What do Ilona Maher and the Hallyu (Korean Wave) have in common? At a surface level there's nothing that could draw the two together, one a USA sevens Olympic bronze medalist, the other a growing wave of Korean culture - mainly Kpop and Kdramas - across the western world. But dive a little deeper and you might find an intriguing, if tenuous, connection between the two.
Taking the social media world by storm during the Paris Olympics, Maher skyrocketed to become the face of not just women's rugby, but potentially the face of rugby all together, after she became the most followed rugby player in the world across Instagram, TikTok and X (formerly Twitter).
Garnering over 4.7million followers on Instagram alone and growing - almost four times that of World Rugby and double the most famous rugby team the All Blacks - she's spread the game of rugby to a whole new demographic of people - mainly women and Americans. It's a whole new world for the game and its overlords World Rugby, who've spent years attempting to break ground in the American market, and it would have been considered almost inconceivable a few years ago that a women's rugby sevens player - an American rugby sevens player at that - would make a mark World Rugby could only dream of making.
While her content focuses more on her body positivity messaging and most recently her time on America's Dancing with the Stars - where she placed second - her millions of followers were also taken on a behind the scenes look of the Paris Olympics, and the journey of her side winning their first sevens medal ever when they defeated the highly touted Australians in the bronze medal final.
Her signing with Premiership Women's side Bristol Bears in early December has already had a major impact on the competition with the team forced to find a larger stadium for her debut in early January due to the huge ticketing demand, while her first appearance on the sideline over the weekend was met with huge crowds. Meanwhile the side's social media has also exploded with Maher opening the door to a whole new fanbase across the pond.
Add Maher's influence on the already growing women's game, which has seen over 220,000 tickets sold for next year's women's Rugby World Cup, rugby is tracking in a whole new direction with millions more fans around the world given access to the game.
So what does that have to do with the Korean Wave?
New 🇰🇷 South Korean Netflix series "Rugged Rugby: Conquer or Die" features 8 vs 8 scrum battle contest between each team (best of 3 with the defensive scrum winning if it holds out for 20 seconds)! pic.twitter.com/V74AjSf956
— Tier 2 Rugby (@T2Rugby) December 10, 2024
Stay with me, it may be tenuous but there remains a link. On Tuesday (AEDT) a new Korean series 'Rugged Rugby: Conquer or Die' hit streaming service Netflix. Replicating several Korean reality series such as Physical: 100, a show focusing on finding the best physical form, and Culinary Class Wars, an interesting take on a cooking competition, Rugged Rugby features rugby challenges, such as a scrum-off and kicking battle, as well as a knock-out competition to determine Korea's best rugby team.
A fledgling sport in South Korea, the show features just seven of the national league's 14 teams (four corporate teams, 10 collegiate) and states the Korean National Rugby League awards no prize money for the winner. In this show though the best team will win the jackpot, a prize of ₩300,000,000 ($329,000 AUD), and will be crowned Korea's best rugby team.
Like Maher, this Korean series has opened rugby to another new world. Unlike rugby's earlier venture into Netflix sports documentaries with their Six Nations: Full Contact doco, which failed to excite rusted on fans and struggled to replicate the cut through of Drive to Survive, Rugged Rugby takes the time to introduce their new audience to the laws of the game as well as highlighting some of it's most intricate and unique parts - the scrum-off in the opening 10 minutes will get any rugby fan excited.
Already a hit with several rugby pundits across social media, it has the potential to garner many more fans in a region World Rugby has paid little attention to in the past. Although a small rugby nation, South Korea have been on the global stage before having competed at the Tokyo Olympics but have failed to advance passed the repecharge round to reach a World Cup. Does this series have the potential to see them rise through the rugby ranks? Unlikely. But on a smaller level it could see participation and interest in the sport increase across the country and potentially in even more obscure regions.
A line break that'll bring a tear to any prop's eye 🥹
— Brittany Mitchell (@BrittMitchell11) December 11, 2024
I am now completely invested in Korean rugby. Get me all the jerseys. #RuggedRugby pic.twitter.com/N7AEKsY0NX
Series producer Chang Si-Won explained why he wanted to create such a show saying he wanted to bring the "inspiring, emotional and admirable sport to a global audience" after he witnessed the game for the first time two years ago and spent close to 18 months developing new equipment and a new filming system in order to capture the bone rattling moments and heavy breathing from the players. With just one look the sport already had a convert and his outside the box thinking could see many more fall in love with the game too.
Meanwhile, Maher, who acknowledged she turned to social media to supplement her playing salary, stated that rugby had failed to find ways to connect to a new, younger audience: "I think rugby is, in many ways, stuck in the old ways - on the field you have just got to work and that's where it stops.
"But we have to grow as the world changes and as a society changes. We want to get more players into the game - where are those players? They're on TikTok. They're scrolling the apps, they're watching my little videos and going 'oh, look at this girl play rugby'."
Who knows if Rugged Rugby will ever have the impact Maher has had on the sport, but already we know World Rugby must change it's tune, think outside the box, and look to the unlikely places in order to continue growing the game around the world.