Maggie Alphonsi looks at how far women’s team sports have come since she made her first crunching tackle for England in 2003.
There’s a tendency in women’s sport to take one moment and turn that into “the reason” things exploded. Winning the World Cup in the autumn was so special. The Red Roses running out at Twickenham in front of just under 82,000 people was a full circle moment.
Everyone who was watching it who’s been part of women’s rugby knows the journey we’ve all been on, from having to effectively beg, borrow and steal for kit just to be able to play and, at times, feeling like a second-class citizen, to a packed stadium with more than 80,000 cheering them on. I think that final resonated with a lot of people because they were like, “Wow, look how far we’ve come.”
Maggie Alphonsi (above) wants more of her successors to become familiar public faces like Ellie Kildunne has (below).
But as tempting as it is to see that final and think, “This is the moment,” it actually started long before us and built up a head of steam in 2012, when the Olympics were hosted in London. That was the moment there was a real change in attitude towards female athletes. Then to follow that up in 2014 with the World Cup win in France, it felt for the first time people were sitting up and thinking, “Oh yeah, women do play rugby and they’re pretty decent at it.”
I don’t want to sit here and say it started with us – there were loads of events that began to lay the groundwork.
I don’t want to sit here and say it started with us – there were loads of events that began to lay the groundwork. England women won the Cricket World Cup in 2009, and that was followed up by GB hockey winning the Olympic gold in 2012. There were lots of women doing amazing things; it wasn’t just one group of players in one tournament.
The best compliment people gave me during my playing career was to say things like: “I was watching and I forgot that you’re women and I just watched a good game of rugby.” It shouldn’t make a difference what your gender is:once you cross that white line it’s all about the game – and people’s shared love of watching amazing sporting moments.
After the World Cup win in 2014, we were named team of the year at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards, and that’s when I first thought to myself,“Oh wow, something has happened here.” It was the first time a women’s team had won that award outright on their own. After that, in 2017, England Women’s Cricket won it and, of course, the Lionesses in 2022. You can definitely look back at that list and see that shift in mindset happening year on year and women’s sport starting to become front and centre.
During the World Cup, things went to another level. I kept seeing Ellie Kildunne’s face all over the place! A lot of the rugby players were appearing in places I never would have thought I’d see: at bus stops, in supermarkets. But, we have to be honest with ourselves: the difficulty with rugby is that it doesn’t have the same popular impetus as football. No matter what anyone says, football is the national sport. From where I sit as a former rugby player, it’s easier to see the way that momentum can be maintained for those women’s footballers.
Ellie Kildunne, Wales v England, women’s Six Nations, 29th March 2025
Capitalising on the momentum of the World Cup has to be the utmost priority for women’s rugby now. It’s a different challenge with rugby union because the sport has taken a lot of financial hits – especially on the club side – and, unlike women’s football, on a club level men’s and women’s club rugby is still very much aligned. It remains a one–club ethos and we all have to work together to ensure that English success in international rugby is able to bolster the sport at club and grassroots levels.
Momentum is everything for women’s rugby now – and that might seem obvious, but the smallest things can be important. The next big moment is the women’s Six Nations in March and April, and we need to think about how we create a welcoming environment for new viewers. The World Cup opened the door to lots of people who hadn’t followed rugby before and the commentary was very accommodating of that. When you’re bringing people into the sport,you have a duty of care. Rugby has a lot of laws and the laws do change, especially because it’s making the game safer, but that can make it confusing for new viewers and you have to be mindful of that.
We’re definitely on the coattails of the women’s football players and they’ve done a great job raising the profile of women’s sport. We need to get more personalities out there – everyone knows Ilona Maher, Sarah Bern, Ellie Kildunne, but we need more. Rugby historically hasn’t been great at that – it’s such a team game I think people are afraid to put their heads above the parapet – but that’s part of taking the next step, being brave enough to be ourselves.
It can be a double-edged sword, and that’s something as a sport we can learn from women’s football. The recent fallout from Mary Earps’ book is something we’ve seen before in men’s sport. I remember Kevin Pietersen put out a book where he was quite critical of his teammates and he got a lot of stick. People are always going to use books to air grievances and talk about what’s happened through their careers, but what’s happened here with Earps and Hannah Hampton should be taken as a lesson.
The flipside of all the negativity around it is that, in some ways, it feels like a step forward. The kid gloves are off with women’s football. It’s a kind of parity now – the reaction is the same as if they were male players. It is a shame that the Euros win is now somewhat tarnished, and the reputation of Mary Earps, who has done such important work off the field. But that’s life in the spotlight and you’ve got to find a balance between being honest and being overly critical.
I’ve devoted my career on and off the pitch to being a game changer, albeit in very different ways! In my playing days it was all about my tackling. That was my superpower and I loved the challenge of taking on prejudices about the women’s game literally head on. I learned to take it as a compliment when people said: “You’re one of the women who could have played in the men’s game.” I think what they’re trying to say is: “You were so physical and tackled so hard – I didn’t know women could do that.” I like to think I played a role in changing how people viewed women’s rugby through that.
Off the field I’m absolutely committed to keeping the momentum going, in all senses. I don’t ever stop and think about what I’ve done off the field. I’ve reached a point in my life where I want to be the one behind the scenes making a difference and not necessarily always be the one at the front. I do what I can supporting charities, and now I’m moving into executive coaching. I just get a real buzz out of helping people develop, not just in the world of sport, but in the world of business, helping women make the transition into leadership roles.
Maggie Alphonsi is a Rugby World Cup winner, broadcaster and motivational speaker.
