Still a long way to go for women in sport

A LOT done, a hell of a lot more to do. That was the message of some of Ireland’s top female athletes who gathered in Croke Park yesterday for the Women in Sport conference.

Ladies from every code were represented at the day-long event, but rugby is perhaps the best example of how the giant strides made in one sport in the past ten years still pale into comparison with how far they could still conceivably travel.

Twelve years ago there wasn't even an Irish women's rugby association and it was only 24 months later that the national team played their first ever game. Progress has been swift since all the same, the pinnacle so far being last year's game against England in Twickenham played as a curtain-raiser to a men's Six Nations encounter.

Memorable as it was, only 1,000 people made the effort to arrive early enough to take in the historic women's' game. Clearly, there is still some way to go.

"There's 30 women's teams in Ireland now but ten years ago when we played our first ever international there were only ten so progress is being made," said Irish international Rosie Foley, sister to Irish back row, Anthony.

"Last year in Twickenham against England was just an amazing feeling. Tag rugby is a big help in attracting girls to the game as well as it's non-contact and a good introduction to the game, so there are loads of ways of getting girls into playing all sorts of sports."

Yet some people and not just men still can't get their heads around the sight of women playing a contact sport like rugby. Perception is everything in attracting new players and fans, but Foley says perceptions need to change.

"There's nothing to say that you can't be a rugby player on the pitch and a lady off it. Sport is sport and you get the same great feeling playing it, whether you're male or female."

Fiona Steed has also seen the improvements in the past decade. A recently retired Irish international herself, she is also married to Munster and Ireland forward John Hayes and now coaches rugby in her native Tipperary.

"Traditionally in Ireland, women haven't been really encouraged to play sport but that's definitely changed in the past ten years. There's been a breathtaking sociological change in Ireland in that time. We've seen that in rugby. I came from a GAA house in Tipperary and only took up rugby when I went to college in England. Women's sports should be able to help each other out. What's to stop a girl or a woman playing soccer or rugby in the winter and then ladies football or camogie in the summer?"

Steed d was in full agreement with her former teammate, pointing out from personal experience that reaching the top in one sport doesn't mean it can't be achieved in another.

"I'd like to see girls and women take up more sports, not just rugby...the opportunities are there. It's just a question of getting more girls involved."