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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Sport
Martin Pengelly in Washington

‘That crazy rugby spirit’: US pro league seeks to follow Ilona Maher in raising women’s game

Ilona Maher Rugby United States WPL Kamala Harris World Cup
Until now, women's 15-a-side rugby in the US has remained amateur.
Until now, women's 15-a-side rugby in the US has remained amateur. Photograph: Travis Prior

As vice-president of Women’s Elite Rugby, Katherine Aversano is part of a team working to launch the first US women’s professional rugby union league. On Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, WER will stage the semi-finals of the Legacy Cup, featuring the top teams in the amateur Women’s Premier League: a showcase for talent that could grace the new operation next year.

Over coffee in Washington, Aversano links WER to the growth of the US women’s game over the last 50 years. A “public historian and information specialist” for the US justice department by day, she also runs “the US Women’s Rugby History Museum, which is all about collecting our history that’s in all these wonderful old girls’ attics before somebody chucks it.

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