LISA FALLON DOESN’T see herself as shattering glass ceilings, ticking off ‘firsts’ or breaking ground. She sees it as her job.
The Cork City first-team coach captured the audience from the word go at Liberty Insurance’s Women in Sport: The Coaching Effect event on Tuesday. Her story is a pretty spectacular one after all.
Now in her sixth year working with the 2017 League of Ireland double champions, Fallon shares her gratitude for John Caulfield giving her the break. Originally a sports reporter, she had met him when he was manager of the Irish men’s university squad.
When he took the job at Cork, he brought Fallon on board and by the summer of 2016, she left her permanent post to become a full-time coach/performance and opposition analyst with the Leesiders.
That same summer, she worked an analyst job with Northern Ireland at the European Championships — so of course, many would feel that Michael O’Neill gave her her first major opportunity. But no. It was Caulfield in her eyes.
During the panel discussion, she tells stories of misconceptions from, and issues with, opposition managers and people from outside her bubble and environment.
“If I had a euro for every time I was asked if I was the physio, I probably could have retired three years ago,” she laughed.
“Ah, Ms Fallon, you must be the travel agent,” was the greeting, as she played along and got inside access to the team’s training session before Cork City faced them in European action.
One can be offended or one can take advantage. Fallon goes for the latter always.
Coaching was something she took to very early on. She recalls starting at the age of 14, mainly with girls’ teams but there were some boys’ sides thrown into the mix here and there.
“I just love contact with the game,” she tells The42 when the panel discussions and other formalities are done and dusted.
“When I knew my playing days were over, it was just a natural progression for me. Well, it wasn’t something that I was changing over to because even when I was playing, I was coaching. I’d been there, I had been doing it for years. For me, it was something I just loved doing.”
She’s 42 now, but all those years ago, Fallon genuinely thought that the only way into sport was sports reporting. She targeted that dream, followed it, and lived it for a while.
“Back when I was 12 in 1988, there was nowhere really that I could see a woman in football. But I loved football. It was the only thing I wanted to do.
“It was actually a conscious decision in my early teenage years — ‘I can do that because that way, I can work in football.’ And so it turned out. In a funny way, it was through the reporting that I’m doing what I’m doing now. It all came full circle.”
In the instances of both Caulfield and O’Neill, they were impressed with her line of questioning in pre- and post-match interviews. It put her onto their respective radars and everything snowballed from there.
“Over time that evolved, and here I am now in 2019. I’m in a different place now which is fantastic,” she smiles.
Living the dream?
“Absolutely,” she says, without a second’s thought. She never imagined this.
“I just didn’t think the opportunities would be there. Now, I see it differently because now, I don’t see any limits. I would be of a different mindset.
“You learn overtime that ability is obviously hugely important but so is consistent development — that you’re always getting better and learning, meeting people and learning from their experiences as much as your own. You constantly have to have new stuff to bring to the table.
“For me, that’s something I’ve always done. Now, I suppose the fact that I’ve got to this point has proven that there shouldn’t be any limits.”
Fallon became the first ever woman to be appointed manager of a men’s senior team in Ireland in 2013 when she took over at Lakelands FC, who plied their trade in the Leinster Senior League. From there, she has also coached Pegasus St James’ and now balances her Cork City duties with those at Sheriff YC under former St Pat’s and Sligo striker Mark Quigley.
She’s never had a single issue or problem at any team she’s worked with. Anything negative has come from opposition.
“Never, never. At any level, any standard, from international to junior level; I’ve never, ever had an issue with the teams that I’ve worked for.
“All the managers I’ve worked for have been fantastic. I wouldn’t be where I am today without their decision to appoint me and to give me a chance to learn and develop, and challenge me. They were also mentors.
“Sometimes people on the outside might see things differently. Once you’re in a group, as long as you’re bringing something to the table that adds value to the players and the manager, then you’ll always be accepted.”
And as she did as the ‘travel agent’ in Iceland, recording valuable video of set-pieces and other tactics of opponents, it’s all about turning negatives into positives. Knocks into advantages.
“That’s mindset,” she nods. “I could easily have taken that as a setback, taken it personally and been offended by it, but that’s me just giving away a margin.
“I’m not going to do that. I’ve worked too hard to get to where I am now. If someone underestimates me, that’s their issue not mine.”
It's such a perfect day...⚽️🏆🏆#double #CCFC84 pic.twitter.com/kIUC1VSlKG
— Lisa Fallon (@lisafallonsport) November 5, 2017
While the Cork City players and her fellow coaches were amazed at the spying she had done, they’d expect nothing less. She adds:
“It’s very important that the people who give me opportunities are able to rely on me to be able to deliver, even if I do get comments or do get something that could be designed to try and knock you off track.
“Sometimes it’s not. It can be an unconscious bias that people aren’t really aware of what they’re saying. It’s important that the people who give me the opportunities can rely on me to be able to deal with that if and when it happens, and that it doesn’t affect my ability to do my job.”
Rounding back to the start, the Lucan native doesn’t see herself as anything special.
She doesn’t see herself as a ground-breaker, history-maker, or anything of the likes.
“I don’t. I just see it as doing my job. It’s my job and I genuinely do look at it like that.
“I get up in the morning, I’m going to work. I don’t go, ‘I’m getting up in the morning and I’m going to be a female coach today.” You’re getting up and you’re going to work, and that’s it.
“When I get there, the important thing is that I just do my job. And do my job well and at the standard that the team and the manager expects of me. That’s all you can do.
“No, I don’t look at it in that respect. I just see myself as doing my job and trying to drive myself. I’m my own biggest competition.”
All done! UEFA Pro Licence completed yesterday with this incredible group of people. Learned so much from them and with them. Been an amazing journey ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/k1VkmGcg90
— Lisa Fallon (@lisafallonsport) May 19, 2018
And lastly, what’s next for the Uefa pro licence coach?
“No one knows what’s next,” she grins. “I didn’t think this would happen so it’s great.
“I love my job, I love getting up in the morning and going into work, it’s just brilliant. It’s not something I’m wishing away. Sometimes people can look too far ahead and miss the moment that they’re in. Right now, I’m not going to do that.”
Living in the moment so?
“Absolutely. What will be will be.”
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