We had the pleasure and the privilege to host a great event at Dublin City Council yesterday when the Women’s World Cup Trophy came calling with some very special guests.

“As soon as the news broke we were bidding Dublin City Council were the first group to come and say ‘how can we help?’ said Tournament Director Garrett Tubridy.

“It was a great vote of confidence in what we wanted to achieve and they have been very effective partners throughout the build up.”

With less than 50 days to go to the tournaments opening matches on August 9th all tickets for the Belfield Bowl and Billings Park at UCD are now effectively sold out with only limited returns available.

Golden ticket

Those who have not snapped up what may well be the golden ticket of the sporting summer may have one last chance to experience the games with Tubridy hinting yesterday that an announcement was imminent on a scheme to get more people to experience the games.

“Dublin is laying out the welcome mat for the thousands of players, fans, family and coaches that will be coming into the City for this World event,” added Dublin City Council’s Don Daly.  “It’s a chance to show what we are capable of in terms of putting on a great show.  We will be hosting a special opening event for the teams at the mansion House Round Room when they have all arrived on the eve of the tournament.

We then spoke with players Nora Stapleton, Marie Louise Reilly and former Dublin Ladies Football All Ireland winner and now irish Women’s Rugby Player of the Year Lindsey Peat.

The build up to the final squad selection is getting closer and while the camaraderie and feeling between the players is great Peat did say that “you would smother your mother” to make sure of your place on the final panel of 28.

Brilliant

“It has been brilliant coming into this squad and having stars like these girls take time to help me with some of the technical aspects of the game,” she added.

Peat represented Ireland in Basketball and soccer as well as her GAA exploits and the switch to rugby came when moving from the Northside of the city to the Southside and not wanting to ‘betray’ her former clubs of Parnells GAA and DCU Mercy.  She took up an invitation to train with Railway Union Rugby Club in Sandymount and the rest is history.

There is another chapter still to be written though and both Peat and Stapleton have visualised lining out for Ireland in a World Cup Final later this summer.

“It’s something you think about, in a positive way of how you can work to make it real,” said Stapleton whose ‘day job’ is as Women’s Development Manager with the IRFU, encouraging young girls and women to play the game.

Spike

“We’ve already seen a spike in interest and more teams as a result of the growing awareness of Women’s Rugby.”

“Mini Rugby is huge in clubs but mainly for boys and girls who want to play are having to mix in with them.”

“That’s changing though and we are encouraging more and more clubs to set up their own Girls mini rugby groups so they can feel the thrill of playing.”

It’s a story that has been over 100 years in the making but has now gathered an unstoppable momentum.  The first record of a girl playing the sport was Emily Valentine in Eniskillen in 1884.  She played on a boys team but would be delighted now to see the strides that those who have followed in her footsteps have made.

Campaign

There is a quiet campaign to have the trophy named after her in the same way as the Men’s trophy is named after William Webb Ellis, the founder of the game forty years before Valentine’s day.

Fiona Coghlan was captain of the irish team at the last World Cup.  They made it to the semi final and drew a TV audience of 500,000 on TG4 during the tournament.

“That number could go higher again this summer for this great group of players,” said Coghlan who will be on commentary duty with RTÉ during the tournament and is also Chair of the Dublin City Council Sport and Wellbeing Partnership.”

“It’s very exciting to see how the game has developed even in the last few short years.”

Winner

Maz Reilly works as a sports officer with the council, based now out of Irishtown Stadium in Ringsend.

“Rugby is now a winner for boys and girls but it wasn’t always that way,” she told us.  I remember my first day working with the council going into a school and putting up a poster about playing rugby just like Brian O’Driscoll.”

“One of the lads said why would we want to be like him.  I asked did he know who Brian O’Driscoll was and he said yeah, he was a boy in his class who sat behind him but he didn’t think he played much rugby.”

These days, and ever more so after this summer, the kids will be wanting to play like Maz, Nora and Lindsey, and Fiona before them.  If they grow up to have their same positive outlook on life then that will be a winner all round.

 

____________________________________________________

Sport for Business Membership provides a network of information, innovation and intelligence to over 200 of Ireland’s leading organisations in sport and business.  We regularly feature in depth looks at how members like Dublin City Council, all four of Ireland’s Rugby provinces, Vodafone, Ulster Bank and Rugby Players Ireland bring the relationship between sport and business to life. Why not join them as a member?

____________________________________________________

Find out more about our next major event looking at the impact of Sport for Social Good in September 2017.

____________________________________________________