"I thought it was spam" - Ellie Kildunne on BBC SPOTY nomination as she aims to become second ever rugby union player to win award

England star Ellie Kildunne is aiming to become the first female rugby union player to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year at Thursday's awards, and just her sport's second winner ever after Jonny Wilkinson in 2003.

For her, the nomination alone is enough. She believes it serves as more proof that the critics of women's rugby are wrong, and it offers another platform to grow the game.

Kildunne was the Red Roses' talisman as they won the 2025 Women's Rugby World Cup on home soil and has been nominated as part of SPOTY's six-strong shortlist, which also includes golfer Rory McIlroy, Lionesses duo Hannah Hampton and Chloe Kelly, darts prodigy Luke Littler, and F1 world champion Lando Norris.

The summer tournament was a landmark moment for women's rugby in this country. England delivered on their favourites tag to banish the demons of their 2022 final defeat and win on home soil, while the record-breaking attendance and viewership figures showed.

Kildunne believes that her SPOTY nomination goes further to hammer that final point home.

Quizzed on the potential impact of winning on Thursday evening, she said: "It's huge, but you know, the opportunity for me is the fact that I'm nominated in the first place, the first female rugby player ever.

"Jonny winning it back in 2003 was huge but you don't know if you're going to win it or not. It's big enough anyway, being nominated and to be in a space where, for years, we've been told that no one's going to watch it and no one's bothered about women playing rugby, to now standing up and saying, well, actually, I've got a nomination for something as big as SPOTY.

"It's something that I'm hugely proud of and it puts women's rugby on a platform. You talk about the World Cup, and that's a platform, but this creates another platform for people to watch it on the night and see that we are serious about what we do, that we are great athletes, and we succeed."

The Red Roses have been shortlisted alongside the Lionesses and Ryder Cup Team Europe for the Team of the Year Award, and Kildunne is clear that the whole England team deserve the credit for her SPOTY nomination as well.

She said: "We don't know who's won but being nominated is such a huge moment for me, personally, for my family, but also for women's rugby, and that is all I can ask for.

"It would be pretty cool to obviously say that I won, but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter what medals or trophies you get; it's about the people and the journey that you've all been on.

"I wouldn't be able to score the tries that I score if it wasn't for my teammates doing the hard graft in the middle, taking the tackles and turning defences inside out and releasing those perfect passes to me.

"I'm fully aware that it is a team sport, and I wouldn't be in the position that I'm in with the nomination if it wasn't for the girls around me."

It is perhaps no surprise then that it has been the reaction of her Red Roses teammates that have meant the most. Kildunne originally thought her agent was having her on when she received a text from him on the train back from London.

"I didn't believe it," she said. "I thought it was spam. I thought it was pulling my leg, if I'm honest, because that's not something you can imagine. It's something that you can dream."

She kept tight-lipped, other than telling her parents, and it was the England media team that informed the rest of the squad.

"The thing for me that I found so special is the messages that I did get from my teammates," Kildunne explained.

"They see me all the time so it's not that they don't have to say anything, it's more that they know that I know that I'll appreciate that they think it's cool. But some of the messages that I've got. I actually said to Hannah Botterman, who sent me a voice note, I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

She added: "It was really heartwarming to feel the love from my teammates, and the fact that they'd all drop me a little message or put it on their Instagram made me feel really supported and it made it very special."

Sports Personality of the Year 2025 is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 7pm on Thursday 18th December.

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