The former pin-up girl of the Lingerie Football League (LFL) is now in Australia's women's World Cup rugby team which will compete in the World Cup in France from August 1 to 17
Chloe Butler Pic/Getty Images
Sydney: Chloe Butler, the former pin-up girl of the Lingerie Football League (LFL) is now in Australia's women's World Cup rugby team which will compete in the World Cup in France from August 1 to 17.
Chloe Butler Pic/Getty Images
Butler insisted to Australia's Daily Telegraph that was it was lingerie football that helped her get her World Cup rugby spot. "It's not for everyone and if you're lucky enough to have an avenue in your chosen sport that allows you to stay professional, or stay elite, then I definitely back that, but the LFL is a different avenue.
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Why I switched to rugby
"I think the LFL worldwide has offered that platform for other women who had injuries or had to change sports. I think it's such a high calibre of athlete competing and that was why I joined it."
The idea of women playing a full-contact sport in lingerie may not appeal to everyone, but Butler felt it provides a platform for female athletes when there are no other avenues.
"As women, it's hard. You get to your 20s and you finish school and all those athletic avenues close and you think, well, what next? I gave and sacrificed most of my childhood to be some kind of athlete, do I really just hang my hat here?
LFL provided Butler a chance to condition her body for rugby. The spectacle is very popular in America and its television audience can never be underestimated.
Sex sells
Butler wasn't uncomfortable being part of what she calls a "sex sells" marketing campaign and stressed she never felt exploited. "I am feminine, I am girly, and so I didn't mind curling my hair and putting lipstick on.
It's just for one day that you dress up in that, the rest of the time you're just a normal football athlete. You train in a normal outfit and you have your teammates, just like a normal football team," she said.
The newspaper called rugby the fastest growing female sports in the world. And Butler wants people to recognise it better. "If society perhaps kept an eye out on what's happening in the women's sporting world they might just learn that they like it.
"Especially rugby, because we do hit pretty hard and that's always entertaining — watching girls go at each other on the field. I can't imagine that putting on the green and gold would ever get old and I'm just so privileged to be part of the movement in women's rugby across the world," she said.
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