Women in sport - Rugby win a milestone

Congratulations to the Irish women’s rugby team, which beat Scotland over the weekend by 30 points to 3 to win the Triple Crown for the first time.

It is another milestone for women’s sport in Ireland.

It is also another sporting occasion on which Irish women have outshone the men. For too long the sporting achievements of women have been ignored.

This betrayed a gross prejudice on the part of society, but fortunately it has been gradually worn down. In recent years Irishwomen have been upstaging men in many of the events that were once a male preserve.

Sonia O’Sullivan carried the national flag with distinction in athletics. She undoubtedly helped to inspire young women like Derval O’Rourke and Fionnuala Britton, who recently became the first woman to retain the European Cross Country Championship.

Ireland has had a particularly proud record in Olympic boxing — winning 16 medals going back to the early 1950s. Last year Katie Taylor joined Michel Carruth in the elite as Ireland’s only two Olympic gold medallists in boxing.

As with boxing, Irish society has also been slow to provide proper recognition for women’s rugby. Irish women played their first full international just 20 years ago in Feb 1993. They suffered five straight defeats, including a 76-0 drubbing by the US, before winning their first international over Japan in 1994. It has been a long road since then.

After losing 17 internationals to England — one by 79-0 — Ireland defeated England by 25-0 earlier this month. This has now been topped off with the Triple Crown.

As men’s version of the game has proved particularly popular on RTÉ, surely the national broadcaster should provide deserved recognition with live television coverage of the Irish women’s game against France in what will hopefully be the next leg of Ireland’s first Grand Slam.