When it comes to rugby in South Africa and in particular rugby commentating, one thinks of some of the seasoned commentators that have been around for years and decades on our TV screens and in our lounge rooms at home. These include the likes of Hugh Bladen, Gavin Cowley and Matthew Pearce.

However, there has been a new addition and that of a female rugby commentator who has been breaking barriers, inspiring the youth and been a voice for women’s rugby. This is the amazing and very talented Layla Arrison with whom Telecom Asia Sport had a chance to chat.
She is the very first female English rugby commentator in South Africa. She was born on the 1 st of May 1997 and grew up in the Coastal Town of Hermanus in the Western Cape. She Attended a Co-Ed School called Curro Hermanus and was part of the very first group of Matriculants in 2015. Furthermore, she was also part of the student council and part of the leadership group at the school.
Amazingly her first opportunity on TV came when she was grade in 9 and at the age of 15 years old. Her Afrikaans teacher at the time told her that the Afrikaans channel Kyknet was doing a series called ThomasAt and encouraged Layla to audition for it. With the motivation and encouragement she followed through with the process and eventually got the Role.
NEWS
Show more newsLayla attended the University of Stellenbosch (Maties) where she studied Sports Science and was mentored by the late great Professor Wilbur Kraak. She graduated in 2019 and while at University she played Rugby for Maties. She started her
Rugby Career with playing Varsity Cup 7s for Maties, playing centre and Captaining the team in the process. She was also part of the Springbok’s Womens Invitational/Development team, under then coach Paul Delport, and also represented the Western Province team.
Layla then decided to move to Pretoria where she played for Blue Bulls Daisies for 2 successful seasons. After those two seasons at the Blue Bulls Daisies, she called it a day and decided to hang up her boots.
From this point onwards her career as a player was over but her rugby commentary took shape. The journey of commentating was something of a surprise and not something that she planned.
My journey into Rugby commentating was funny enough, a strange one. My partner had an interview at SuperSport Studios and I wasn’t supposed to go with that day but I decided to go with. I went into studio 1 at SuperSport and Robbie Kempson was there and he asked me who I was and what I’m doing here. After chatting to him that day, he eventually got me in contact with a few producers and took me to one person in particular, this was Onge Zondani, who I credit so far for everything that I have achieved in commentating.
I walked in on Onge, who is a regular producer of Women’s rugby, while she was eating lunch and she was very confused by this random young woman who walked up to her and I eventually had a conversation with her. 2 weeks later she called me if I would be interested in commentating at the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup Tournament in Cape Town? I said yes I’m in and from there that’s where my rugby commentating career started from that very tournament in May 2022.
The thing is, South Africa has always had to catch up when it comes to diversity within the rugby space and I think SuperSport has done really well to recognize where the shortfalls were and being able to put people in the right places at the right point in time.
Cato Louw and Motshidisi Mohono were also the first Women were seen in the rugby space and they were kind of the reason why I got into it and it gave me a realistic option. While commentating - it does come with its challenges, there is always someone at home sitting on the couch and not keen to hear women in the rugby space or commentating, but I always say it’s not about me and it’s never been about me, I wanted to be able to be a visual representation for girls coming through the ranks to realize post playing rugby there is another option for you and if being in front of the camera is something you enjoy , or you love talking about rugby , then there is always opportunity and there is definitely a space for you to be included.

I have also been really lucky to have colleague’s- male and female who have accepted me fully and have never talked down to me, I give myself imposter syndrome and sometimes I feel like I don’t belong in this space because of everyone else and the stature of people I get to work with. But I have never been told I don’t belong here or I don’t deserve to be here or I’m not good enough, so I have always got good feedback, support and encouragement so, I have been really lucky to get support in that sense.
We are in a good space in terms of where we should be, we have caught up to where we should be but we still have a long way to go because the gap between us and the top tier nations is still a little too big but I think we have a shot at really being competitive next year at the World Cup 2025 in England and I’m really excited to see what ladies are able to do there, they have worked hard and come along way post 2021 World Cup and there was a lot of investment put in by SA rugby and they really have come on board and decided women’s rugby has to become a focus.
The blue bulls have become the first professional union team, we now need all the other unions to become Professional so that it becomes a competitive league and this will benefit us nationally and we will definitely become more competitive as well.
I have been in the media space for 2 and half years, I would like to be part of Rugby World 2025 next year and it’s something I’m looking forward to, hopefully I will be part of it. Then one day I want to be part of the Olympics- that would be really really cool for me. and for now, it’s finally to remain on the Sevens Series Circuit, as you know - it’s really competitive so hopefully I will stay here.
At age 27 years old Layla has done a remarkable job as a female commentator for SuperSport in a relatively short space of time. She recently worked on the July Test match against Portugal and the 2024 Rugby Championship matches Co-presenting and doing the match build ups on the Springbok Test matches.
Layla was also part of the International commentating at the Singapore Sevens Tournament recently, another outstanding achievement for her.
For many years and decades, it was a struggle for females to be featured on rugby matches in South Africa. Layla can already consider herself a pioneer for females. Her energy, enthusiasm, unique voice and rugby knowledge has really been impressive to say the least. The feedback from the rugby public and rugby fans that she has received has been overwhelming. She has become a popular figure and keeps growing from strength to strength. One thing is for sure, Layla is going to be around for many years to come and she is only going to get better with every game she calls. She is definitely breaking down stereotypes, scoring big in the rugby space and inspiring the next generation of females coming through the ranks.


