Analyst sacked over Canada's 'Dronegate' joins Ireland women's staff

Reigning champions Canada were engulfed in controversy at the Olympics after they were caught spying on a training session

Performance analyst Jasmine Mander, left, and head coach Carla Ward during a Republic of Ireland women training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile

Ireland women’s manager Carla Ward has enlisted Jasmine Mander – one of the Canadian staffers sacked over Dronegate at the 2024 Paris Olympics - as her performance analyst.

Reigning champions Canada were engulfed in controversy in France after they were caught spying on a training session held by opponents New Zealand before their opening group-stage match.

Bev Priestman was swiftly removed as manager, while drone operator Joey Lombardi and analyst Mander also departed. All three were handed 12-month bans by Fifa.

Mander, after serving her suspension, has been brought into the Ireland set-up for their World Cup qualifiers.

She was part of training on Thursday at Abbotstown ahead of the double-header, the visit of France to Tallaght on Tuesday followed by a trip to the Netherlands four days later.

“I messed up,” is how Mander explained the situation in a first-person account published in the Players' Tribune last October., “I really did. I should have said something. Spoken up. Rocked the boat.

““From what I understood, generally in the global game, all kinds of methods were being used … the very best in the game did not bat an eye at it.

“We should never have tried to watch another team train. Never.” 

The 30-year-old backroom member spoke of the impact it had on her life and career, adamant she was a junior part of cultural inertia.

“It’s hardly something that can be laid at my feet,” she added.

“This was not something that I started. But when you read about it in the news, there are only three names you see. Jasmine. Joey. Bev.

“I was a ghost.

“Scrolling on my phone. Saying nothing. Barely eating. I remember often saying, ‘This will truly never end.’

“I was exhausted from the trauma, and from what I have since learned was grief — the grief of losing so many people and my career in one swoop. I was having nightmares. I’d dream about things I wished had happened, but didn’t, like certain people I cared about asking me, “Jas. Are you OK?”

The FAI declined to comment on Mander’s appointment but Ward will likely face questions when she next faces the media in Monday’s pre-match press conference.