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Emma Duggan (Meath footballer), Síofra O’Shea (Kerry captain) and Carla Rowe (Dublin captain) join Lidl Ireland to launch a campaign to ‘Get Behind the Fight ’ as the 2024 Lidl National Football League kicks off this weekend. Photo: Andres Poveda
LIDL Ireland has launched a campaign to encourage the public to support live female sport as they and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) today launch the 2024 Lidl National Football League season.
While the Division 4 teams take to the field this weekend, Kerry will begin the defence of their Division 1 title with a marquee game against rivals Dublin in Parnell Park on Saturday, January 20 at 5.15pm. The game will be broadcast live on TG4.
This is the battle of the champions as Kerry, the reigning Lidl National League Division 1 holders, meet the TG4 All-Ireland winners in 2023.
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A large attendance is expected at Parnell Park to kickstart a weekend that will also see the Divisions 2 and 3 campaigns get underway, while Round 2 fixtures in Division 4 are also down for decision.
Lidl Ireland has launched a campaign to ‘Get Behind the Fight’ and support live female sport as research shows nearly 60% of Irish people have never attended a female sports event
The research commissioned by Lidl and carried out by Red C in December 2023 has also revealed that, despite 42% of people stating an interest in attending a female sporting event and three quarters (74%) thinking it is a shame that people don’t attend, more than half (59%) of the population admit they have never attended a live female sporting event compared to just over a quarter (29%) having never attended a live men’s event.
Going head-to-head, Irish people are five times more likely to attend a premier men’s event in person than an equivalent premier female event, with almost half (46%) saying that men’s sport is generally better to watch.
A staggering 59% of Irish people said they would prefer to watch men’s sport on TV than attend a live female sporting event.
Out of the 25% of the population who do attend live female sporting events, spectators are more likely to be male (57%) than female (43%) and aged between 35-54-years. Parents of participating children are also more active in attending female fixtures.
Lack of media coverage is perceived to negatively affect public awareness and support, with some 40% stating this as a reason for non-attendance at live women’s events.
Almost two thirds (65%) of people think women’s sport does not get enough media coverage in Ireland and 83% agree that men’s sport is covered more comprehensively.
Other barriers to attending female sports events included venues not being easy to get to (37%), not knowing anyone that is playing (34%) and ticket prices being too high (34%) but perceptions and unconscious bias around women’s sport in Ireland continue to be key barriers.
Almost half of Irish people (46%) believe that men’s sport is generally better to watch than women’s sport. Whilst Irish people perceive women’s sports in Ireland to be high quality and skilful, they think it’s less exciting or competitive than men’s sports and over a third (38%) think that the standard of play isn’t high enough to justify attendance at live matches.
Establishing connections with individual sports stars is seen to be a key driver of support but half of people think there is a lack of Irish female sporting heroes.
When asked which Irish female sports stars they can name, almost half of respondents said Katie Taylor, having recently been awarded ‘Ireland’s Most Admired’ sportsperson for the seventh consecutive year, however less than 1 in 10 people were able to name any other Irish female sporting stars unprompted.
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