Mike Tindall gives rare insight into his dream for Mia and Lena

Mike Tindall gives rare insight into his dream for Mia and Lena

Watch: Zara Tindall reflects on Sports Personality of the Year win in 2006

GB News
Hannah Ross

By Hannah Ross


Published: 22/02/2024

- 15:32

Updated: 22/02/2024

- 15:35

Zara Tindall's husband Mike has talked about his children's interest in sports

Mike Tindall has given a rare insight into his daughters Mia and Lena's interest in sports.

The former England rugby captain talked about Lena following in his footsteps with her love for the game.


Meanwhile their eldest daughter, Mia, prefers to cheer on the Australian rugby team than their homeland, England.

In an interview Mike said: “They do watch and support and they watched a lot of [last year’s] World Cup.

Mike and Mia Tindall

Mike Tindall has talked about his children's interest in sports

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“Mia has a kinship with Australia and so she cheers for Australia as well, which is slightly awkward when Australia are playing England, but they do watch.”

The Tindall family have a close connection with Australia and regularly spend time there for holidays.

Mike and Zara Tindall first met Down Under in 2003 at a bar while Zara was on a gap year from university travelling around New Zealand and Australia.

When asked if he would like to see his children play for England Mike said: “It would be nice if we did but whether we will or not, I don’t know. I’m not going to force it on them but it would be nice if they did.

Mike and Mia Tindall

Mike said that Mia often cheers on the Australian Rugby team

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“Mia is not in love with it at the moment, so we will have to wait and see. Lena still goes and plays so watch this space is all I can say about it.”

Mike and Zara Tindall also share a son, Lucas, who was born in 2021.

Mike told Telegraph Sport: “Lucas, the first thing he ever watched as soon as he was born was Bath versus Wigan back in 1996 as it happened to be on TV - he was 20 minutes old when he watched that. Hopefully he will watch a bit of rugby.”

The Tindall family have strong ties with the sporting world; Mike was part of the 2003 Rugby World Cup Winning team and Zara claimed an equestrian silver medal at the London 2012 Olympics.

Mike Tindall

Mike Tindall is a former England rugby player

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Zara and Mike Tindell

Zara and Mike Tindall met in Australia in 2003

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Talking about whether their children will follow in their footsteps, Mike explained: “We’ve talked about it and if there is any issues we will both support whatever they want. They can make their own decisions and as a parent you have just got to support them.

“I would love it if they were, it’s been such a big part of all of our lives. So it would be nice if we could keep that going through the kids.”

At the beginning of the year, the Tindall’s went on a family holiday to the Gold Coast after attending the horse racing event, Magic Millions.

Last year, Mike revealed that they would love to move to Australia but “it’s so far away from our families.”

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