Georgia Evans \u00a9 Getty Images<\/p>\n
Wales No 8 Georgia Evans has hit back at the negative remarks about her appearance on the field, saying she brings “a bit of Barbie” to a sport long dominated by men.<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old Saracens player earned her 42nd international cap in Wales’ 42-0 defeat by Canada last weekend, a result that ended their hopes of reaching the quarterfinals of the Women’s Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
While Evans was praised for her tackling and work-rate, she was attacked on social media for her appearance, which includes wearing ribbons in her hair during matches.<\/p>\n
“In an old-school, man’s game, I’m bringing a bit of Barbie to the party,” she said in an Instagram post. “To those who don’t like it, that’s OK. To those who’ve shown love and support – thank you. Don’t worry, I won’t be changing.”<\/p>\n
The Welsh Rugby Union publicly backed Evans, sharing their support for her message.<\/p>\n
“A rugby player is no longer defined by your gender or what you look like,” Evans wrote on Instagram.<\/p>\n
“It appears that my appearance on game day seems to be offending some people… and to that I’m so not sorry.<\/p>\n
“Myself, my team, and all the incredible female athletes from around the world are currently competing in the biggest Women’s Rugby World Cup, showcasing the best of the best and inspiring thousands – including young boys and girls who are finally seeing what’s possible in this incredible game.<\/p>\n
“Yes, Wales haven’t been at our best, but I’m not here to make excuses. The bows in my hair, the tape on my arm, the eyelashes and full face of make-up I choose to wear \u2014 none of that affects my ability, passion, or fight for this game.”<\/p>\n
Wales play Fiji in their final group match on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Georgia Evans \u00a9 Getty Images Wales No 8 Georgia Evans has hit back at the negative remarks about…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5010],"tags":[748,4884,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-393534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wales","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115138218225675506","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/393535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}