Olympic rugby star Ilona Maher made her Bristol Bears debut on Sunday and brought in a record number of fans.
A record 9,420 fans were in attendance to watch Maher make her Premiership Women's Rugby league debut against defending champion Gloucester-Hartpury. The Bears had to relocate the game to a bigger stadium because of high ticket demand. The team's previous attendance record was set at 4,101 in May 2022, meaning Sunday's match more than doubled the record.
Even though the Bears lost to Gloucester-Hartpury 40–17, Maher spent over an hour after the match signing autographs for fans.
U.S. rugby star @ilona_maher made her debut for the Bristol Bears women’s team in front of a record home crowd of 9,240 fans on Sunday 👏
— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) January 6, 2025
The previous attendance record for a Bristol women’s home match was 4,101 against Harlequins in May 2022. pic.twitter.com/Wv0c9F4Jrc
A high attendance number was expected as Maher had a huge 2024. She gained popularity during the 2024 Paris Olympics as she documented her time there on social media. Team USA also won a bronze medal, the country's first rugby Olympic medal in history. Then, she grew her fandom by competing on Dancing With the Stars, which ended in November.
Maher was signed to the Bears on a three-month contract. It'll be interesting to see how many fans continue to attend her matches and if more records will be broken.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Ilona Maher's New Rugby Team Smashed Attendance Record in Her Debut.
