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Ilona Maher recently shared a glimpse of a wholesome encounter she had with one of her fans. Maher frequently shares posts and messages about her fans on social media, thanking them for their support.
Maher was last seen on the rugby court during the women's rugby international Pacific Four match on May 24, 2025, at the North Harbour stadium. She and her team locked horns against New Zealand in the finals, where they were toppled with a score of 79-14. Following this match, the athlete has been in her off-season and is enjoying some quality time off.
Amid this, she recently met one of her fans while enjoying the swimsuit beach party organized by SI Swimsuit in Miami. Maher shared a video of the wholesome encounter on her Instagram story, revealing that she met a fan who runs one of her fan pages. In the video, she is seen adorably hugging the fan. Making her feelings known about the meet, she wrote in the caption:
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"Got to meet the beautiful girl who runs one of my fan pages. I love you!" wrote Ilona Maher.
The American recently posted a picture of a newspaper article on her Instagram story, which carried a column about how Maher is loved by her fans.
Ilona Maher wrote a heartwarming note for her rugby fans after huge attendance at the Pacific Four finals
Ilona Maher and Team USA recently witnessed a massive crowd at the Pacific Four finals against New Zealand. Despite the loss against the latter, Maher stayed back and interacted with the fans, signing autographs and taking pictures with them.
Shortly after this match, Maher penned a heartfelt note for her fans, thanking them for their support and the massive attendance at the games. Along with this, she also opened up about the reason behind interacting with the audience, writing:
"’Why do you spend so much time with the fans after the final whistle?’ Because they are also the ones changing the game. They are buying the tickets, showing up, and cheering for us. We want more people to play rugby but almost just as important: we need people supporting it. For the women's game to grow, we need to grow our fanbase. We need more seats filled to show the value that we know we have".
Following this, she requested her fan base to support women's sport, encouraging them to visit the game no matter if she was playing or not.
“Our fanbase can be a lot different than the men but that's what makes it so cool. A massive thank you to the men/boys showing up and showing out. Thanks for seeing that the game is still extremely fun to watch no matter who is playing it. Please buy the ticket and then invite your friend and get them to buy a ticket. Run a pyramid scheme of people supporting women's sports. We need you all to grow our game no matter if I'm on the field or not.”
Ilona Maher recently shut down the 'games gone' comment on women's rugby by giving a befitting reply to the young male rugby players who made the remark.
