Joanne O’Riordan: Time for male players to stand up for equality for their female GAA peers

With the weight of the world on the LGFA and Camogie Association after stumbling from controversy to controversy in the last few weeks, an interesting topic has emerged from the whole thing.

With the GPA being the only united sporting body in Gaelic games in terms of gender equality, many have wondered why women are shouldering most of the burden when campaigning for equal access to resources, dual clashes and all the other things that ensure women are treated as second-class citizens.

Sure, Donal Óg Cusack has spoken numerous times on The Sunday Game about fixture clashes and women’s rights when it comes to sport. Liam Sheedy added to it on Sunday night by hinting he’s trying to help the Kildare camogie panel out after the county board removed them from their upcoming championships. But, yet, from the current crop of players, very few, if any, have spoken out.

It’s a sad fact that the world we live in, especially in business and sport, hangs on every word uttered by a male. Their opinion carries weight; there’s an unconscious bias in our minds that it is correct and true because a man said it. Of course, times are changing slowly, but this still happens across most walks of life.

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In the negotiations between the men’s and women’s national teams with the FAI, many people credited Séamus Coleman for his role in the negotiations and rightly so. For a men’s captain to enter into negotiations where he knows he might lose something financially but help others gain elsewhere is laudable.

In his podcast and YouTube show The Shop, LeBron James spoke about how he and his players wanted to wear the orange hoodie while in their Covid playoff bubble to show the WNBA players that the NBA players supported them. He also opened up about how initially the WNBA were weirdly not keen on the idea, but when that orange hoodie was sold out everywhere and became the league’s most-sold item in its quarter of a century history, the impact was noticeable.

It’s not just about turning up to games and wearing hoodies, that’s an exceptionally low bar, but it could be a start.

Through his Thirty-Five Ventures investment business, Kevin Durant has invested in multiple women’s sports avenues, through content creation and media outlets, to teams and players in two New York sports, basketball and soccer.

Through this investment, additional partnership elements such as content creation, social media support, player relations and community outreach will be supported for players and teams.

The reality is most NBA players willingly and happily turn up to promote WNBA. They enjoy it because the skill quality, drama, villains, heroes and storylines are there to keep them entertained. And although it’s not publicly stated, the players in the WNBA are incredibly appreciative of the support because the game really recognises the game.

But sometimes, you mightn’t have to do much publicly to be acknowledged as the best male ally. At this year’s women’s football awards, the first of its kind, Harry Kane won the Ally of the Year Award. Many online felt annoyed by the award winner, citing his lack of public support for any woman in any sport.

Frank Lampard, former Chelsea boss, might feel aggrieved after he had to stand in a video wishing Chelsea luck in the Women’s Champions League semi-final. Given how he supports the Lionesses, Arsenal Women and does regular punditry for women’s football tournaments, Ian Wright might feel even more aggrieved.

So, yes, sometimes the bar is that low.

But given how low the bar actually is, that could be more of a reason for male members of the GPA to get involved.

Yes, Tom Parsons is obviously front and centre, given he’s the current GPA chief executive, but that’s to be expected. If he wasn’t, there would be severe concern. But apart from Tyrone’s Conor Meyler and a few others, it’s incredibly rare to see a male player comment on anything from the women’s side.

Sure, maybe it’s our fault as journalists for not asking, especially during controversial times, and also intercounty players are cryogenically frozen away from the eyes of the media. But traditional media isn’t the only way to support.

Could the GPA emulate the WNBA’s orange hoodie? Could a select group of players come together and make a statement? Could two intercounty panels, male and female, take a picture with the #UnitedForEquality hashtag? Sometimes it’s a really simple gesture that can carry so much weight.

It’s not fair that the world is set up like this, but if we’re genuinely seeking equality and trying to promote an equal sharing of resources, maybe some of the campaigning and highlighting should be done by our male allies.