‘Women still not getting fair sport coverage or funding’

Kate Pendred

Women in sport do not get their fair share of media coverage, support or funding, compared to their male counterparts, it was claimed at an Empowering Women conference held in the Mullingar Park Hotel on Friday May 22.

Among those who addressed the conference were elite sports stars Tracey Dillon from Milltown, Rathconrath, and Anna McCann, Irish International rugby star from Athlone, as well as Regina Bushell, president of Athlone Chamber of Commerce, and niece of Mullingar luminary, the late Leo Daly.

Tracey who, with her sisters Rachel and Sarah, has long been to the forefront of ladies football in Westmeath, said that, “in the GAA world, we are looking down the face of integration between men and women”, and getting female players on the “same level playing pitch” as men with “the same recognition and financial support so as to keep young girls playing”.

Tracey was on the Westmeath team who retained their Leinster championship title on Saturday May 16. She confessed that playing county along with having a nursing career and furthering her education requires a lot of effort.

“It is hard to juggle training four to six times a week with a full-time job, and home life, while dealing with the mental pressures. You have to float,” she said. None of it would be possible without friends, family and employers being flexible and understanding, and the support of teammates, she added. Surround yourself with positive people, she recommended.

Tracey said love of sport is at the forefront, but when you are involved in GAA, there is also a sense of pride of your community and county. She said that ladies football has been given more coverage in the last 10 years, but “we need to keep pushing it on”.

Anna McCann, Irish international from Athlone, spoke of how rugby has come on so much since she started nine years ago. At first, the Six Nations would be played before an audience of 300. “Last week, we played before an audience of 31,000 in the Aviva, having set a new record the previous week of 9,000,” she said.

Grainne Walsh, Olympic boxer from Tullamore, said Katie Taylor opened the door for all female athletes and boxers. When Grainne went to the Olympics in 2012, there were three female divisions and 10 male. “Now we are equal at six and six which is huge for us,” she said.

Orla Thornton, director of Marketing and Communications at Athlone TUS, founder and organiser of Midlands TEDx, and facilitator at the conference, slated local media for their imbalance in reporting the two recent Westmeath Leinster finals wins. “Westmeath won the Leinster championships, both the men and the women, and the front page had a beautiful picture of all of the male team and a tiny little corner of the women Leinster champions,” she said.

Regina Bushell, in addition to being president of Athlone Chamber of Commerce, is director of the Athlone All-Ireland Drama Festival and the national chairperson of Seas Suas, a group she established in 2016 to give a voice to Ireland’s independent early learning and childcare providers. She started off minding 10 children in her own home and now has six Grovelands Childcare centres, in Mullingar, Athlone and Tullamore, employing 140 staff and used by more than 1,000 parents a week.

Regina has found memories of holidaying in Mullingar with her uncle Leo Daly and his wife, Bridget. “He was a great photographer and anything he could teach you he would,” she told the Westmeath Examiner.

Speaking at the conference, Regina remarked that leadership is not about shouting louder, it is about engaging and giving something back to the community. She said that indigenous companies support communities more than corporate companies do.

Regina explained how losing her seven-year-old daughter to leukaemia forced her to “step up and fight with consultants”. She has since had two battles of her own with cancer, but said that, thanks to advances in research and treatment, it is now possible to live with Stage 4 cancer.

Regina’s first cancer diagnosis came 15 years ago. She picked up on it herself and, because she took action, she lived to see her children get married and to meet her grandchildren. Regina loves being involved in life and is looking forward to celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary in a few weeks.

Government policy is the reason childcare is so expensive, she said. She founded Seas Suas to give employers in the childcare sector a voice at the government table. She joined the Chamber of Commerce because she is passionate about the town of Athlone and how it is developing.

Focus on your goals, identify the steps you need to take and take them, surround yourself with people who believe in you, and look after your mental and physical health, she advised.

Other speakers included Anne Heraty, a businesswoman from Ballinalee, County Longford, who declared that when talented women step back, the economy steps back, Martina Earley, chief executive of Roscommon Leader Partnership, and Siobhan Whelan, partnership manager with Ireland Fashion Week.

The conference was organised by Ciaran Mullooly, MEP, who said it was “great to see such a roomful of old and new friends from right across the midlands”. He revealed that the conference was the idea of his assistant Bríd Gordon.

“I am quite often ignorant of women’s issues”, and “I don’t know enough about them, but today that is going to change”, he declared.

He said he was not looking for votes, but for advice on how he should vote in the European Parliament.

Whether it is in business, politics or sport, women are entitled to equal pay and recognition, he stated.

He urged those present to use index cards provided to make suggestions about how he could create spaces where talent can flourish, regardless of gender. “I need feedback, tell me how to vote,” he pressed.