Big Strong Gorls: How Ireland’s women rowers built a brand - and an international tribe

No one is more surprised than Ireland’s elite rowing squad that what started out as a bit of fun and self-expression has become a growing community and such a badge of honour for other women, at home and abroad.

They were on a bus in 2019, en route to their usual summer training camp in Varese in Italy, when talk turned to how some of their international opponents were using social media to create collective identities and communicate with their supporters.

As they mused on how they might do something similar and scrambled about for a moniker, Emily Hegarty, one quarter of their historic Olympic bronze-winning coxless four, suggested “Big Strong Gorls”, which immediately resonated with them.

The misspelling is deliberate, Aifric Keogh, another W4 medallist in Tokyo, explains with a chuckle. “It captures the tone that Emily, with her best Skibbereen twang, used that day.”

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Soon Aileen Crowley, a qualified architect, had sketched up their ideas for a logo and they’d asked Powerhouse Sport, the Co Down company that makes Rowing Ireland’s kit, to make them some customised Big Strong Gorls gear, never dreaming that it would go any further than their own in-joke.

But so many other rowers have since identified with the Big Strong Gorls that a successful brand and sporting sisterhood has accidentally evolved, and now they’re harnessing some money from it to help the next generation of BSG’s following in their wake.

“When Emily threw the name out we all laughed because, when we were growing up, whenever you said you were a rower, people would say, ‘oh, you’re just a big strong girl.’”

To any youngster harbouring body insecurities, that epithet could be taken the wrong way. They recognised their own teenage ambivalence to the phrase but, as elite international seniors, were ready to own it.

“It’s a compliment now to tell a woman that she’s strong, whereas when we were younger it might not have been seen that way. When you’re young and impressionable you might be thinking a couple of other things, but it’s a positive thing to us. That’s the spin we wanted to put on it,” Keogh says.

“You’d like to think that’s changed for younger girls growing up now. There are probably still some challenges [about body size in women’s culture] but we’re trying to spread that message that no matter what size you are you can be athletic.

“Some of our big strong girls might only be five-foot-eight or five-foot-nine, some are six-foot or more, but it’s about using what you have and maximising it.”

Their initial bright pink and blue design, incorporating Ireland’s green, white and gold in the lettering, was certainly eye-catching but it was their name, which revels in their own strength and power, that really struck a chord and unintentionally built a burgeoning tribe of like-minded women.

Requests to buy BSG one-pieces soon started to come in from other Irish rowers and parents, and not just girls and women.

“Some of the lads down in the NRC [National Rowing Centre in Cork] started wearing them to support us and that kind of fed down to junior and senior boys and it became cool.”

Soon Powerhouse Sports were getting bigger and repeat orders – some from American universities and other international rowing hotspots.

“We get tagged in social media posts so know they’ve gone to Australia, Canada, all over the States and not just to rowers. There’s people on triathlon podiums collecting their medals wearing BSG kit,” Keogh explains.

The BSG range now includes cycling gear (the first-choice sport of many retired rowers) plus leggings and sweatshirts.

We went back to Powerhouse and said we think it best if we actually give it as a scholarship to support other girls. They said they’d match the cut we were getting, so about 20 per cent of each sale is now going to this fund for junior girls

—  Aifric Keogh

While rehabbing a back problem at the Institute of Sport last winter, Keogh regularly spotted the brand on her strolls around Islandbridge.

“You’d see Big Strong Girls colours in every boat and club. When the girls were training in the south of Italy last winter, one of the Italian girls was wearing it and shouted over ‘Big Strong Gorls!’ at them. It’s great to see.”

They’ve just produced a second pink/yellow colourway and are now taking brand BSG in a philanthropic direction.

“Initially there was no money involved, we just wanted some kit, but then Powerhouse were like, ‘we’re selling so many of these, we have to give ye a cut.’”

With up to 20 women on the national squad, and athletes coming and going from that, splitting their cut fairly offered some challenges, prompting them to think about how best to use their unexpected windfall.

“Eventually we went back to Powerhouse and said we think it best if we actually give it as a scholarship to support other girls. They said they’d match the cut we were getting, so about 20 per cent of each sale is now going to this fund for junior girls [16-18 year olds] and we’ve also added in the money we’d previously set aside.

“As senior athletes most of us are fortunate enough to be on the [Sport Ireland] Carding Scheme and a lot of U23 athletes are probably on a scholarship with their university, but juniors don’t have that kind of financial support,” Keogh explains.

A Galway native, she recalls trekking down to Cork five or six times a year for national junior trials. “Petrol, accommodation, food, all the costs add up even before you get selected.

“If you’re lucky enough to be in a club that has good boats you’re okay, but a single scull, brand new, would cost €9,000 and even second-hand they’d be €5,000 to €6,000.”

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Once selected, junior rowing internationals usually move to the NRC for a block of collective summer training that also incurs costs.

“There was a local golf club with houses locally when I was a junior, so we lived there for a few weeks, but I went home with a big enough bill. Your parents are obviously proud that you’re being selected [for Ireland] so it’s not an issue, but you do feel awkward that they’re handing over that much cash.”

The BSG x Powerhouse fund aims to award between €500 to €1000 to four or six junior women athletes annually. Application forms are available through the rowers’ social media and on the Powerhouse and Rowing Ireland websites.

Irish Rowing’s high performance staff have given it their imprimatur and offered advice, if needed, in the final stages of judging.

But Keogh stresses that this initiative is not just about money but about legacy and team identity and collective support, especially, for teenage girls stepping into one of the most demanding and ambitious environments in Irish sport.

“There’s a huge team at the NRC – seniors, U23s and juniors – and it probably can be a bit intimidating initially to see people like [Olympic champions] Fintan [McCarthy] or Paul [O’Donovan] walking around,” she observes.

“For us this is also about giving them [junior girls] a nod and letting them know it’s a total open door there, that no matter what age you are we’re all part of the same team. It’s about reaching out the hand to them and making them feel welcome.”

In truth, what started out as a bit of craic and diversion is now giving identity, impetus and pride to more than just the next generation of Irish women rowers.