On a crisp October afternoon, under the floodlights of a roaring stadium, Zainab Alema etched her name into history. The moment the ball crossed the try line, she paused. For a heartbeat, maybe two, the world slowed. “I almost had a delayed celebration,” she says, her voice still carrying the wonder of that day. “Because I couldn't quite believe that I actually scored. Everything just clicked into place. It was an incredible moment.” The score wasn’t just a personal triumph – it was a cultural milestone. On October 6, 2024, Alema became the first black, Muslim woman in a hijab to play – and score – in England’s top-tier women’s rugby union division, the Premiership, donning the Leicester Tigers jersey against Gloucester-Hartpury. The try was more than a sporting feat; it was a statement. “[I thought] today is the day I'm going to be the first black and Muslim hijab-wearing player to play in the Premiership,” she recalls during a Zoom interview with <i>The National</i>. “And the funny thing is, people around me didn't know the significance of it. They just saw me as another rugby player. But for me – I knew.” All too aware that the spotlight was on her, Alema wanted to ensure she caught as many eyes as possible. “When I made my debut, I spoke about going on to the pitch without my scrum cap on. I wanted people to see [the hijab] because I think, for me, that it was important to be visible because visibility is huge.” Representation, Alema says, matters. “You can't be what you can't see. People say if you can't see it you can't be it. And there's a lot of truth to that.” At 31, Alema’s path to professional rugby was anything but conventional. A mother of three and a trained neonatal nurse, she left the ward behind in 2021 to chase a dream that, until her twenties, she didn’t even know she had. A proud British Ghanaian, Alema didn’t grow up with rugby posters on her wall. She didn’t spend weekends watching Six Nations classics or idolising England legends. The first time she caught sight of a rugby match on television, she was, in her own words, stunned. The physicality, pace, and camaraderie all sparked something unexpected. And when she first picked up a ball, everything changed. Since then, she has pushed against the boundaries of stereotype and expectation. Standing in scrum formations in her hijab, Alema has faced down not just opponents, but perceptions of what a Muslim woman can or should do, of who belongs on the rugby pitch. Her journey has taken her from grassroots club pitches to national headlines, from being one of the few in a sport still struggling with diversity to becoming a role model for many. None of this was planned, but Alema felt the weight of destiny calling. “I didn’t set out to be the first,” she says. “I was just following my passion. But once I realised that me just showing up, just being on the pitch, was inspiring people, I knew I had a bigger purpose.” That purpose has blossomed into advocacy. Alongside her playing career – Alema is dual-registered, meaning she is on the books of Leicester Tigers in the top tier and Richmond Women in Championship South 1, a rung below the elite Premiership – she’s become a visible force for inclusion in sport. Her platform, “Studs in the Mud”, highlights stories from underrepresented communities in rugby. She gives talks in schools, mentors young athletes and has become a fixture in conversations about diversity in British sport. But behind the accolades and headlines is a woman who starts her mornings with a cup of tea and juggles match schedules with nursery runs. “My kids know that mummy plays rugby,” she laughs. “Sometimes they think I’m a superhero. Sometimes they’re just annoyed I’m not home for bedtime.” Alema said motherhood has given her a stronger sense of purpose. “I feel like since becoming a mother, I've become a better rugby player because it feels as if, when you're on the pitch, you know you've got a family back home, you know you’ve got people to go back to, so you're giving everything, and you have to almost make sure that it's worthwhile not spending as much time with your kids as maybe you could because you're immersed in this career. “It's quite rewarding, especially when I hear my children say they want to be a rugby player like I am.” Rugby is one of the most physically draining sports and not for the faint-hearted. Collisions and concussions go hand in hand, and the demands on the body are as unrelenting as they are unforgiving. Alema remembers the first time she watched a game on TV: “I just remember looking through the channels one day when the family was watching TV and I saw rugby and I just thought, ‘What the heck is that?’. It was so shocking because it just looked like grown men jumping on top of each other.” If curiosity piqued her interest, temptation would soon get Alema's number when rugby was introduced at her school by a PE teacher who was something of a zealot when it came to the oval ball. It didn't take long for Alema to convert. “Girls often did tennis or rounders, but when she introduced rugby, it was very different. I remember being the only one out of my peers who was just buzzing and couldn't wait to play because it was something different. I remember touching the ball, running through people, and I just thought to myself, 'Where has this sport been all my life?'. “I played various sports throughout school, but rugby was different. And I almost felt like an instant connection, and I wish I found this sooner.” However, the journey to achieving her dreams hasn’t been an easy one – especially as a proud veiled black Muslim woman. In a recent documentary broadcast by BeIN and TOD TV, Alema recalled how she often felt like an outsider growing up in a Western society that doesn't always support Muslims, particularly young girls, pursuing their sporting dreams. “It was trying to be comfortable with my identity within a space where I felt isolated. I felt lonely. I felt like, I didn't belong because I looked left and right, and nobody looked like me on the pitch,” she explains. Overcoming the reservations of her father, who viewed rugby as a sport dominated by men and shaped by elitist traditions, was another hurdle, but one that Alema ranks as one of her proudest achievements. “He just couldn't understand why his young Muslim daughter wanted to play rugby. I don't think he even knew that women played rugby ... But the one thing that he didn't do, he didn't say no. He didn't stop me. He just left me to it. And now, he tells everybody that I play rugby. "So, I think when people ask me, 'What's your proudest achievement?' I think I always look back to being able to change my father's perspective on women playing rugby because when you change perceptions at home, you then hopefully filter through to society and other people will think, 'OK, it's OK for women to play rugby'.” Grounded by faith, family, and a quiet resilience that has seen her through moments of doubt, injury, and isolation, Alema now dreams bigger – not of glory, but of legacy. Of a future where girls in hijabs see themselves not just in rugby, but everywhere. “I remind myself why I’m here. I belong. I’ve worked hard to be here. And I play not just for me, but for everyone who never saw themselves in this game.” Alema has taken on a mentor's role, paving the way for young Muslim girls to take up a sport that challenges perceptions and smashes down barriers. “I had a young dad who messaged me asking about sports hijabs. His young daughter just got into rugby and he wanted to find appropriate sports hijabs, so he was asking me for advice. We got chatting and I actually went to go see her ... she's such a lovely girl. She’s only 11 years old and he said to me: ‘I want Aisha to go on to do great things in rugby’. “And I just thought it was beautiful because this is a Muslim dad so supportive of his young Muslim daughter playing a sport that's not traditionally, I guess maybe it's not a sunnah sport.” Set to be dual-registered again next season, Alema has made clear that her ultimate goal is to play for England's Red Roses. Doing so would serve a double purpose: pride at representing her faith and culture and also the impact it will have on others – and not just those chasing their sporting dreams. "What I realised on this journey – because I think about what it is that I want to achieve by playing for England – is to have a huge social impact, to inspire more people, to allow people to chase their own dreams through just sort of supporting my journey. “I remember getting a message from a young girl who's saying she wants to do her Master's, but she's been putting it off. She's been seeing how hard I'm working at my goal and she's put in an application and she's going to go do her Master's. That's nothing to do with sport; she's taken something from my journey and applied it to herself. And that's the impact I want to make."
