The annual Sport for Business Women in Sport Conference for 2024 took place on Wednesday, November 27th, at the Wood Quay Venue in Dublin City Centre.
The room was packed and the conversation was humming from early on with sporting business and agency folk coming together to learn and share.
We kicked off on something of a negative with the fact that on that very morning, 48 hours out from the Euro 2025 play-offs, two of our National Newspapers had carried one out of sixteen sports stories and two out of 24 giving coverage to Women’s sport. Not good enough and also unreflective of the demand and the visibility towards younger and more digital native populations but still a reminder that so much more needs to be done.
Once that was out there though things took a very much more positive turn.
Our first panel discussion was with Heather Boyle, still bouncing from her 20 hour days at the Olympic Games as Head of Communications with the Olympic Federation, Niamh Tallon, co-founder of Her Sport and Golf entrepreneur and influencer Sharon Smurfit.
We spoke of the equality that the Olympic Games delivers at every point of the scale, and of the higher awareness among female athletes of the importance of creating a brand identity for themselves in interactions with the media and especially the fans.
Both Niamh and Sharon spoke of the opportunity in digital times to create media that reached out to commited audiences without the barrier to entry that would have existed when costs of producing print material were significant.
We spoke of the need for sporting bodies and sponsors to reach out with story ideas, to nudge and always be on to the chance of great coverage beyond the mainstream, and about the importance of niche and also local coverage.
TG4 and RTÉ were both in the room and given credit for the advances that they have made in representing female sporting stories.
Our second element of the morning was Sport Ireland Women in Sport Manager Bethany Carson taking us through a preview of latest research in this area, and also looking in detail at the Her Moves campaign, the focus on key topics with a multimedia approach and the importance of listening to girls and women as opposed to imagining what they would like to be represented like.
In the coming weeks Sport Ireland will be unveiling a major new project to monitor coverage and portrayal in the media, something we are very much looking forward to.
Our next discussion brought together three new voices at Sport for Business events to discuss the question of non-executive leadership.
Anne Kiely is the Chief People Officer at Aer Lingus and a Director of Special Olympics Ireland. Clodagh Nic Canna is President of Volleyball Ireland and was recently elected to the Board of European Volleyball. Austin O’Malley is a high performance and leadership coach, running Hexagon Performance and also managing teams in the GAA world, including Cuala in action on Saturday night at Croke Park.
We spoke of overcoming the fear that there would surely be somebody better for a role than us and of the importance of stepping up.
Nobody knows all of the answers at the beginning but we find ways to contribute and gradually grow our own influence through encouraging others.
Clodagh quoted Eleanor Roosevelt on leadership that “Good leaders inspire people to have confidence in their leader. Great leaders inspire people to have confidence in themselves.”
We spoke of appointing leaders, whether in captaincy or the workplace. Anne spoke of the confidence she took in being appointed as a softball captain when she was far from the best player but was able to find her way to make the whole team better.
Austin spoke of the three qualities he looks for as being Energy, Authenticity and Trust. That simple EAT mnemonic is spreading out from those in attendance, together with plenty more that these three leaders were able to share with us.
After a break for refuel and re-engagement we were joined by Hannah Dingley, six months into the role as Head of Women’s and Girls Football and clearly a winning appointment from the FAI.
In 2023 she became the first woman to be appointed as manager of an English Football League team at Forest Green Rovers but yesterday she spoke of the opportunity and the added responsibility of transitioning from the care and development of one team to that of hundreds and thousands of future players.
The boost from the republic of Ireland world cup adventure had produced a surge of young players and now the challenge is to make sure that all the teams, the leagues, the appropriate coaching and more is in place. The key age range is in the teenage years when across all sports and around the world the drop off in young girls playing sport remains a real and present difficulty.
Qualification for Euro 2025 will be a massive step forward and we got some insights yesterday into the work that had already gone into coaching pathways documents being inclusive of all male and female age groups, and what would be revealed in a new strategy for Women’s and Girls football in 2025. Exciting times and come on Ireland, and Northern Ireland over the coming days.
The final element of the formal session was a conversation on stage with Sarah Keane, CEO of Swim Ireland and President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland for the past eight years, a position from which she is stepping down next week after, without putting too fine a point on it, saving the Olympic movement in Ireland, at least from a reputation viewpoint, and so much more.
Sarah speaks with determination about purpose and leadership, living it but also being able to express it recognising the importance of good governance and doing the right thing with the right motivation and surrounded by the right people.
We also spoke about the Olympic Games, and plenty from the political power of sport gathering world leaders into a single room in Paris through to the importance of making sure that everything was right from finding transport for athletes that were too hot on a bus to making sure that they were able to bring their own pillow to the Olympic village bedrooms, and managing the bits that enabled them to perform without distraction.
Bringing the morning to an end we were proud to be able to induct Sarah into the Hall of Fame for our Sport for Business AIG 50 Women of Influence, a list she has appeared on through all 11 editions and one from which she is unlikely to be missing from in future as she continues to lead within swimming at National, European and world level as well as who knows in whatever other ways emerge.
It was a great event, with great speakers and great attendees and we look forward to doing it all over again in 2025, but don’t just take our word for it. Here are some of the comments back in the first hours after the microphones were switched off.
“Huge thanks to Rob Hartnett for facilitating such a magnificent event filled with huge energy, inspiration, and meaningful connections throughout.”
“Kudos for another fantastic event.”
“Thank you for how you brilliantly include and support so many people, and bring them together in such an impactful way. Values led leadership in action in a very real and authentic way.”
“Thank you for hosting such a valuable event.”
“A superb lineup of insightful speakers.”
“Days like this organised by Rob Hartnett give us a great opportunity to build our network and to learn. I have many take homes but two that will stick with me…
1. Get the basics right, doing the groundwork will pave the way for retention and longer term growth.
2. A good leader inspires others, nurtures them and a good leader can EAT – they are Energetic, they are Authentic and they are Trustworthy!”
“Lovely to connect with industry peers, and get introduced to new faces doing exciting work in the sector.”
Thanks to everyone for giving their time and insight, for being there and for contributing to a special event.
Special thanks to Lidl Ireland and AIG who have long supported our coverage of and support for Women in Sport, and at to Dublin City Council for a great venue
The Sport for Business Membership comprises nearly 300 organisations, including all the leading sports and sponsors, as well as commercial and state agencies.
