In a new Wednesday Column, Rob Hartnett dives a little deeper into issues surrounding Women in Sport.  We shouldn’t need a column like this but until such time as reality matches rhetoric, let’s throw a few pebbles and see what ripples emerge…

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There was little to commend last week’s grilling of our main sporting leaders by the Oireachtas committee on Transport, Tourism and Sport.  A potential grilling on matters of public interest turned into a gentle stroll over barely warm coals.  That’s the way democracy works though there could have been a little better preparation from the members and the three wise men of the FAI, IRFU and the GAA would not have flinched.

The one area where a reaction was drawn was in a question plucked from the file marked ‘political hot topics relating to sport’ which centred on the robust debate between Minister Ross and Minister of State O’Donovan on the ways to address the paucity of women in leadership roles in sport.

John Delaney mounted a strong defence of the FAI highlighting the roles of Sarah O’Shea as secretary, Miriam Malone as Business Partnership Manager, Niamh O’Donoghue and Sue Ronan in the development of Women’s Football and its strategic importance.

Strong Women coming through

The GAA Director General Paraic Duffy spoke of the strong women coming through at County Board level including Roisin Jordan in Tyrone and Tracey Kennedy in Cork.  He was somewhat tied in speaking in broader terms as the two Women specific gaelic games of Camogie and Ladies Football are managed and run completely separately.

The response which really caught the ear and needs to be questioned was that of Philip Browne at the IRFU.

He spoke of the fact that Women’s rugby was still in its infancy in Ireland but failed to connect that to the fact that the process of ‘climbing the ladder’ to positions of authority was effectively shut for women at least in the immediate future and that this may be a cause as well as a result of that infancy.

World Cup

To be fair Irish Rugby has not done a bad job at developing the sport.  A World Cup semi final after beating the All Blacks for the first time at senior level in 2014, as well as a Grand Slam in the RBS 6 Nations has built a strong platform.

Bidding for and winning the right to host this year’s Women’s Rugby World Cup was a bold move and one that has the power to transform the sport here for women.  All of that sits firmly in the positive column.

The issue though lay in the fact that women could not be imposed into positions of leadership and governance because they had not yet accumulated sufficient “rugby wisdom and the right skill set to fill quotas without retreating to tokenism.”

Rubbish

To be honest the argument about tokenism is rubbish.  It suggests an inbuilt belief that 51% of the population could not produce the minuscule handful of intelligent leadership candidates that would transform the perception from ‘old boys club’ to organisations that are fully part of a modern society.

What accumulated wisdom or skill set could be so unique and challenging that would make it harder than for example to become the Prime Minister of Britain, the Chancellor of Germany, the leader of the two largest political parties in Northern Ireland, the Justice Minister in the Republic of Ireland, the Director General of RTÉ, the Managing Director of BT TV, the Irish Head of Microsoft or Vodafone, and on and on.

Anne O’Leary (left) fills that last named position and happens to be the driving force behind Vodafone’s multi million support of Irish Rugby as it’s main commercial partner.

Does the fact that she was never an out half in a Senior Colleges Final make her unsuitable to bring wisdom and guidance to the leadership group within the Irish Rugby Football Union?

Grand Slam

Fiona Coghlan captained Ireland to triumphs in the Grand Slam and the edge of glory in France.  She is an ambassador for the Women’s Rugby World Cup.  She is also Chair of the Dublin City Council Sport and Wellbeing Partnership with oversight of an annual spend of almost €20 million in a complex environment that is every bit an equal if not greater challenge than that faced by any one sporting body.

What wisdom or skill set is she missing that would make her appointment only a nod towards tokenism?

Women are leading in politics, in business, in society.  The two areas that are thus far restricted if you look at leadership are the church and sport.  We cannot control the former but we can call out what is an obvious failing in the latter.

Read about our session in November on Teaming Up for Women in Sport

It may be only a small number.  It may not lead to any tangible immediate improvement in the parity of esteem which women who play and engage in sport deserve.  It will though lead to better governance, a better opportunity to create sport that is genuinely for all and not just a few, and a better defined pathway for more to follow.

These words will not find universal favour, and there are many fine people within sport who I have enormous respect for, including Philip Browne and leaders in the IRFU, who may feel strongly that we are overstating the case and underestimating the problems but that is OK.  We are here to shine a light on the good stuff but also to call out where we believe things can be better.
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