England (Commonwealth) _ Ellie Kildunne of the Red Roses had a double take when the two-time World Cup-winning captain of South Africa, Siya Kolisi, messaged her via social media last autumn to congratulate England on their successful WXV campaign.
She smiles at the recollection, “At first, I thought it was a fake account.” “So I asked him to send me a selfie to verify him.” On his first day of training with Racing 92, Kolisi complied cheerfully, and the two messaging back and forth. Kildunne claims that “he knows his stuff about the women’s game.” “I was quite pleased with that”, she said.
We don’t talk to the men’s players all that often. I said, “Well, if you’re going to come to one of mine, I want to go to one of yours,” after he expressed his sincere desire to attend one of my games.
Kildunne was engrossed in the ambient beauty of the Paris La Defense Arena within weeks, seeing Kolisi in action under the stadium’s muted lights. He has expressed his desire to support women’s tennis in public. It’s a huge step forward to have a rugby icon publicly acknowledge anything like that, claims Kildunne.
Kildunne, who scored six tries in this year’s Women’s Six Nations and won two player-of-the-match awards in three games, is quickly becoming a poster child for the Red Roses thanks to her on-field exploits and inventiveness off it. The Harlequin may have known that the RFU media brief for this interview would eventually stray from the oval-shaped game and focus more on her two greatest interests, fashion and photography, as she showed no interest in reading it.
When she was hurt a year ago, she took up a camera and began taking pictures. Her images, which can be seen on her own Instagram account, Ellie K Films, give her rugby adventures a cinematic feel, and she grins, her passion for fashion (“I’ve kind of found my style… which is anything”) has inspired her own thoughts about how the women’s game may appeal to a wider audience.
Kildunne said, “We know that the audience for women’s rugby is centered on friends, family, and kids – it’s very different from the men’s.” “We can take it a step further by including fashion, music, art, and culture and turning it into an environment that is expressive. On the field, we are expressing ourselves in that way. A game attracting spectators with a radically diverse color spectrum can only propel the sport in a new and exciting path.
“You look at the NFL, the NBA, and Wimbledon, where going to a game is hip, and everyone wants to take a picture of themselves courtside. In rugby, we can definitely do it. People are saying, “We can do it before… why not? We’ll be selling out Twickenham at [the Women’s] World Cup [next year.”
She thinks there are more creative methods to promote women’s rugby beyond the typical images of male allyship and the “product” that she and her teammates play with. Granted, her highlight-reel-worthy second try against Wales last month was when she threw her body across the line as two defenders tried to throw her into touch.
Kildunne says, “I’m the strongest I’ve ever been.” “I’ve become serious about the gym aspect of things. People may be surprised to learn that I’m not the largest female on the pitch. It’s a topic that is presumably not discussed enough in female sports that are controlled by men. It’s about striking a balance between defying prevalent perceptions about women and remembering that we are strong, athletic people here.
“I want to make myself into a superhero.”
“I’ll take bits of that, the way Jordie Barrett can be so fast and dominant physically,” Kildunne adds, deftly name-checking Emma Sing, the Gloucester-Hartpury full-back she is currently holding off for inclusion in the England starting lineup. “Let me examine Cheslin Kolbe.” Though he’s not usually a full-back, I’ll accept a little bit of it because of his incredible footwork.
If you could create a full-back role for your “superhero,” you could steal a lot of stuff from other people. I have no intention of claiming to be the next Freddie Steward since we are quite different individuals and athletes. I want to develop my own superhero inside myself by incorporating aspects of other people who are currently out there; I don’t want to be like anybody else.
