Sonia O’Sullivan: Cork women’s teams deserve so much more

I was at the Fota Island resort in Cork over the weekend for a speaking engagement at the annual conference of the Law Society of Ireland. The theme for the weekend was ‘Sport and Law, Law and Sport’ – and it certainly made for some interesting discussion.

I had the pleasure of sharing the floor with Valerie Mulcahy, the 10-time All-Ireland medal winner with the Cork women’s football team. Valerie retired from intercounty football earlier in the week, so it was the perfect platform for her to look back and share some of her experiences with the Cork team for over a decade.

I’ve always been curious to know what level of training and commitment is involved with other sports. Women’s Gaelic football and camogie have certainly grown in stature from when I was a young schoolgirl back in Cobh, running around the perimeter of the sports field while watching the school camogie team training. I’d often wonder to myself would it be more fun to train in a team than solo running around the pitch? Although ultimately I think athletes follow their own path, and for me that was always going to be an individual sport.

Still, I joined in a few times, even played a game or two with Cobh Vocational School. But I was always too protective of my shins, trying to run away down the field, or else not skilful enough to stop and lift up the ball.

An understatement

Valerie was introduced with some spectacular footage of her down through the years, clearly giving everything to maintain the 10-in-a-row winning streak for Cork. But to say I was shocked with what followed is an understatement. All through that period, she said, things had hardly changed at all behind the scenes, particularly compared to how the intercounty men’s teams are treated.

I’ve been lucky enough to have been in Ireland the past few years while the women’s All-Ireland football finals were taking place. I might not have been sitting in the stands at Croke Park, but I’d always be listening with great interest on the car radio, driving back from the Rebel tour cycle in West Cork. So much so that I’ve often reached my destination only to sit in the car and listen to the exciting climax, as once again Cork secured yet another hard -earned All-Ireland.

The passion and excitement is totally engaging, and I’ve never thought of it as anything different to listening to a men’s final. If anything, the women’s game sounds more colourful and emotional, the skill on show everything you’d expect from a major final in Croke Park.

The next day, you’re nearly guaranteed the front page of every newspaper is a celebration of that Rebel success, the Cork women’s team it seems is on a par with, and gains exposure, like any other sport. The problem is this only happens for these couple of days every September. So what happens for the rest of the year?

As Valerie told stories of cold showers (or worse, of no showers), of last-minute venue changes for games and training, it was clearly nothing like the luxury of the Big Chill-sponsored bus and post-season team holidays abroad as experienced by the Cork men’s team.

It was something I’d never experienced, personally and, not for the first time, it made me feel privileged again to have been involved in the sport of athletics.

Ballymore Cobh athletic club fought long and hard for a clubhouse in the late 1980s, although before that we changed in the porch of the Cobh Vocational School, so I know a little about what it’s like to change in the cold and dark and rain. But I didn’t live too far away a short 400m sprint home for dinner or a change of gear.

It actually takes a bit of skill to change gear in the great outdoors, but also so important to get into dry clothes quickly after a training session. It’s something I maintain to this day and always try to instil in young athletes.

When I look back now it’s a distant childhood memory, left behind when I set off to Villanova University. There, it was all plush locker rooms and the Jake Nevin field house, where we changed and sheltered from the cold and rain. Once I experienced the luxury of those locker rooms and hot showers it was something I took for granted, quickly refreshed after training before stopping at the dining hall for dinner, then back to the library to study for a few hours. These were exactly the same facilities as the men’s team at Villanova. I never thought twice about it.

In many ways though it was a privileged lifestyle for a college athlete, one that I probably never truly appreciated, at least until I listened to Valerie last weekend.

It just struck me how unfair this unequal treatment was of the most successful All-Ireland women’s intercounty team – compared to their male counterparts.

Naively perhaps, I thought once you stepped up to that level then the facilities improved, just like the expected standards were raised. After spending four years at Villanova my own standards were definitely raised, and with that the expectation of where I trained and changed for training and racing.

Suitable place

It’s maybe slightly different as an individual athlete, as you have only yourself to look after, most of the time. When it comes to training, if there’s a will there is usually a way to get the work done and to find a suitable place to change in comfort and safety before and after training sessions.

I always remember one of my first victories at the Mardyke track, during the Cork City Sports. It was 1987, and still only 17, I managed to win the senior 3,000m, setting an Irish junior record of 9:01.52 (which still stands). I often trained on that track too, getting dressed beforehand in the UCC changing rooms, a quick shower afterwards, then away in time to catch the train to Cobh. This was just me, not a full intercounty team. Of course I could have never imagined that someday that Mardyke track would be named after me.

The Cork women’s teams, both football and camogie, have shown great resilience, determination and passion for their sport, and they deserve something more in return, some permanent fixture when the new Páirc Uí Chaoimh stadium reopens its gates in the near future. The very least there should be is a changing room – with hot showers – named in their honour.