Ladies Gaelic Football

10 // Ladies Gaelic Football Association THE STATE OF PLAY – CLIONA FOLEY PEIL Summer | Issue No 2 | Volume 14 he sadness at seeing Rena Buckley depart the inter- county stage recently was mitigated by the reaction. When most ladies' football greats have retired in the past there's been hardly a murmur. Now, thanks to almost two decades of TG4 coverage and the LGFA's own promotional work, players have so much more visibility, helping this stellar footballer and history-maker to get all the accolades she deserved. Yet attending this year's Lidl Div 1 & 2 NFL finals showed just how much more work is needed if more women's players – not just the superstars – are to get the support and appreciation that their skills and commitment deserve. I really believed the record 46, 286 crowd at last year's All-Ireland finals was a gamechanger; so much actually that a screenshot of it is the profile pic for Off The Bench's Twitter account. But sitting in Parnell Park on May 6 was a bit of a reality check. The line-up for the Div 1&2 finals could not have been more exciting and the games did not disappoint but the attendance did. The LGFA said it was 'a record crowd of 5,000' for NFL finals but that was over 40k less than last September and on a day when the women's games had no competition from men's inter-county games. So where did all those #properfans and #SeriousSupport go then? Why would so many less people not think it worthwhile to go to such a great double-header that included a re-match of the 2017 All-Ireland senior final? That remains one of ongoing challenges for the LGFA, despite getting a lot right recently. The Lidl sponsorship (recently renewed) is huge in terms of financial support that feeds right down to local clubs as well as an outstanding national media campaign. The Of all the governing bodies in the GAA family the LGFA has shown itself to be most innovative to date but, in a fast-moving world, it cannot sit on its laurels.... by Cliona Foley T LGFA has itself embraced social media – video clips, live game streaming and now a podcast with The42.ie -which has been a huge new source of publicity. That's all brilliant for the game's existing audience but how can they harness it to attract new fans to the game? In a world of increasing echo chambers - where people customise their own media and only follow what they're already interested in - how does the LGFA build a bigger regular audience outside the All-Ireland finals? Double-headers are one tool and it was great to see more of them during the last two seasons. Men's county boards need to be persuaded to have even more of them. Work also needs to be done in knitting the work of the central LGFA with its provincial bodies. There seems to be a gap at present, even in terms of fixture notification and promotion, between the provincial championships and All-Ireland series which needs to be bridged. The difficulty of securing pitches, even at inter-county level, doesn't help draw regular crowds and continues to be a problem but that should improve too if the promised integration with the GAA happens in future years. Gaelic4Mothers&Others and the Gaelic4Girls programme, which both stress the importance of making training fun, have been two other great LGFA initiatives. For health reasons it has never been more important to get and keep women involved in sport, as demonstrated by a recent UK study which found, shockingly, that 36 per cent of 14-16 year old girls were 'unhappy with the way their body looks' compared to 17% of boys. Creating greater depth in inter-county panels and holding onto players during the Summer is another challenge if the integrity of provincial championships is to be upheld; it seems crazy that the Connacht senior and intermediate championships are both straight finals this year. Coaching pathways also need to be discussed given that just three of the 32 teams in the Lidl NFL this season were managed by women: Monaghan's Ann Marie Burns, Armagh's Lorraine McCaffrey and Offaly's Sinead Commons. Two recent initiatives in Britain are worth a look as the LGFA looks to continue to grow all aspects of its game. The Women in Football (soccer) organisation has started a social media campaign called '#Whatif' which challenges individuals, organisations and sponsors to make a simple pledge to women's sport. Sky Sport and the UK's Women's Sport Trust has also recently launched a #ShowUp campaign which challenges people to play, coach and watch more women's sport. Of all the governing bodies in the GAA family the LGFA has shown itself to be most innovative to date but, in a fast-moving world, it cannot sit on its laurels. *Cliona Foley is a sportswriter who also produces/presents the fortnightly women's sport podcast Off The Bench for www.OffTheBall.com. Twitter: @OffTheBenchOTB

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