Stacey Flood: Team Ireland aiming to inspire next generation to take up Sevens rugby

Flood is one of three Ireland women’s squad members to have twice experienced qualification heartbreak, making this year’s achievement in becoming Olympians all the sweeter.

Wed, 17 Jul, 2024 - 17:00

Simon Lewis

Third time is the charm for fulfilling Stacey Flood’s Olympic dream with the Ireland Sevens rugby team but now the Summer Games in Paris are firmly in her sights the next step is convert the next generation to the sport.

Flood, 27, is one of three Ireland women’s squad members alongside captain Lucy Mulhall and wing Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe to have twice experienced qualification heartbreak, making this year’s achievement in becoming Olympians all the sweeter.

Ireland’s men will be first into action at Stade de France next Wednesday, two days before the Opening Ceremony, while the women, who secured the nation’s historic first World Series title in Perth, Australia, last January, kick off their medal bid a week on Sunday, July 28.

Fly-half Flood, currently at the joint squad’s pre-Games training camp south of Paris in Tours, when the men’s XVs were based for much of last year’s Rugby World Cup, said sees her team’s Olympic Sevens debut as the perfect showcase for the format.

Speaking on Wednesday as she partnered with Budweiser to look ahead to the Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Georgia State and Florida State at Dublin’s Aviva Stadium on August 24, she explained what she was most looking forward to most about her imminent Olympic experience.

“I think showing the country what we can do,” Flood said, “and getting eyes on sevens because it is such an incredible sport and influencing the country and young girls and boys to go out and give it a go.

“I only started playing when I was 17 and it was pure chance that I started to play 7s. It was never in my path and all of a sudden it was in front of my face and I was a contracted player and I haven’t looked back since.”

Stacey Flood in training with Ireland. Pic Credit: ©INPHO/Dan Sheridan

As a late convert to sevens after a childhood of playing GAA and soccer, Flood never envisaged herself becoming an Olympian but she has committed totally to the cause and is excited to finally be in reach of her goal and showing youngsters what can be achieved.

“I have travelled the world with a group of girls who I love and treat like family and we get to see the world together and have these life experiences. Obviously the Olympics is the pinnacle of sports and I never grew up playing an Olympics sport so I never thought this was going to be a dream of mine.

“I always watched the Olympics, I loved the Olympics, but I was never a flat out sprinter or a gymnast so I never thought it would be a capability of mine and I think for young girls, and young boys as well, to show them that you can be an Olympic athlete.

“You can represent your country and we play this great sport that actually travels the world year round with girls who have common goals as you and want to represent our special little country.

“I think it is amazing and I don’t think people really realise what we do or what we are about and the people we have on our team all come from incredible backgrounds and are incredible people. I think showing Ireland that we can be contenders and we can really push boundaries and play rugby well and get performances. I am really looking forward to that.”

Flood is relishing the opportunity to have her parents and five older siblings, extended family and friends all present in the sell-out 69,000 crowds at Stade de France, just as many of them were in Toulouse in May 2023 when Ireland’s women finally secured Olympic qualification via a top-four finish in the HSBC SVNS Series.

After two near misses in her nine-year international sevens career, it was a moment to savour.

“I'm really looking forward to having them all there. They've all been to series events but they've never all been together, it's pretty special.

"With the series, we're always travelling so far away that it's really hard and not accessible, really, so the fact that it's in France and is just a short trip away, it's kind of like a home tournament for us.

"Our families backed us enough to buy the tickets before we had even qualified! So all the separate family groups said 'they're definitely going to do it this time, we need to get tickets'.

"They all came to Toulouse where our qualification tournament was and were there at 9am on Sunday morning when we played Fiji to qualify, so they all had their tickets already ready.

"As players, the OFI give us two and then we have an option of getting another two but thankfully all of our families and friends are okay because the stadium is so big, which is pretty lucky for us.”