As Shamrock Rovers made their preparations to journey to Tolka Park last Friday night for their second Dublin Derby of the 2025 Premier Division campaign, bearing European war wounds that the heavens deemed in need of nursing on the Sunday evening, our media was alight with pieces on Stephen Bradley, Damien Duff and the clash itself.
Pre and post-match, a cacophony of content trumpeted the fixture between The Hoops and last seasons Champions across some of our country's biggest media platforms, saturating both airwaves and websites with a deluge akin to the downpour that transformed Tallaght Stadium into the Danube.
Off the back of a week in which Shamrock Rovers Head Coach Collie O’Neill opined to Sean O’Connor of the Irish Independent that the league had grown “stale” (indirectly suggesting that the powers at be had missed a step in their failure to build upon the hype generated off the back of Ireland's 2023 World Cup qualification) it's disheartening to say the least that as of lunchtime Wednesday afternoon (two days out from the Women's Premier Division curtain raiser, when some of our best female footballers in Ireland will dance) there's not one piece easily found that is solely dedicated to discussing the clash between Shelbourne and Shamrock Rovers on Saturday afternoon amongst our medias heavy hitters.
Now I'm not claiming that there is no coverage of our women's league in the mainstream media - that would be factually incorrect.
Yet speak to anyone, and they will agree that the pieces are far too sporadic, minimal and or/surface level.
There are no female journalists (that I can think of) with an in-depth knowledge of the league, tasked with covering the league as a whole for a large platform on a regular and consistent weekly basis.
If there are, I have yet to see them or read their work.
Those that do cover consistently (both men and women) for independent platforms are more often than not volunteers, with other responsibilities to attend to.
This can take its toll.
I've seen posts on X where volunteers wrestle with a seemingly annual debate on the value of their efforts as they experience disappointment, frustration or frankly burn-out while attempting to balance a full-time job with their league coverage (and no, I'm not just talking about myself.)
Where are the subsidies (travel expenses for example), support and encouragement from those tasked with the strategic planning of our league and its administration for volunteers who, unlike the media corporations, feel so passionately about our women's league and wish to express themselves creatively to raise its profile? Are we doing enough to welcome those who wish to promote our league from the outside in?
Without collaboration, vision and teamwork, from every party nothing changes.
Yes a control of narrative will be maintained but is that really to players and the leagues benefit?
Volunteers are, and have always been at the kernel of this league.
They must feel appreciated and valued.
Returning to the current coverage (lack thereof) of our league within the mainstream media, you can't help but feel that when a report is shared it's a tick box exercise rather than a collective drive to push and promote our players.
An afterthought if you will.
You also can't help but wonder if those authoring the pieces have watched the games, or whether they have simply perused highlights.
And when a game is written about for a large platform, it's one out of a fixture list of six/seven. Where do the stories of those other games go? Are we content to let them vanish along with the LOITV streams of games gone by?
I should clarify that this is not a knock on the writers themselves.
They are working journalists, operating under tight deadlines in an extremely competitive market and their editors ultimately have the final say on assignment.
Working reporters don't have the luxury of covering whatever they want, when they want. They have families to feed and mortgages to pay.
I work full-time in a secure job, and cover the women's league as a hobby (albeit a dedicated one!)
Money has never been my primary motivation.
Over the past year, I've contacted pretty much every mainstream media organisation with an offer to cover the women's league at the weekends.
The response is either no response (very inspiring) or it revolves around budget and lack thereof.
In addition I've pursued various other avenues to no avail with ideas that I believe are valid - concepts I've seen implemented successfully across the water.
It's been very disheartening.
In terms of mainstream newspapers, I have been given the opportunity to volunteer with The Echo - a longstanding local publication which has an excellent reach across Tallaght, Lucan and Clondalkin, but I'm very aware that the target audience is not likely to pick up a copy of their local newspaper. Its publishing frequency of once a week is also not ideal when reporting on a results business that changes so quickly from week to week.
Yet in fairness to The Echo, and local papers like it, they are the publications willing to print copy.
So why are our media houses not budgeting for coverage of our women's league and what do they require to be able to do so?
Where are the weekly WLOI live blogs?
The interviews which tell the stories of the people behind the players? The dissection of Madie Gibson's wing-play or Joy Ralph's strength as a lone striker?
Seeing the influx of pieces around the men's league has been brilliant - yet it also leaves a cynical taste in the mouth.
Does anyone really care about the female footballers in this country, or are all decisions driven by profit and what's popular in the moment?
At the risk of kicking an organisation when it's down, those in the upper echelons must surely be all too aware of the disconnect, but what are they doing to proactively foster relationships and change that? Are there behind the scenes talks in flow or are we simply grateful for the boom in the coverage of the men's league and content with the women's being a poor relation for the next five years? As we continue to haemorrhage players like Lia O’Leary - future stars that could be the face of the domestic league.
Speaking of numbers, O’Neill said something very telling to O’Connor from the Indo as he reflected on how the league is plateauing.
“That’s what’s in danger of happening now. I do understand from the clubs’ point of view, most of the women’s departments are a drain [on money]. It’s not a money-making scheme at this moment in time, but if you put the work in now it can be money making. We are not too far behind the WSL [Women’s Super League]. It can be done with the proper thought and foresight.”
If across the board, our clubs view the women's sides through the prism of monetary loss, how can we expect media corporations to have a different perspective? Or those that hold the purse strings? Where is the demand for change? The vision? The passion?
More concerning, is a systemic attitude to our female footballers, across all levels of society, at the root of the issue?
Are they viewed as inferior and not the headline act?
As of lunchtime March 5th, following a quick Google search, the proof is in the pudding.
Christine Allen
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