Women’s GPA – Making A Difference

Anyone who’s ever been involved in a coaching or playing capacity with an intercounty Camogie team or Ladies Gaelic Football team will know that they work every bit as hard as their male counterparts. The difference? They get a fraction of the recognition, little of the reward and minimal media coverage. It’s the 21st Century now, and its time things changed.

For years players involved in Camogie or football maybe just accepted the way it was. But it became quickly apparent when they trained alongside their male equivalents, when they compared notes with their brothers or clubmates, or when they lifted a newspaper that the innovations coming thick and fast to the men’s game weren’t coming their way at all.

Treating Athletes the Same

For some county players simple innovations like a hot shower, food or physio after training were a foreign country. If that was the state of things for county players, imagine the situation at club level. Unreconstructed clubmen would march a team of hurlers onto a pitch in the middle of a Camogie match to begin a training session. No give and take there. Pitch booking cancelled. Restricted access to facilities.

Once at the opening of a spanking new clubhouse I heard a former county footballer remark to a committee member, ‘you must have a great ladies committee’. It was cringeworthy.

Frankly in the modern era of gaelic games, the idea that the girls’ main role should be confined to making the sandwiches, ironing the jerseys and playing a bit of social football or Camogie and lumbering about the pitch unfit is totally wide of the mark.

There’s no room any longer for everyday sexism in Gaelic games. And the contribution that female elite athletes make to clubs throughout the country can’t be ignored. In many instance the achievements of the club’s Camogie or ladies football team outstrip their male equivalents. But as the players repeated time and again, its not about who’s better, it’s about being treated the same.

WGPA Established

Earlier this year the majority of the country’s female gaelic games athletes came together to found the Women’s GPA. The creation of the Association was long overdue. County administrators in the female codes have long found it hard to generate income to support county teams to the level that might be considered de minimus. The players are still expected to go out and perform.

In truth, the Women’s GPA haven’t come forward with a radical agenda at all. They’ve just asked for a bit of equal treatment. Chaired by Aoife Lane who lectures in WIT, the association have harnessed the energies of high profile players in both codes. Simple steps forward are the order of the day. As part of their preparatory work the WGPA carried out a survey of their players. Some of the answers were stunning but not unexpected.

Bear in mind these are the sisters and clubmates of GAA players we read about every day in the media. Some of the report’s findings:

 -Almost 7% of respondents indicated that they receive expenses for travelling to training;

 -Three quarters of the respondents had experienced an injury at some stage during their career with 43% indicating that they had to take time off work/college due to that injury.

 -62% of players did not receive payment for expenses associated with their injuries.

 -A similar proportion - 63% - indicated they had been ‘out of pocket’ on some occasion due to county commitments, particularly due to injury

 -88% of camogie players buy their own hurls.

The players are not seeking special status but they are frustrated at the lack of media exposure of their games and it has to be said that at times the coverage of the female games does fall well short of the male equivalent.

‘I feel female sports players get very little recognition for what they do’

‘It’s just disappointing that the effort and sacrifices you make are not recognized by your own county’

‘Little coverage/respect given to ladies teams’

‘I play and coach camogie as I love the game but when you do not get acknowledgement..it’s very hard’

But lest all of this come across as a moaning session lamenting the lot of Mná na hÉireann, it is not. The WGPA are making positive strides forward in simple straightforward initiatives, several in partnership with the Gaelic Players Association.

Priorities

Initial priorities are player representation, health and well being and education initiatives. In each of these areas the work is underway and a series of further fact finding workshops have been held with players across the country in both codes.

Even within the two games there is great disparity of treatment. At one session one county player expressed some reservations at the standard of food they received after training only to be told by the representatives from a premier level Camogie county to count their blessings, that they didn’t even get any food.

As the song says, it’s not about the money. It’s about recognising the work that these players put into our national games. Their commitment and dedication deserves no less. If you can, make the commitment to making a change in your own club. No matter how small, the difference it makes could be immense.

If you are interested in the Full Report, click here.