Stapleton to Lead Women in Sport

Former Rugby international Nora Stapleton is to be the new Women in Sport lead at Sport Ireland.

This newly created position was identified as a key element in the new strategy surrounding Women’s involvement at all levels of Irish sport launched by Sport Ireland last month.

Stapleton will leave her current position as the IRFU Women’s and Girls Rugby Development Manager to take up the position with Sport Ireland in the middle of this month.

Her role will be to plan and execute a range of initiatives across four key pillars of

Coaching and Officiating where the goal will be to broaden both the bases of coaching and refereeing; Active Participation where reducing the gradient between men’s and women’s participation will be key; Leadership and Governance and Visibility.

Additional funding is being made available for initiatives that are currently being prepared by National Governing Bodies and Stapleton will be given the responsibility of making them work.

She has a broad sporting background having won Junior and Intermediate All Ireland Ladies Football titles with her native Donegal and playing soccer at senior level with UCD before switching to Rugby and being part of the Grand Slam winning Irish team in 2013.

She was deeply involved in the hosting of the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2017 and has been a strong campaigner both internally and externally for Women’s Rugby to be supported at every level of the game.

“While sorry to be leaving Irish Rugby after six years and the many great people I’ve had the privilege of working with and for, I’m excited by the new opportunity and challenges that lie ahead,” said Stapleton.

“I look forward to working with Sport Ireland, the National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships to continue to build on the significant work that has already been undertaken in this area within the sport sector to date, recognising the opportunity to make a significant impact on the lives of women through their involvement in sport”.

“The rationale behind the recently published Sport Ireland Policy on Women in Sport is to provide a blueprint for the organisation’s future work in the area of women in sport,” said Chair of the Sport Ireland Women’s Committee which also includes Kelli O’Keeffe of Teneo, Joanne Cantwell of RTÉ, Sarah Keane of the Olympic Federation of Ireland and Swim Ireland and Mary O’Connor of the Federation of Irish Sport.

“I welcome Nora and wish her the best in her new role and look forward to the implementation process of this ambitious policy.”

Exciting times for Women in Sport.