program is so isolated and focused… so we want to have conversations with her when it doesn’t bother her.

“We’re just going to keep moving the way we need to. There are a couple of athletes in the US sevens program that came from the WPL, so I think they have more of a framework to get that conversation going, and then you know who decides to try to make the World Cup squad next year.”

A few days later, Maher tells her TikTok followers she wants to make that 15s World Cup in England. If all goes according to plan for WER, she will soon have the option to get paid to play at home.