Hats off to the FAI for their coverage of the Senior National Women’s team in La Manga this week.
The side played a training match against Norway at the Spanish training centre and the fact that they were there is to be applauded as well as the prominence given to the activities on the FAI’s website.
Pictures of Sue Ronan and the team have pride of place on the main home page and their are personal interviews with Megan Campbell and Denise O’Sullivan about their year in 2014 and their hopes for the next 12 months.
These are introduced with a short ad for Continental Tyres giving them credit for their sponsorship of the Women’s game and the overall impression is that this team, in preparation for the next campaign of European Qualifying is being treated with equal respect and at least a fair proportion of the resource given to the men’s team.
The coverage afforded to Stephanie Roche over the past number of months has been exceptional among the mainstream media and the general public. Now that spotlight has passed however it is important to keep pushing the Women’s game so that public demand and media coverage will return at a level higher than was previously the case.
We have always argued that Women’s sport deserves parity of esteem, not yet necessarily equality of coverage. It has to earn that through providing the right platform for the top stars to have their story told, and the right promotion so that people vote with their feet and their fingers and demand more of what they like.
The FAI is working along a good path in this regard and long may that continue.
The FAI are full members of Sport for Business
Image credit: Inpho.ie
