She picked it because she was like, ‘Do you remember when we went to that really big place where the girls were playing?’ but for World Book Day, she picked a book that she has about women’s football. “So I brought her, we had a lovely weekend, I didn’t think too much about it. “I never played GAA, I am useless, I don’t have a clue, but I am friends with Davy Fitzgerald who was coaching girls at the time, and I just thought, if Davy was coaching the Cork men’s hurlers and they were in the All-Ireland final, I would be trying to bring my son. “One of the things I did last year was bring my daughter to the camogie All-Ireland final,” she says. Three-time Olympian Derval O’Rourke feels passionately about personal responsibility when it comes to the role we all play in ensuring women in sport are given equal importance and respect as their male counterparts. We don’t feel like we have any limits just because we’re women.”ĭerval O'Rourke: I did not know until I was in my late teens that girls were sometimes treated differently in sport than men “But in rowing, the lads have huge respect for us and how hard we work. “With the GAA, it’s annoying to see that there’d be crowds of thousands of people at the men’s matches, but not the case in the women’s matches. There were more championship medals won by women from Ireland than there were by men.”Ĭremen, who played camogie and hockey in school, expresses frustration that there isn’t similar equality in other sports. “There were more Irish women rowing at the Olympics last year than there were men. “With rowing, it doesn’t matter, everyone’s treated equally,” she says. She admits that the concept of “women in sport” is not something she thinks about on a regular basis. “With Skibb (Skibbereen Rowing Club), you just walk in the door and it doesn’t matter if you’re a girl or a boy, or if you’re tall or short, everyone’s given the same opportunity.” “With rowing, it’s a sport where the women and men are treated equally,” Casey says. ![]() The Irish women’s soccer team is currently at an all-time high, having qualified for this year’s World Cup yet it’s only five years ago that the players felt forced to hold a press conference to demand better conditions from the FAI.įemale participation in sport has increased hugely in recent years, with 40% of participants in sport now being women however, women’s sport still makes up just 4% of media coverage.Īre we at a tipping point for women’s sport, or are we still box-ticking? Can we look to rowing, boxing, and hockey, as examples of how to enshrine equality and excellence at the heart of Irish sport? The Irish women’s rugby team won the Six Nations in 20, and finished fourth in the 2014 World Cup, yet failed to qualify for last year’s World Cup an extraordinary open letter from 62 current and former players in December 2021 cited the IRFU’s lack of support for this failure. ![]() Camogie has hugely increased its popular appeal since RTÉ began broadcasting more matches in 2016, and the All-Ireland ladies football final regularly breaks records for attendances at women’s sporting events but the players still often struggle with basic issues like fixture clashes, pitch availability, lack of hot showers and hot food, and having to pay for their own mileage. We have incredible sportswomen in camogie, ladies' football, rugby, and soccer, but those sports have not always adequately supported their players. ![]() This elite success against the odds reflects similar achievements in women’s boxing (two Olympic gold medals in a decade) and women’s hockey (a World Cup final and Olympic Games within five years). A world champion twice over, Sanita Pušpure is a national icon, while Emily Hegarty, Aifric Keogh, Eimear Lambe, and Fiona Murtagh lifted the nation by winning Ireland’s first medals at the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: Eddie O'Hareīesides being part of a golden generation of Irish sportswomen, the pair are part of a niche grassroots success in Irish sport in which women have thrived. ![]() Mags Cremin (left) and Aoife Casey at the National rowing centre at Farran, Co.Cork. The Irish lightweight squad is so competitive, it’s almost harder to get in the Irish double than it is to race internationally sometimes.” “It’s full steam ahead for the Olympic qualification and then the Olympics, touch wood.
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