Rianne Bourne-Hallett's journey back to football after becoming a mum

A common misconception of female athletes is once they announce they’re pregnant, a retirement announcement will follow, but recently this has proven to not be true. As changes are made to better support female athletes, we are seeing more returns to sport following pregnancies.

Here I spoke to, Bristol Rovers Women captain, Rianne Bourne-Hallett - who returned to play just 8 weeks after giving birth to her first son – about juggling football, work and motherhood, how her career goals have changed and the support that should be given to athletes who are expecting a baby.

Rianne is a 28 year old mother of two, she had both her boys, Ace and Rex, during her playing career and the recoveries and journey back couldn’t have been more different. The midfielder chose to have her children younger than most, she says “Because I wanted to play football, I felt like if I had them older, I wouldn’t be able to return after having them. I really wanted them to be on the journey with me.”

Playing for non-professional clubs at the time of having her boys meant the support she received and still receives now is very different to what a Women’s Super League player would receive, but how has this affected her career? “When I decided to have children, it made me realise I was only really going to do it at a certain level, that I couldn’t go chasing the dreams that I had to go higher up the leagues. It didn’t feel doable to climb to a really good level back in 2017, so I just decided to make having a family a priority,” she says.

As well as balancing her children and football, Rianne also works as an administrator for the car company Hyundai. She shares that without the support of her husband and sister she “doesn’t know how it would be physically possible” to balance all three, “it would be near on impossible.”

“Some weeks are harder than others to be fair, because the mental load is a lot with a full-time job and mum mode in full force and obviously having to be committed to football. If it wasn’t for my husband, I don’t think I’d be able to put as much focus in as I can. On a game day, I do enjoy the early morning with the boys, but he will say like ‘Come on you concentrate, get fuelling and I’ll take over with the boys’ I don’t even want to imagine what it would be like without him there.”

With her first child, Ace, Rianne returned to football when he was only two and a half months old, and after having a c-section, the way she returned was not ideal. “The first time round I was very bad at putting too much pressure on myself, I didn’t give myself enough time to recover from my c-section and I just wanted to prove myself a point,” she says.

“My manager at the time was great and he did try slowing me down, but I got myself back fit, there wasn’t anything he could really do. He wanted me to play as long as I was healthy and in the right medical place to do it, which I was. I didn’t give myself enough time to enjoy the newborn stages. I realised with the second I didn’t need to put myself under so much pressure.”

She was playing for St Nicks at the time of having Ace, Rianne describes it as “not really heard of” to have kids while playing, the club were supportive in a way of keeping in touch, but in terms of medically and physically they weren’t in a position to support her.

The second time around, she was fortunately in the position to pay for a physiotherapist specialising in women’s bodies, she was able to tailor her recovery to fit her needs and work on specific exercises to help strengthen her ab muscles back up. “I did a lot more game related, specific recovery work. So, I went there for a six week check up and paid for a course so she could manage my ab separation, my c-section scar and she was really helpful on giving me the knowledge of what my body should me expected to do at certain meeting points in my recovery. I found it really useful and knowledgeable”

She claims, “It was probably the best thing I could’ve done to reach out to her!”

When talking about returning after Rex, Rianne shouts out her former coach, from Swindon Town, James Lalley. “If it wasn’t for one of the coaches there at the time, James Lalley, he kept in touch and helped me with understanding the medical side because he’s a science teacher, there wasn’t much support in returning to play.”

“The main club itself didn’t offer any support, the physio there gave me a training plan, but it wasn’t specific to having a baby because they just didn’t have the knowledge on it,”

“It was more just kind of generic phased returns” she adds.

In 2023, Rianne made the move to her current club, Bristol Rovers. As of now, there hasn’t been a situation where the club has needed to support a player through pregnancy and post-partum, but Rianne is confident things would be put in place. “I don’t think they’ve been in a situation where they’ve needed that yet. I am pretty confident that they’d put something in place if the situation arose. Like they’re so good with accommodating my children, if I haven’t got childcare they help find it, we’ve got coaching and club staff that will help.”

“So, I think if they were put in a situation where something was needed, they’d put something in place, I’m very very confident in that. Now we’re under the ownership of the men, I think it would be more of a policy and procedure of how to do it.”

Bristol Rovers also recognise Rianne’s kids are on the journey with her and do their best to include them on matchdays, allowing them to walk out with their mum and bringing them back on the pitch at full time. “Football are very good at understanding if I do need my family time and they try to involve the boys in everything they can, while I remain focussed. So, most of the time you will see I have my boys to walk out with, but even if we have a group of mascots in, they understand that’s kind of the boy's way of being involved. It means a lot to them to see what their mum can do and they understand I don’t like to say no to the boys when it comes to stuff like that” she says.

In their 2024/25 Women’s FA Cup campaign, they made it to the fourth round for the first time in their history, moments were captured by fans after the game against Aston Villa where Ace and Rex got to meet, Lioness Legend, Rachel Daly and even got to take her shirt home!

“We love making memories with the boys!” she adds.

Understandably change takes time, and the support female athletes are receiving now is already evidently different from ten years ago. Athletes are announcing pregnancies before retirement, and are hopeful of being able to return to their sport after giving birth. But there’s still a long way to go.

“In general, there’s not enough support, absolutely not. It kind of takes a very bold person to take the jump, because as you see not many people in the WSL only recently have the likes of Toni Duggan even had children, but before then definitely not and I still don’t think there’s enough,”

“I’d like to see some changes, at this type of level I know they can’t put on a nursery but I’d like to think they’d help with the medical side of things, getting further checks after giving birth because once you have a baby you only get the GP six week check and that doesn’t tell you if your abs have separated or if your scar tissue is affecting your core muscles. I’d like the minimum to be a more of a medical support from clubs, from at least tier 4, providing them with further checks medically and fitness wise” Rianne tells me, explaining the changes she’d like to see.

Most recently, Arsenal defender, Amanda Ilestedt returned to the pitch just five months after having, Mila, her baby girl. From what we know, her recovery was fairly smooth, but without the help of Arsenal’s medical team, the journey could have gone in the opposite direction.

So, for the athletes unsure if they should wait until their career is over, what advice would Rianne give?

“Everything works out in the end! I planned and overthought everything before and how was I going to do it, and you wait for the perfect time, but the reality is, there’s not a perfect time.

“I have a job, I have children, and I play football four times a week, and I manage to make it happen and I know a lot of other people can. It can very daunting the thought of it, but as a sportsperson you naturally are a determined person, and you can make it work. Don’t be afraid because soon it won’t be the unknown.”