Lidl Ireland and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association will this morning be launching the 2025 Lidl National Football League season and unveiling striking new research spotlighting the importance of developing and elevating Irish female sporting role models for the positive impact they can have on individuals, society and their sport.

Continuing the momentum of Lidl and LGFA’s hard-hitting ‘Get Behind the Fight’ campaign, new research conducted by Red C in November 2024 revealed the need for more high-profile female players in sport as 42% of the Irish public said they would be more likely to attend a women’s sporting event in person if someone well-known was playing.

However, the challenge of player visibility and audience connection remains, with 43% believing that not knowing anyone who is playing is a barrier to attending a female sports event – an increase from 33% of respondents surveyed in Lidl’s 2023 research study – illustrating the growing importance of raising the profile of female athletes to attract fans.

Challenging Societal Norms

Thinking about the challenges facing LGFA players specifically in elevating their public profiles, a quarter of current inter-county players (24%) surveyed say that gender issues and cultural or societal norms – such as prioritising male sport over female sport – is the most significant barrier.

This is reflected in the public’s behaviour and attitudes towards female sport. When asked about the reasons for not attending women’s sporting events, the majority of the public say they still prefer to go to men’s sporting events (51%) whilst almost a quarter (23%) believe the women’s game isn’t as important as the men’s.

Recognising this status quo however, the Irish public believe that challenging societal norms is crucial in levelling the playing field for women, both on and off the pitch.

Two thirds of the Irish public (66%) said that having female sporting role models encourages equality, 56% say they encourage diversity and inclusion in society and over half (56%) say it contributes to smashing gender inequality within sport specifically.

Importance of Female Role Models

When thinking about the importance of sporting role models, over half of Irish adults (57%) say they had one growing up, with Sonia O’Sullivan being the most popular hero, inspiring almost one in ten respondents.

As parents, men are more likely than women to believe that having a female sporting role model is important for their sons (54% men, 46% women) and daughters (61% men, 58% women) growing up.

Parent’s understanding of the impact on children of Irish female sporting role models saw a broad spectrum of benefits – from encouraging a healthy lifestyle for kids (57%), positive mental health (48%) and positive body image (46%); to essential life skills such as instilling teamwork (49%), good work ethic (44%) and leadership skills (37%). Female sporting role models were also deemed to promote equality (55%) and representation within their community (34%).

Recognising the importance of role models within LGFA itself, 100% of inter-county players agree that having LGFA role models are important with over half (58%) believing they can help raise the profile of the sport, but 43% of inter-county players do not currently consider themselves to be role models.

Growing up, 37% of LGFA inter-county players surveyed said they looked to male sports stars as their role models, but just 2% say they currently have a male sports role model now that they are older, highlighting the changing needs for women in sport and the importance of inspirational female athletes throughout a player’s career.

At 27%, Katie Taylor was the most cited female sportsperson who inspired our inter county stars own sporting careers.

Closer to the game, players named Cora Staunton, Vicki Wall and Caroline O’Hanlon as the local LGFA stars that inspired them to compete at the highest level.

Leveraging a Stellar Year for Irish Women’s Sport

Focusing on the emotional connection with players that drives fans and spectators, this year’s research shows the significant impact that a successful year for visibility of women’s sport has had in shifting public opinion on support for female athletes.

Three quarters of the Irish public (75%) were able to name an Irish female sports star unprompted. Of this, Katie Taylor remained top of the list and was named by more than half of respondents (57%), whilst a fifth of respondents named Kellie Harrington in second place – growing from just 4% awareness last year to 20% following her gold medal win at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Other notable boosts in public profiles included Katie McCabe (growing from 10% awareness to 17% this year) and Rhasidat Adeleke (with a significant boost from just 1% to 12% this year) whilst Sonia O’Sullivan, Leona Maguire, Rachel Blackmore, Cora Staunton and Anna Geary all completed the public’s line up.

After an incredible year for Irish women’s sport, which saw the Irish public watch a range of different female sporting events including the Paris 2024 Olympics athletics (47%), boxing (43%) and swimming (39%) events; Women’s International Soccer games (30%); Women’s League of Ireland soccer (13%); Ladies’ Gaelic National Football Leagues and Championships (22%); Women’s Irish Open (11%) and Solheim Cup (9%), one in four (24%) people said they are more interested in female sport now than they were at the same time point last year.

“Since 2016, Lidl has worked in partnership with the LGFA to identify the challenges facing Ladies Gaelic Football and women’s sport more broadly, and the role we can play in addressing them,” said Robert Ryan, CEO Lidl Ireland.

“Continuing our ‘Get Behind the Fight’ campaign, we want to shine a spotlight on the phenomenal individuals who represent their counties in the Lidl National Football Leagues.”

“These athletes are incredible role models for everyone in society and our latest research shows that raising the profile of our female sports stars encourages participation, attendance and positive engagement with female sport.”

“After an outstanding year for women’s sport, with major events placing female athletes in the spotlight, it’s clear to see that when females in sport are visible, public support for those athletes and the sport itself increases.”

“This latest research demonstrates that spotlighting LGFA players and ambassadors throughout our ten-year partnership is more important than ever. We’re committed to using our reach and resources to amplify their profiles in the communities we operate in across the country and give them a platform to tell their stories and inspire others to follow in their footsteps.”

“This is yet another eye-catching and thought-provoking piece of research from Lidl Ireland,” added Mícheál Naughton, LGFA President.

“The ‘Get Behind the Fight’ campaign was unveiled at the launch of the 2024 Lidl National League season and has made a significant impact, urging support for live female sport and highlighting that nearly 60% of Irish people have never attended a female sports event.”

“This latest research piece shines a light on the importance of female sporting role models, and we are extremely fortunate to have so many of them playing prominent roles in their local communities as leading club and inter-county players. This is yet another exciting year for the LGFA as we look forward with anticipation to another Lidl National League season, ahead of the provincial and All-Ireland championship season. I wish all of our counties the very best as they embark on their journeys in 2025 and a huge word of thanks to Lidl Ireland, our National League sponsors and official retail partner, for their continued #SeriousSupport.”

Lidl, who recently signed a three-year partnership with Her Sport as title sponsor of its prestigious Her Sport Awards to further support and recognise outstanding achievements from women in sport, has committed more than €10 million to the development and promotion of Ladies Gaelic Football since 2016.

 

SPORT FOR BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE

This research is vital and should serve as a wake up call that despite all the advances of recent years there is still significant inequality between the perspective of men’s and women’s sport. Lidl’s investment in the story as well as the games themselves is commendable.

WHAT’S UP NEXT?

We will have further cobe=verage from this morning’s launch at Croke Park throughout the day. The 2025 Sport for Business Women in Sport Conference will take place in November with Coaching on the Agenda once more.

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The LGFA, Lidl, Sport Ireland and more than 30 National Governing Bodies are full members of the Sport for Business community. Lidl are our partners in coverage of Women and Sport.

 

 

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