The Gaelic Players Association and the Women’s Gaelic Players Association have come together to launch a new campaign #OnHerSide which links stars of the men’s game to raising awareness of the commitment and skill in the Women’s game.
The campaign celebrates the close relationship between the two organisations and with both sets of players sharing similar lifestyles and commitments, there is an immense respect for the dedication and skill of female GAA athletes among the GPA members.
Shared pride
#OnHerSide highlights a shared pride in representing the same county, to encourage all GAA members to support their own county representatives.
Top players including Eoin Cadogan, Lee Chin and Ger Brennan are supporting the initiative throughout September, when coverage of the women’s games will peak around the All Ireland finals.
Croke Park will host a triple header of Camogie finals this Sunday (September 13) and the Ladies Football finals later in the month on Sunday September 27. The players are encouraging everyone to show their support for the women’s games, through their attendance and online (#OnHerSide), which will ultimately recognise the unique contribution female GAA athletes make to Irish sport in every county.
Business
An indication of how business can play a part can be seen from the picture above where Susie O’Carroll, Kildare, Sarah Dervin, Galway, and Sinead Finnegan, Dublin, are all wearing shirts bearing the logo of a sponsor who has insisted on recognising the Women’s teams in an inter county set up and helping to ‘normalise’ the notion of sport being for everybody at this basic visual level.
“The GPA is delighted to support the OnHerSide campaign, another excellent initiative by the WGPA and a measure of the organisation’s progress in its first year,” said GPA CEO Dessie Farrell.
“Increasing recognition of, and support for, inter-county camogie and ladies football is an ambition of everyone involved in Gaelic games and we are delighted to see prominent players acting as advocates for the campaign.”
Support
“We would call on GPA members and GAA people everywhere to support the campaign and to send out a clear signal that we value our female athletes and their outstanding contribution to our games.”
“OnHerSide is another show of support from the GPA and their members,” added WGPA Chair Aoife Lane.
“The GAA is about family, about community and about a sense of place regardless of code or grade, which provides a great context for supporting the female equivalent of our national games.”
“Throughout this campaign, the mutual respect and affinity among male and female county players is clearly visible; players can and should be each other’s greatest supporters and advocates.”
Image credit: Sportsfile
