‘Women’s sport must be judged on its own merits’

Joy Neville’s success in rugby refereeing shows it is time for other women to be given similar opportunities in non-playing and governance roles, according to Ireland’s Six Nations-winning captain Fiona Coghlan.

“There’s now enough women with the necessary knowledge and experience to take on such roles if opportunities are provided to them,” Coghlan told a conference on women in sport yesterday.

“What’s really important now is that they are given such opportunities,” she added, citing recent ground-breakers like World Referee of the Year Neville and broadcaster Joanne Cantwell who has been selected to present RTÉ’s ‘Sunday Game’ from next season.