“I’m bringing a bit of Barbie to rugby”
Wales international Georgia Evans hits back at social media trolls and inspires a new generation.
“It was just pink everywhere. There were pink bows, there were pink signs… old men turning up to the game with no hair on their heads, wearing bows around their necks.”
When Wales walked out to face Fiji at the Rugby World Cup in September, more than a thousand supporters showed up wearing pink bows in tribute to Georgia Evans, the Saracens and Wales player who had been trolled for her “Barbie” look only days earlier.
“Everyone came out in their bows. Even when I went back to Saracens after [the World Cup], the stewards still had them in their hair,” Georgia tells The Female Lead.
Not usually emotional about rugby, Georgia admits that day was different. After the match, a fan handed her a bow, and she burst into tears.
“It’s just a pink bow, but it’s so much bigger than that,” she says. “It represents my personality, but for someone else it could mean something completely different. That’s what makes it so special.”
So how did we get here?
Georgia didn’t grow up dreaming of playing in World Cups. Raised in Somerset, there were no girls’ rugby teams nearby. She didn’t play until she was 17. “I just played netball, swimming, I did all the girly things. I moved home at 17 and just went to my local rugby club, and I never looked back,” she says.
Within five years, Georgia had gone from her local side, Yeovil College, to representing her home nation – balancing rugby with a full-time job, before the women’s game turned professional. The pink bows soon followed.
“I actually love the fact that I can have a little bit of my femininity”, she says. “I just love the idea that I can have a little bit of my personality on the pitch with me. Now I won’t wear anything other than pink boots. Everybody just knew me as the one with the bow. I never got any kind of backlash from it before going into the World Cup this summer.”
Everything changed after a press photo from Wales’ match against Canada.
“We just had to throw everything at it. So, I was like, ‘I’m just gonna go crazy today. I’m just gonna put two big pink bows in my hair. Didn’t think anything of it. I’ve done it before. Not an issue.”
It was a must-win game, which Wales lost.
Social media was filled with derogatory remarks mocking her appearance, accusing her of looking ‘like a man in drag’, and telling her to ‘concentrate more on rugby’.
Georgia laughed it off at first, scrolling through the comments with teammates. But the more she saw, the more it sank in.
“It’s not very nice for me, but it’s not about me,” she says. “It’s about some young girl who might see those comments and think she has to change who she is.”
So Georgia posted a response – unapologetic, defiant: “In an old-school man’s game, I’m bringing a bit of Barbie to the party. Don’t worry, I won’t be changing.”
It went viral overnight. Messages flooded in from fans, parents, and players around the world.
“It was surreal. I had magazines that had nothing to do with sports getting in touch, people from completely different communities just wanting to show support,” Georgia says.
Her sister and neighbours had leapt into Facebook arguments defending her before Georgia told them to stop.
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“I couldn’t let it affect me. I was in the middle of a World Cup. I still had one more game to play,” she says.
That game became something else entirely, with over 1,200 supporters wearing pink bows.
“It was my 12-year-old self’s dream, but also my dream now because I haven’t grown up,” Georgia laughs.
Since then, Georgia has received hundreds of messages from people who saw themselves in her story. Parents have written to say their daughters now run onto the pitch wearing bows in their hair.
One mother said that her teenage daughter, who’d been struggling with her mental health, had found new joy in rugby after seeing Georgia’s post.
“I’ve had girls message me saying they wear glitter now, or different coloured boots,” she says. “It’s not about copying me, it’s about feeling free to be themselves.”
“It’s not about the bow,” Georgia explains. “It’s about being yourself and not changing for anyone. If one person reads it and feels they don’t have to change who they are, that’s enough for me.”
You can see Georgia in action on the pitch playing for Saracens throughout the current season: www.saracens.com