CHRISTIANE PHEIL
Rugger Promotes Feminism Through Athleticism
“People who played rugby a few decades ago don’t necessarily believe or think women should play rugby.”
It’s dark, cold, and raining, and the women are visibly exhausted. The weak yellow bulbs overhead illuminate the players as they practice hit after hit in the baseball diamond’s outfield at Revere Park on Chicago’s north side—the team can't afford to practice at a traditional turf field. Several people walk by with their dogs and curiously watch the team in action.
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“Are they playing football, Mommy?” one young girl asks. “No, honey. I think it’s rugby,” her mother responds.
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Christiane Pheil, 28, captain of the North Shore Women’s Rugby team, runs drills without glancing in the direction of the onlookers. Their cold Wednesday night practice ends early, and the women huddle together for a traditional cheer before slowly leaving the field. Pheil stays behind and advises a young player with a mohawk on how to improve hits and stamina.
With a muscular build, strong posture and a tattoo on her bicep, Pheil might seem like a typical rugby player. As an activist for the game, she and her team strive to eliminate stereotypes by building an audience for the male-majority sport.
Written by Savannah Eadens, Edited by Amanda Kaplan, Photographed by Kate Lavin
Toughness and Teamwork
There are no heroes in a game of rugby, arguably one of the most physical contact sports. Pheil believes a rugby team cannot succeed without camaraderie, as every “try” scored in a rugby game requires each player to touch the ball.
Lani Larson, the oldest player on the North Shore Women’s Rugby team and a teammate of Pheil’s for five years, sniffles her nose and wipes sweat off her forehead as she praises Pheil as a poised leader who plays with grit and tenacity. When she’s on the field, Pheil digs her feet into the ground and runs on every hit. After each fall, she pushes herself up and continues the drill with more determination than before.
“Christiane may not be the biggest person on the field, but she has the biggest hits and force out there,” Larson says. “She brings a lot of strength and strategy, which I think is overlooked in this sport—it’s not just about hitting the hardest; it’s about being the smartest.”
Outside of Chicago’s North Side Women’s Rugby team, Pheil is a USA Women’s Rugby player. In August, she competed in the Rugby World Cup where her team placed third in the world. But Pheil was not always a rugby player.
The Trail from Tennis
Pheil grew up in the mountain of Asheville, North Carolina, and as a natural athlete, she played many sports. She played tennis for 16 years—it was her passion. And in 2007, she received a full ride to play tennis at the University of Colorado at Boulder, but it was not what she had expected.
“Going to tennis practice was a chore,” Pheil says. “I lost that love for the sport that had kept me going for so long. I found myself in college, on my own for the first time, wanting to do so many other things.”
Two years into college, Pheil quit tennis. This time, she needed to find her passion in something completely different. In 2009, she discovered rugby through a friend. She was hooked.
In January 2010, Pheil transferred to Penn State University to play rugby and finish her degree in aerospace engineering. During her time at Penn State University, her team won two National Rugby Club Championships. Because rugby is a club sport, not a collegiate sport, she and her teammates played without scholarships.
“What makes rugby so special in particular is everyone was there because it was their choice,” Pheil says. “No one [played] for money, no one [played] for free college tuition. The fact that we had 75 girls on the college rugby team that were willing to sacrifice a lot of their free time and willing to challenge themselves just made the atmosphere and camaraderie really strong.”
Men vs. Women
As the women practice their drills on the dewey outfield of Revere Park, with their coaches screaming, some fall because of the fierce impact of a player slamming into them. But even after a brutal fall onto the dew-covered grass, the ruggers pause to help lift their teammates to their feet.
For Pheil, rugby is about more than just being tough. The rules in women’s rugby are the same as men’s: no pads, no helmet.
“The true physicality of rugby is empowering,” she says. “Mouthguard and cleats, that’s all we’ve got.”
But the difference in televised coverage is vast. The Rugby World Cup championship alternates every year—one year the men play a championship, the next year the women. Pheil thinks the discrepancy between the men’s and women’s teams comes down to more than just money. On the board of rugby, many members have traditional views of the sport.
“People who played rugby a few decades ago, a lot of them don’t necessarily believe or think women should play rugby,” Pheil says. “The fact that those voices are still major influencers in the decision-making room is definitely a problem.”
Pheil says women’s rugby receives fewer resources. When she played with the USA team in August, NBC—the owner of USA Rugby footage—did not air any of the games. To watch the Rugby World Cup, people had to buy an NBC Sports Gold membership, whereas every men’s game was aired last year.
Luckily, NBC live-streamed the final women’s game after Pheil’s team made it to the semifinals and put up a strong fight.
“If there’s a World Cup going on, and you own the rights to a sport, you need to show those games, otherwise there are young girls who are never going to know rugby exists, and it might be the sport that is meant for them,” Pheil says.
A Changing Rugby Landscape
There are now talented and skilled players who have come through the USA Rugby program, and have made a name for themselves as “rugby famous.” These women are starting to speak out, Pheil says. In 2017, the United States Rugby Players Association was started and she was nominated to be in the association to become a voice for women’s rugby.
“[The Players Association] will hopefully bring a strong perspective from the players on what needs to change in rugby,” Pheil says. “The men’s players probably have no idea that the women players are treated the way they are treated, or that we have fewer resources than they do.”
Rugby allows women to show a side of themselves they wouldn’t normally showcase in a professional setting. Lauren Trout, Pheil’s teammate on the North Shore Women’s Rugby Team, says one of the reasons she loves playing rugby is the ability to take advantage of an opponent's weaknesses—something that men usually do in a traditional workplace setting.
“Men are the go-getters and the ones who strive for that mentality,” Trout says. “In rugby, women can be [dominating] and it is encouraged.”
But women on the rugby field do not physically challenge the patriarchal world we live in, she adds.
“I think we challenge a ‘man’s world’ by being able to be ourselves because there are no labels,” Trout says. “There is no pressure to be one way or another. We’re just out here being athletes and not worried about how others are going to view that. We’re being our authentic selves.”
Pheil says it is every rugger’s responsibility to grow the game. The North Shore team worked with the local men’s rugby team, the Chicago Lions, for a youth camp in September in which they helped teach 75 kids the rugby game rules.
“We can make the USA team or our current club team as good as we can right now, but it’s more about thinking about the future in 10 years and focusing on how the next series of athletes is going to be treated and what resources they are going to have, male and female,” Pheil says.
Breaking Rugger Stereotypes
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“There are so many different stereotypes of ruggers. Everything from thinking we drink a lot, to we have a certain sexuality, or that we’re not feminine or whatever it may be,” she says. “The truth is that we are all unique. The real story is that we are all feminine in whatever way that we feel necessary.”
To combat stereotypes, rugby teams have tried to use body empowerment within the sport. On the rugby field, there is almost every different body type.
“There are players of all shapes and sizes, which is not only empowering, but shows feminism in many forms,” Pheil says.
Within her community and lifestyle, Pheil feels like the world is a more accepting place for strong women. But she knows that idea is not shared among everyone.
“When people think rugby, they think super tough, lots of gay people, that we are mean or aggressive,” Pheil says. “There are a lot of negative connotations that come along with [rugby].”
Pheil came out as gay when she was in college but says she feels lucky she has never faced adversity in the form of hatred, because not everyone is as fortunate.
“I chopped my hair off in 2010, and now people look at me and know I’m gay; they don’t even have to ask,” Pheil says. “I don’t have to come out every day, and that is something that has helped my confidence overwhelmingly. I get comments all the time, but never in a rugby setting.”
As a team, Pheil says her teammates can do a much better job at fighting stereotypes. Members of the North Shore Rugby team attend the Chicago Pride parade every year and volunteer with youth rugby organizations such as the Chicago Area Rugby Football Union.
“Just being truly open and welcoming and accepting in our culture is so important to us,” Pheil says. “Making sure [rugby] is a safe space for people is something that we take a lot of pride in, and will always be the number one priority.”