GILLIAN MCDARBY

 

Gillian McDarby was confirmed in August of this year as Head of Women’s Performance and Pathways at the Irish Rugby Football Union.

After a torrid year of performance and other issues, including failure to qualify for this year’s Rugby World Cup and two major reviews, this was a key appointment.

She will be responsible for the development, delivery, and implementation of the approved strategic and operational direction of the women’s rugby performance programme for both XVs and Sevens.

She will also take on the development of a cohesive player pathway that connects and feeds the needs of both national programmes.

She will work with the Domestic Rugby department to grow the playing base of young women and girls, thereby facilitating the consistent performance of Irish teams at an elite level into the future.

McDarby has worked within the IRFU since 2014 when she came on as the Women’s Rugby National Teams Programme Manager.

She was a member of Cycling Ireland’s elite squad from 2002 to 2007, after which she served as the National Team Manager and on the Board of Cycling Ireland.

McDarby also has experience in the business world having worked with Lombard, Ulster Bank and Finance Ireland after graduating from TU Dublin with a Degree in Management.

 

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This is the tenth edition of our Sport for Business listing of 50 Women of Influence in Irish Sport.

Read more about the list and nominate who you think should be a part of it in 2022.

We are proud to do so again this year with AIG, an organisation that has pledged its commitment to equality in its partnerships with Gaelic Games, Tennis, Golf and more, for whom “Effort is Equal” and with whom we have ambitious plans to extend the reach of this annual celebration of the Women who are making a difference.

This year’s list will be drawn as before from the worlds of leadership, partnership, storytelling and performance.

We began this journey in 2013 when challenged that we would never be able to produce a list of twenty Influential Women in Irish Sport. The 20 stretched to 30, then 40 and 50 and it still does not do justice to the talent that is out there.

This year once more, to keep things fresh we will introduce at least 30 per cent of fresh names from last year. That will be the hardest part to have some names replaced but if it was too easy it would be of less value.

The list we will build over the coming weeks is a snapshot of those women who are making a mark on how sport is played, consumed, grown and delivered.

They are part of making the role of women in sport unexceptional by being exceptional in what they do.