Rugby fandom isn’t just for regular folks. There are a whole host of celebrities—including some of the biggest names in the world—who follow the beautiful game and support a team.
We’re not just talking about the celebs who send a “Go England!” tweet once every four years here. The names on this list are people who’ve gone out of their way to connect with the team they follow, and we’ve got the photos to prove it.
#1. Ilaria Dentella (Figure skater)
The Milanese skater has become semi-professional at the age of just 18 and now has an astonishing 1.4m followers on TikTok.
The journey all began aged seven when she picked up her first pair of skates, starting a passion that has only grown since.
She said: “After practising dance for a few years, I wore a pair of ice skates at the age of seven and I immediately fell in love with figure skating.
“It has been a significant part of my life ever since and I practised it for about 10 years at a national and international competitive level, and then moved two years ago to inline roller figure skating, where I immediately obtained second place in the Italian junior championships.
“It requires many hours of training, as it is a very demanding sport from a technical and athletic point of view, but it also allows you to show the artistic and emotional side of the athlete.
“The goal is not just perfection in jumps and spins, but to achieve a perfect harmony of the athletic gesture with the music, expression and costume, in order to excite the audience.”
As a competitor herself, Dentella is all too aware of the commitment and the training that goes into reaching elite level sport.
She added: “As a sportswoman I have always been interested in other sports, obviously training daily for several hours I have never been able to practise others.
“I started following rugby a few years ago on television at weekends, watching the matches of the Italian national team at the Guinness Six Nations.
“I think it is a tough sport that requires a lot of grit and commitment, and therefore has some things in common with my sport.
“I like the team spirit, which is something I don’t really get to experience as I compete in individual competitions.”