THE LAND OF opportunity could instead be right on our doorstep.
The influx of overseas players to the Women’s National League, or Women’s Premier Division as it’s now known after a rebrand, has been striking in recent weeks.
There were well over 20 new arrivals to these shores in the build-up to the 2023 season, which started last weekend, with sizeable cohorts at Shelbourne, Athlone Town and Treaty United.
The increasing North American influence is notable, up on 13 USA-born players and 11 Canadian natives now playing in Ireland.
American involvement is not new to the league, with Emma Starr, Gloria Douglas, Maddison Gibson and Dana Scheriff among those to have featured in recent seasons. Likewise with Canada: Ontario-born goalkeeper Eve Badana is a star for DLR Waves and has been involved in Ireland squads, while Jamie Erickson made her impact felt with Galway in the latter stages of the 2022 campaign.
A similar cameo from USA legend Heather O’Reilly seems to have left a lasting impact, the global superstar attracting more and more eyes to the league.
Treaty United’s new Canadian goalkeeper, Anne-Marie Ulliac, says O’Reilly’s arrival grabbed her attention, but her introduction to the league came through fellow Edmonton native Erickson.
“I saw that afterwards. I was very confused and shocked,” she tells The42.
“But my awareness of the league originally and that they had foreign players was through Jamie [Erickson]. We happened to play soccer together in high school for a season, we played for a high level team together, so I had some awareness of the league when she came over here to play for Galway.
“There’s really good opportunity for Canadians specifically in this league compared to other leagues. I know the visas are quite good for Canadians, there’s a lot of work opportunities outside of soccer and there’s a lot of exchange between Ireland and Canada in general. Whereas in lots of other leagues, I think Americans might have the advantage a little bit. And I know there’s lots of Canadians with Irish backgrounds.”
Ulliac isn’t one herself. Not that she knows of anyway, she laughs, having never been to Ireland before now.
The 25-year-old is vastly experienced, though, having played eight seasons of top-level University soccer — five in the US and three in Canada, between Bishop’s University Gaiters, Western Kentucky University and Adelphi University Panthers. She also experienced full-time football in the Portuguese top-flight with Clube Atletico Ouriense last year.
Now, she finds herself at Treaty — the connection formed through another friend — alongside five other Candians; Jacqueline Altrogge (Reynaud), Cooper Lee Lane, Kiara Kilbey, Hailey Walsh and Ciara McCormack, a former Ireland international, and a sole American in Claire Winter.
Canadian live shot pic.twitter.com/VwcIiN7PC6
— Ciara McCormack (@ciaramccormack) March 4, 2023
The introduction of professional contracts to the new-look Women’s Premier Division and the buzz around Vera Pauw’s Ireland qualifying for their first-ever World Cup are other draws. It’s “massive” and “really exciting” for the women’s game here, Ulliac agrees, with zero conflicting feelings as the Girls In Green share a group with Canada at their first-ever major tournament. “I do like to cheer for an underdog,” she says.
But the current situation in her homeland is at the forefront of her mind. The Canada women’s national team have been embroiled in a dispute over pay equity in recent times, though they appear to have reached an interim funding agreement for 2023.
Problems have been documented through the years, with no top-level country-wide league in operation. “I would say that’s a big contributor to why you’re seeing so many Canadians [in the WNL],” Ulliac says.
“The Americans, they have a league [NWSL] and they have another second tier professionally coming soon that’s been announced. We have nothing. We are the only country in the top 40 or 50 of Fifa Women’s rankings that doesn’t even have a national amateur league. It’s actually disgraceful at this point. The fact that most of those countries have a league that’s professional, to some degree at least, and we don’t even have an amateur league… even some of our top leagues across the country are still pay to play on the women’s side. It is pretty ridiculous, but the players at home aren’t really getting any of the support that they need or that they’ve been promised in the past.
“It’s ridiculous. It’s playing at the highest level and still, you’re paying registration fees and they’re trying to advertise it as semi-professional. There’s so much, ‘Always in the works, always in the works’. You’re hearing, ‘Ah, the next opportunity… the next thing.’ And so far none of them have really panned out as promised.
“I’m optimistic about this new announcement that they’ve made [about the new league's introduction], but I’m not confident in it starting in, whatever they’re saying, 2025 or whatnot.”
𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲, 𝗔𝗻𝗻𝗲-𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲 𝗨𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗰!
— Treaty United FC (@TreatyUnitedFC) December 21, 2022
Treaty United are delighted to announce the signing of Canadian goalkeeper Anne-Marie Ulliac 🧤🇨🇦
🔗 https://t.co/HYGTdSuy21 pic.twitter.com/Lcys3H2uPf
For the immediate future anyway, her focus is on Ireland.
We spoke in the build-up to Treaty’s league opener, which ended in a 1-0 defeat to Bohemians at Markets Field, while they travel to Tallaght Stadium to face Shamrock Rovers today [KO 5.30pm].
Treaty have struggled in recent seasons, finishing rock-bottom in 2022, but appear to be building nicely under new manager Alban Hysa. The squad has strengthened significantly over the winter, and their new overseas contingent is hoping to lift them up the table.
“I’m really excited,” Ulliac says. “It seems like a really good league that’s growing very, very quickly, with the introduction of lots of teams having lots of international players this year.
I know personally, when I was younger and I played with all these older girls that had different experiences playing in different countries and professionally, that’s what helped me get the experiences playing in different countries. It can really help a league when you have lots of players with different experiences coming together, and it can help the Irish girls get some other experiences as well.
“I’m having a fantastic time so far. This has been so far for me the quickest out of any team I’ve joined or played on — which has been a lot, all over the place — with the feeling of being welcomed and settling in and being really confident in the playing environment that they’re creating. Everybody, all the staff at Treaty, they’ve brought together such an amazing group.”
Ulliac is sharing a house with Treaty’s other international players, minus McCormack. They’re living just outside Limerick but closer to Tipperary. It’s most of their first times in Ireland, and they’re enjoying the adjustment to rural Ireland from big-city life.
At that, the shot-stopper can’t help but laugh. “We have a funny story, me and the other Canadians have been telling absolutely everyone.
“We met some local guys around our age who work on the local farms. They were showing us their little livestreams of the pregnant cows that they have going on to keep an eye on the calves. They were like, ‘Look, you can turn on the microphone, say hi to my cows! Come over tomorrow and you can meet the cows.’ None of us are from a farming background, so that was huge for us. We were so excited!”
Senior Women's 2023 squad member Anne-Marie Ulliac showing her Treaty pride at the Markets Field on Friday 👏
— Treaty United FC (@TreatyUnitedFC) February 18, 2023
How are you showing your Treaty pride this season?
By supporting our Women's side at their opening game against Bohemians on March 4th in the Markets Field 😉 pic.twitter.com/U0QAopzh5l
They’ve spent some free time touring around the country, a visit to Erickson in Galway Ulliac’s first stop, while her full focus is on football at the moment but work and volunteering are in her mind should she stay longer-term.
She can’t speak highly enough of the Treaty set-up and “ambitious” and “visionary” Hysa, and she’s relishing the challenge.
It’s a sizeable one in every sense, but the influx of overseas players to the league is another sign of growth and progress, and points to further success.
The last word goes to WNL legend and Ireland centurion Áine O’Gorman.
“It’s brilliant that the league can attract players in from abroad,” the Shamrock Rovers star says. “Obviously it improves standards, it’s a different challenge and it’s just going to continue to drive the game forward.”
In a nutshell.
A new land of opportunity.
