Sexism not an issue with Irish fans, says Daly
Rhona Daly has been officiating in what is now the Airtricity League since 2003. She received her FIFA badges five years later and took charge of the UEFA Women’s U19 Championship final between England and France last June.
It took a while to be accepted on her merits rather than her gender when she first began to appear at League of Ireland grounds around the country.
All the tired old sexist cliches got their airing. For a while, at least.
“I suppose it was a bit of a novelty at the time because there was only one other female referee in the League of Ireland at the time, Hilda McDermott, and people weren’t used to seeing females,” she explained last night.
“Once people, fans, got used to seeing you those comments more or less stopped. I think they were made because it was a case of something new and not so much just because I was a woman.
“I was very young when I started and I started at the same time as a lot of guys who were the same age and they got called schoolboys a lot of the time. There is always something that people will focus on until it becomes familiar.”
McDermott’s role in breaking down such stereotypical and offensive attitudes in this country was crucial but it is a measure of just how entrenched old views were the world over that she made the breakthrough less than a decade ago.
She acted as assistant referee in the League of Ireland between 2001 and 2003 before making history by becoming the first female referee in January 2003 when taking charge of the First Division fixture between Dublin City and Athlone Town.
McDermott has since retired after a distinguished career officiating at male and female fixtures but that path has been followed.
There are currently three female officials operating in the Airtricity League, including Daly, not to mention the countless others who have become integral to the game through the junior ranks across the country.
“I was lucky,” said Daly. “Hilda was there before me and she kind of broke the new ground for me. You will get to the top if you have the ability, you do your job as best as you can and work hard.”
Unfortunately, there will always be some who harbour the old-fashioned view that there is no place for women in football, a belief that Gray and Keys made all too clear before Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Wolves.
Their condescending remarks about Sian Massey’s knowledge of the offside rule merely repeated a hoary old myth about women and football and it was one shown to be all the more ridiculous when Massey got a crucial offside call spot on.
“I didn’t see the match,” said Daly, “but I believe she had a really good game. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it is time for that attitude to change.”
Cork camogie and Ladies Footballdual-star Mary O’Connor has rowed in on the debate, stressing that the incident involving the goal was a victory for women in sport.
“I was actually watching the match on Saturday and when I saw it I said, ‘oh that’s a close call’,” said O’Connor. “I didn’t realise at the time it was a female but to be honest, I was absolutely chuffed that she got it spot on because she would’ve got some ribbing from the fans had it been wrong. Number one she’d have gotten it (abuse) because the call was wrong but because she was a woman as well.”
“But to be honest, it’s in every walk of life really, is sexism. It can work in the opposite as well,” she said.
“In terms of the broader issue, I don’t know. I don’t have a huge opinion on it. My own stance would be on the profile issue surrounding it, especially for the young players coming through; it’s important that the elitist players would be recognised for their talents and not to be patronised with comments, ‘oh, compared to men.’
“When you look at Katie Taylor and Derval O’Rourke and what they’ve achieved, they haven’t got the recognition that they should’ve got because they’re females. If males did the same, they’d have gotten more.”
But the most decorated player in the history of Ladies Football said that attitudes have changed, at local level anyway.
“I know from my position working with the Camogie Association at Headquarters level we are trying to promote working as a Gaelic Games family in terms of trying to promote development and the most recent example of that is the National Leagues coming up. Dublin (males) are playing in Croke Park and the Dublin Camogie team are playing Kilkenny the same night before it so that’s kind of more the enlightened side of it but that’s a step in the right direction.”
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