REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE GAA WOMEN IN SPORT CONFERENCE DINNER SATURDAY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE GAA WOMEN IN SPORT CONFERENCE DINNER SATURDAY, 29TH JANUARY 2000
Cuireann sé áthas ar mo chroí bheith anseo libh anocht agus ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl daoibh as an chuireadh agus as fáilte fíorchaoin.
I am delighted to be able to join you here this evening and I would like to express my warmest thanks to President Joe McDonagh for his kind invitation and to all of you for your very warm welcome.
This Conference is an exciting start to a new Millennium in which there are enormous hopes for a radical transformation in the fortunes of women globally. The story of women in sport is and will be an important part of that transformation. Historically, women's talents, achievements, struggles, stories have more often than not been played out in the shadows rather than the spotlight.
But times are changing and we are learning fast how much we have lost by relegating women to the shadows and how much we have to gain when the talents of all human beings regardless of gender are nurtured and helped to blossom. The GAA has commendably set about widening the reach of its own spotlight so that today's generation and future generations of young girls and women will find in the GAA a place where their commitment and their genius is fully developed, fully celebrated – across the range of roles and sports whether football, camogie or handball.Women have long been among the most passionate and, dare I say it, vocal, supporters of Gaelic Games – none more so than myself. One of the slight disadvantages of becoming President is that the expert advice offered with the best of intentions from the sidelines to referees and players, has had to be toned down a little. I have also noticed that being President adds absolutely nothing to the impact of that advice on referees and players. They continue to ignore it regrettably no matter what the source.
Women’s enthusiasm for Gaelic Games has never been in doubt but whether their work and worth has been properly valued and recognised is an open question which this generation has begun to address. It is only in recent times that women's participation as players has started to receive the television coverage and media attention it so richly deserves. Anyone who attended the women’s football and camogie finals in recent years could not fail to have been enthralled by the sheer excellence of the skill and commitment of the players and, of course, the handballers had a great year with that memorable performance in San Francisco. These were first class games by first class players, players who are in no-one's shadow, players entitled to fulsome praise and credit for their hard-earned achievements. The loyalty and enthusiasm of their supporters was more than vindicated by the many long time GAA fans of both genders who were heard to remark and with some pride that the women's finals were among the very best Gaelic Games in recent times. The hard work, the fidelity of so many players, coaches and volunteers over the years is finally getting due – indeed long overdue – recognition and applause. The future looks brighter than ever before.
An ever-increasing number of girls and young women are now participating in Gaelic Games. Last year the Ladies Gaelic Football Association celebrated its Silver Jubilee. It had much to celebrate, with over 70,000 members and a thriving level of participation throughout Ireland at every age group from under 10s to senior level. I warmly congratulate Helen O’Rourke and all those involved in the Association on this exceptional achievement. The raw statistics give no idea of the lives given vibrancy, fun, fitness, and interest, week in and week out by participation in football. It was my own daughters' first introduction to sport though regrettably even they did not appreciate their mother's enthusiastic interventions from the sideline and more than once requested that I stay at home.
Camogie too, has benefited from a great surge in both popularity and visibility in recent years. As a former player myself – unfortunately one whose performance was marked more by enthusiasm than outstanding skill – I greatly welcome that development. It is especially important that young girls are given the opportunity to participate, and that each generation has its outstanding role models like Angela Downey to look to for encouragement and inspiration. The heroines of my own teenage years were the famous Antrim team of 1967 and I still remember the enormous pride and hope their success generated. It’s great to see handball becoming identified as a women’s sport too – opening up a rich vein of new talent and new stories.
Each year brings its rich crop of medal winners, of sporting legends, of controversial games of heartbroken losers. But every participant in Gaelic Games knows that whatever the final score, she is a winner in profound, life-changing, life-enhancing ways that cannot be easily measured. Through sport and the discipline it calls for, young women learn first and foremost about themselves. They start that critical journey into the self, where courage is found, where endurance is scraped together, where breaking points are reached but somehow overcome. They learn about other people. They learn to respect the diverse talents of team-mates, to rely on others, to become a person others can rely on too. They learn what it is to be part of a team, to be a person who can offer credible leadership, to be a person who can respond well to leadership; they learn to work with different personalities, often under pressure. They learn how to encourage others, to keep them from breaking down under provocation, to build them afresh when they go wrong, to accept defeat with grace, to accept victory with humility. In short, sport gives them grounding in many of the skills and experiences that will be of benefit in their adult life, both personal and professional. It gives them friendships and memories to endure over a lifetime. But in addition to all those many gifts Gaelic Games gives them something utterly unique - for it starts at their front door, rooting them in family, in parish, in place, linking them to the web of Irish community which extends far beyond these shores, introducing them to that phenomenon of voluntary endeavour which underpins so much of what is good in our society. It draws them in to identity, to pride in identity, to belonging to a broad cultural tradition which sport is a significant part of and significant driver of. It gives us the things we talk about, argue over, strike up conversations with strangers about, shape our lives around.
Playing is the showcase of course but it is equally important that women are encouraged to continue their involvement in Gaelic Games after their playing career is over or to broaden it, whether as coaches, trainers, managers, referees or administrators. These people form the backbone of the GAA. They are the people who make sure it is safely handed on from one generation to the next - they are the keepers of its survival. If it thrives and it does, it is down to them and to the imaginative leadership which has harnessed their energy well.
The potential for participation by women at administrative level and across the entire spectrum of GAA endeavour which was largely untapped in the past will hopefully soon come into its own thanks to the work of the Increased Participation Workgroup. I would like to commend Joe McDonagh and his colleagues on that initiative, now three years old. Liz Howard, and the Workgroup members deserve great credit and gratitude for bringing fresh insight and energy to this work and especially for their role in organising this important National Forum. All credit too to Debbie Massey, the GAA’s Policy and Planning Officer, for the work she put into organising this Forum. We all look forward to a day when there will be no novelty in seeing women in every conceivable role and at every level of the GAA, from players to President. I look forward in particular to the day when a woman will referee one of the men’s finals. I’ll post on my CV for further consideration.
Thank you all once again for inviting me here this evening and good luck with all of your future work. May I record my own thanks for the immeasurable enjoyment I have been the privileged recipient of thanks to this great organisation. I look forward to a great year of Gaelic Games, the start of a century when the legends and stories will tell equally of the outstanding achievements of men and women.
Go n-éirí go geal libh. Go raibh maith agaibh.