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Basketball Wednesday
With less than a second remaining, there’s contact. The ball is loose. Arms are flailing. No one hears a whistle, and it is not because of the wave of boos from the hometown faithful. It’s because the referee never blew it. Game over.
In the minutes that follow the controversial no-call, while the television production crew rushes to find every angle to push and pull the narrative in whichever direction they choose, there is nothing heard from the players or referees in the moment.
Now imagine you heard every word between the officiating crew and the players. Not only in that moment, but throughout the entire blockbuster matchup.
That is reality in the world of rugby, and on Friday, the world’s 16 best national teams descend upon England for the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
On the mic during the tournament is Ella Goldsmith, an Australian who rose up the refereeing ranks to officiate the biggest matches on the world’s biggest stage. Goldsmith began refereeing local youth club matches in 2021. Now, four years later, it’s the World Cup.
As a child, Goldsmith played all sorts of sports, but it was a year studying abroad, in England, that turned rugby into a key focus in her life. As a young fan of the game, a club player and now referee, Goldsmith has vast experience of the ups and downs of the sport. Many of which she will be a part of over the next six weeks.
Watching and hearing Goldsmith perform her craft is one of many things that make rugby such an exciting experience. It also makes a gigantic tournament, where many will watch the game for the first time, and begin to learn the ins and outs of the game.
It takes away the guess work.
“You just see a card being pulled out, you kind of sometimes then lose that connection to the game, because you’re probably rightly so a bit pissed off,” Goldsmith told The IX. “So, I think if we are able to do what we can to bring along those people at home or those people also in the stadium, it does create more of a positive, maybe not a positive experience, it just creates a bit more clarity.”
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For fans who tuned in to rugby for the first time during the 2024 Paris Olympics, the World Cup will look different, competitively, but carry some similarities.
Instead of the fast-paced rugby sevens of the Olympics, a version of rugby played with two sides of seven over two seven-minute halves, the World Cup features rugby union, where two sides of 15 players run, pass, tackle and scrum for two 40-minute halves.
It is less a track meet and more a game of strategy and sheer will to stay organized, hold a line and work on breaking through the opponent’s line with only a 15-minute break in the middle.
For those who watched Team USA’s historic comeback to win its first Olympic medal, Ilona Maher, the most followed rugby player on Instagram with 5.2 million followers and Dancing With the Stars alum, will be in red, white and blue again. Just like she was when she helped lead the Stars & Stripes when they shocked Australia in the 2024 Bronze Medal match.
Maher joins fellow sevens medalist Alev Kelter, who suits up for her fourth Rugby World Cup. They are two in a squad of 32 who begin their World Cup campaign on Friday against England, the tournament hosts.
With 30 players on the field, the ball hiding under piles of athletes and sometimes kicked from one side to the other, for first-time viewers, it can be overwhelming.
“Passing back with running forwards. I think that’s the simple way to explain the game,” said Goldsmith. “I think just having an understanding that you might have to watch more than one game to really get into it.”
Fortunately for viewers, there will be no shortage of matches to watch. In the United States, all matches will air on Paramount+, including the Friday kickoff against England at 2:30 p.m. ET and against Australia on Aug 30 at 2:30 p.m. ET as well. The last group stage match for the Women Eagles against Samoa, airs live on CBS, Saturday, Sept. 6, at 8:30 a.m. ET.
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The top two teams in each of the four groups of four move into the knockout rounds beginning September 13.
While Rugby has not necessarily broken through to the top tier of women’s sports in the states alongside the WNBA and NWSL, the United States has a prestigious history in union rugby at the World Cup. Outside of being one of only four nations to compete in all nine previous editions, the United States won the inaugural World Cup in 1991, and followed it up with consecutive second-place finishes.
Since then, the USA has not finished higher than fourth in the previous six tournaments. Instead, New Zealand has secured themselves at the top tier of rugby in the world. New Zealand won six of the last seven editions of the tournament that takes place every four years.
In five of the last six, the Black Ferns of New Zealand defeated England in the championship game, but now the perennial second-place finishers in England have an entire country behind them. The host nation also boasts the No. 1 ranking in World Rugby.
Rugby is no different than the popular sports in the United States like the WNBA and NWSL, which boast higher engagement, investment and viewership.
“They’re in massive big stadiums. It’s all gonna be sold out,” said Goldsmith. “I can’t wait to see just some of the numbers even from that opening game between England and U.S. Like it’s just gonna be numbers that the women’s sport, that the women’s game’s not seen before.”
Goldsmith is not only a referee but part of the work in Australia to get girls into the sport early to grow the next generation of rugby athletes.
“That is my actual full-time role outside of refereeing,” said Goldsmith. “So, that’s where we focus on and we’re working on creating all these new competitions for women and girls across Australia. So just to see the pathway and the opportunity for girls, even we’re going down to now under eights and we’ve got programs that target even the four- to five-year-olds to really like get them in from the beginning.”
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Most rugby players for the United States at the World Cup do not have that kind of upbringing. A lot of stories from the names on the field start with being athletic and starring in other sports before trying rugby or being recruited to play rugby on college clubs.
Kate Zackary exemplifies that road. After excelling in basketball and soccer during high school, Zackary moved to rugby in her senior year at Benedictine College and leads the Women Eagles as the squad’s captain.
The road like Zackary’s is changing in the United States too, with younger clubs sprouting up for girls and boys alike.
With all the extra eyes on this year’s edition of the tournament, it could be the moment that kids find the sport and turn it into their own lifelong love, especially if the United States can buck recent history and surprise some of the other 15 nations competing in England.
Whichever way it ends for the United States and new fans own thoughts about the game, behind the crunching tackles is a contest of mutual respect. It’s evident in the way players interact not only within their own teams but with everyone on the field.
That respect is also the reason Goldsmith did not want to leave the sport after she could no longer compete in it.
“You have to sometimes go through some tough stuff together, you know, tough games on the field, you know, some tough training sessions to make sure that you’re prepared to play a game,” said Goldsmith. “So, I think that really does bring in a lot of people. It’s probably why I also continued refereeing because I think when I stopped playing, I thought, I know I’ve lost my, a little bit of my family here.”
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Goldsmith is not in a position that a lot of people put themselves into. Referees and match officials are easy targets for fans. Add on the way some players in sports like soccer or basketball interact after calls don’t go their way, also don’t quell that extra attention.
This game of mutual respect stretches to the relationship between the players and referees.
“You have all those people say, ‘look, you don’t have people coming up and screaming at your face,’ because I think it’s just all about the values,” said Goldsmith. “There’s always gonna be those instances where it doesn’t go according to plan, but I think then, or speaking specifically in Australia and my work with Rugby Australia, we’ve got really good policies in place that can then protect the match officials and also then put pressure back on clubs to change their behavior.”
Even in high-stress situations, like Goldsmith’s work in the rivalry between Team USA and Canada on Aug. 1 in the final warm-up match before the World Cup, Goldsmith handed out cards and took players out of the game, but it did not result in a swarm of attention in her face.
In rugby, most of the time, the game goes on. The microphone will be live on Goldsmith for the last match of the first and second weekends. First between New Zealand and Spain, then Italy against South Africa on Aug 31. Then Goldsmith works the touchline twice in the third weekend of matches.
Outside of enjoying the matches, rooting for your team and learning more about the game of rugby, Goldsmith has advice for anyone who watches. Plus some great advice for life in general.
“Support the referees. We’re human as well. We’re all, you know, we’re all there trying to soak it up, soak up the experience as well and do our best on the day,” said Goldsmith. “Be nice.”
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