TWO OF THE most prominent figures in women’s GAA have welcomed the outspoken comments made by Mayo footballer Sarah Rowe regarding the inequalities which exist within the sport.
Anna Geary and Cora Staunton, who is a team-mate of Rowe, applauded the 20-year-old for standing up and raising the issues in the public domain after a recent interview with The Sunday Independent gained huge traction.
The DCU student, who also plays soccer for Shelbourne FC, offered an insight into the realities of women’s GAA and hit out at the treatment she and her team-mates receive.
Rowe said it was ‘unacceptable’ for players not to be given access to basic facilities such as a hot shower after training and both Geary and Staunton have experienced it for themselves.
“Sometimes what you see isn’t necessarily what’s going on behind the scenes,” former Cork camogie captain Geary told The42. “Sarah was drawing parallels between the sports and how the men and women are treated.
“As a top sportsperson playing for your county, it’s the least you expect. It’s about demanding more. I don’t think there’s anything wrong or negative in doing that.
“It’s about outlining the problems and working to find solutions. Players need to come out and say ‘we’re not happy with x, y and z’ and to take responsibility for themselves and the game.
“I think that’s slowly happening and even with the likes of the WGPA, there is now a support body who acknowledge that these things aren’t right and they’re looking to improve these situations but it’s important players stand up and put their hands up and say ‘I’m a sportsperson and I give as much commitment to the game as others and provide entertainment and I’m not happy with this.’”
Staunton, who is playing into her 22nd season, and has seen it and done it all before echoes that sentiment and even admits playing for your county ‘can be a struggle’.
“Obviously things have to change and as Anna said they’re not going to change when I’m there or overnight but organisations like the WGPA are doing their best to change it,” the Mayo star said.
“Before Christmas I wrote an article on it myself about how things were bad but I do think it depends on the county. I know other counties are being treated quite well – Dublin being one of them, Cork being another – and Mayo are not one of them.
“It is a struggle. You’re going out to reprsent your county and it’s not like you’re looking for anything big but simple things like a hot shower, you don’t have to be at home making food before training. We have a rota, sandwiches or whatever. It should be an honour to represent your county and sometimes you’re being treated better at club level.
“You have your own club pitch and facilities and gym that you use and maybe they’re not being given to a senior county team like in Mayo where MacHale Park isn’t being given to us. We can’t even get it for an odd league game, we get it for a Connacht final and I suppose that’s the things people get bitter about.
“But you can’t spend your time getting worried about it. We go out and play and try and let other people sort those things.”
Geary adds: “Players should be allowed just play. The sooner they have to stop worrying about things like money and travelling to training and paying for petrol and getting from A to B the better.
“If you’re going straight from work, you have to think about having a shower after but if they’re cold or not available or you haven’t had a bite to eat then these are things you have to think about and it makes everything a lot harder.
“It’s the basics that need to be taken care of. That’s a good level to start at, then at least you might start attracting more younger girls in.”
Geary was part of the Cork camogie side to win four All-Ireland titles and since retiring from the inter-county game has dedicated a huge amount of time to aid the development of the sport.
She is heavily involved with the Women’s Gaelic Players Association (WGPA) and believes there is also a mentality among players when it comes to accepting the standard of facilities and treatment they’re given.
“There is that mentality that ah look sure we’ll just get on with it and while that’s fantastic, you do have to say I do want this to be better for players that come after me.
“Players that went before us mightn’t have had the opportunity to gain these improvements so I need to speak up now as a person who’s at the top of my game in a sport which is watched and valued.
“Say I’m not being negative or not beating the drum but to improve my game and the game as a whole, let’s see if can we make this better. If you can make the facilities right then players will go to training knowing they’ll have a hot shower afterwards, it makes their performances increase and that ultimately makes the game better.
“It’s always easy to talk about the problems but talk about the solutions to those problems instead.
“If the small things are looked after then the positives will shine through because if you’re always harping on about the negatives that will reflect badly on the sport.
“The basics and player welfare is very important, and easy to get right, but if you don’t get them right then you can’t move forward. And it’s those positives that will attract the next generation in and achieve longevity in ladies football and camogie.
Staunton alluded to the fact many young players are now involved with college teams and thus have access to top class facilities around the clock, ones which aren’t being provided at inter-county level.
“A lot of these girls are in college so they’re coming from really good set-ups,” she continued. “If they’re in UCD or DCU or UL they have really good facilities, they’re getting that level or professionalism and if you’re thinking inter-county is next level but in fact it regresses because the facilities aren’t up to standard.
“You’re struggling to see why you should keep going or where the incentive is so for the game going forward, there needs to be a balance in funding for resources. It’s not that we’re looking for huge stadiums and state of the art facilities but just the basics that you get at club level or college level.”
Geary quickly added that if GAA is to retain young girls in the sport, something must be done with the success achieved by the women’s rugby team adding to the interest in that sport, in addition to soccer.
“There’s such competition with sports now,” Geary said. “There’s always that attraction from other sport so we need to make sure we keep girls in our game. The long-term success rests with the players and if they’re not there the standards drop and if they drop then people aren’t going to come and watch the games.
“So it’s so important we keep the players happy and as we’ve said it’s not about getting cars of whatever but just making sure they can focus on their performance and not the other things.
“It’s not going to happen overnight but as long as players see steps being taken and actions and results then at least players can see things are getting better and they say ‘yeah I love this sport and I see they’re willing to work on the things that need to be fixed so I’ll stay.’
“There’s only so many players who can play at Croke Park or get to an All-Ireland final so you have to get something else out of it. You have to feel your time is being valued, your voice is being valued and your contribution is being recongised and how we do that is making sure things that are so easy to give are there.
“How we do that? By making sure we have uniformed standards in place so every county can come to expect them.”
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