Aoife Lane: A valuable lesson learned from coin toss

Just a few days ago, July 20 marked six months since the launch of the Women’s Gaelic Player Association.

Working with players, students, administrators, sponsors, partners and many in the sporting community on behalf of our 1,000 members has so far proven to be a roundly positive endeavour.

But the time has also been a learning curve.

Player welfare has been at the core of our activities, underpinned by the findings of the ‘Let’s Make Things Better’ study and feedback from our player representative workshops. To reiterate, 85% of players train five times a week, 23% often receive food after training, 62% were out of pocket for injury expenses and 78% felt welfare issues were not sufficiently catered for.

Players indicated the chief priority for a player representative group would be establishing minimum standards across county squads, followed by (2) increasing media coverage and (3) emotional/wellbeing support.

Subsequently, we have set out to improve the player experience on and off the field of play, and to promote our games through their flagship product; elite county players.

To achieve these aims, we have sought to work collaboratively (whether directly or through our players) with all those involved in our games and fully recognise the contribution made by everyone connected.

Our focus will be on finding realistic solutions within the financial and practical restrictions faced by top grade, female county squads.

Meetings with both the Camogie and Ladies Football Associations proved constructive and identified our shared objectives.

Of course there have been challenges, none more so than in the last few days with the storm of controversy which developed following the news that camogie officials looked set to draw lots to decide whether Clare or Dublin would contest the All-Ireland quarter-final.

However the camogie play-off issue transpired, we believed from the outset that respect for the players was paramount and merited an alternative resolution.

This reflected the strong sentiment among our members and the particular sense of injustice felt by the Clare and Dublin teams.

We were happy that a relatively fair decision was eventually reached in offering the two teams a play-off (in Thurles this afternoon).

It is far from the ideal outcome, with the winner facing a 48-hour turnaround to an All-Ireland quarter-final, but given the circumstances and the fact the compromise was met with agreement from the players involved, we were happy to support it, in this instance.

Clare and Dublin players, supported by their county boards, their supporters, fellow players and the WGPA made a hugely significant stand for the right reasons, something that could and should be a landmark moment for female Gaelic games.

As a result, those players will decide the fate of their own seasons on the field of play, the minimum any player deserves.

We have learned a lot in the process and while we are still working towards official recognition by both associations, we feel we have a positive role to play and want to be involved in decision-making and dealing with such issues in future.

Recognition of the opinions of players will lead to better decisions, swifter resolutions and ultimately, contribute towards protecting the status of our games.

We will try to provide positive, solutions-based input when it comes to future challenges. Many of these lie ahead, most imminently a potential clash of fixtures for Cork’s Ladies Football and Camogie players on August 15. Player welfare remains our central concern and we feel that finding a permanent solution to this ‘dual’ issue should be a priority for both associations.

It is simply not safe to ask our top players to play two games and travel between different venues on the same day.

Our work in ‘Making Things Better’ is only at a beginning but the support we have received, in particular from our 1,000 members, the GPA, our first commercial partner PwC, and WGPA hero supporters Skechers, has reinforced our belief much improvement can be made.

It has been especially encouraging to see our players stand together for their collective good and the good of their game; challenging the status quo is one of our key aims as without change, there cannot be progress.

Aoife Lane is chairperson of the Women’s Gaelic Players Association