Sep 11, 2019
Our International 20×20 Women in Sport Award this week goes to all those associated with the promotion of women’s soccer in the UK. They certainly live the ” If she can’t see it she can’t be it ” philosophy. This week saw the start of the new Women’s Super League season in the UK and it has certainly generated huge publicity for the game. When has a serious national newspaper ever published an eight-page supplement launching the season as the Guardian did on Saturday last. It was terrific and the weekends action mirrored that.
Over 31,000 turned up to watch the local derby between Manchester City and Manchester United with 25,000 at the Chelsea Tottenham game. The BBC also aired its version of Match of the Day for the WSL on Sunday night capturing all the highlights. Well done to everyone concerned.
PS. The Federation will be keeping a keen eye on Manchester United who of course are managed by Casey Stoney who was our guest of honour at the launch of the 20×20 initiative last year. Sadly her newly promoted team lost out to City!
Sep 9, 2019
Target Shooting Ireland, Ireland’s National Governing Body for Olympic Rifle and Pistol events, are delighted to be a part of the 20×20 ”If She Can’t See It, She Can’t Be” It initiative presented by the Federation of Irish Sport.
As a member of the initiative, we have two goals:
1. To actively increase media coverage of our female competitors at international and club/college competitions at all levels by 20% by 2020.
2. To actively promote and plan for increasing female attendance at identified events by 20% by 2020.
Since joining the initiative we have taken steps towards increasing the visibility of females in our sport – we have increased our social media presence, hosted “Instagram takeovers” with female athletes while at international competitions, and will be sharing athlete profiles. We hope that in doing so we are making Target Shooting more accessible to women and girls, and we are happy to have seen increases in the number of females competing in some of our bigger competitions.
Sep 6, 2019
A qualified PADI rescue diver, drummer, singer, coxswain and foodie, Sophie hails from the bogs of County Offaly and the hot sands of Dubai. Sophie made the move to Dublin in 2011 with the rest of the country folk hoping to find inspiration from the ‘Big City’. After a post-graduate degree in UCD, Sophie continued on to do a Masters in Public Relations in DIT where she joined DIT Rowing Club. Sophie accidentally found her niche in coxing very soon after joining DIT and Commercial Rowing Club, coxing the Men’s Club Crew for the remainder of the 2015 Season. A number of successes on the water throughout the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons saw Sophie selected as part of the Irish squad for the Home International Regatta in Glasgow 2017 where the crew was placed second. Sophie sat as part of the Men’s Intermediate and Senior Crews in 2018 and 2019, travelling to the 2019 Ghent International Regatta, and taking home a silver medal in the Men’s 8+. Most recently, Sophie secured a win in the Irish National Championships in 2019 with the Women’s Intermediate 4+.
20×20: Questions with Sophie Eustace
1. What’s your first memory of sport as a child?
My late father was a motor racing nut and used to race at the weekends in Mondello. I remember attending these races with my Mum and my brother and also watching the Formula One with my Dad on Sunday’s!
2. How did you first become involved in sport?
School gave me my first introduction to sport. I was a very introverted young person so I was not interested in becoming involved in clubs outside of school. I played hockey throughout my schooling years.
3. What sports did you try as a child?
Hockey was the main sport in school but we were given a few opportunities to practice athletics and running, I was told I would be a very good long distance runner, hence my current goal to run the 2019 Dublin Marathon.
4. What decided you to settle on your chosen sport
Upon moving to DIT after my UCD college years, I was at a transition point in my life and made a decision to start with the rowing club as a method of keeping fit. I settled with rowing initially because the people involved became close friends very quickly and I had a ‘knack’ for it.
5. Who has had the most impact on your sporting career?
My own perfectionism is a big driver for me growing and learning as a coxswain but wanting to match and surpass the skills and abilities of the more senior coxswains generally I feel is a big driving force for me.
6. What female do you most admire in the world of sport?
Katie Taylor. Her talent and her determination is simply astonishing to me, but what I respect and admire most of all is Katie’s humble and modest nature. I really admire it when I see any athlete with those traits.
7. Outside of sport what do you do in your leisure time?
Because my sport does not keep me fit yet requires me to be fit, I spend my own free time keeping fit by running and have recently started listening to Podcasts, (Beyond the Grid -about F1 and Second Captains – general sports) and reading in the evenings.
8. What is the last movie you went to see? What is your favourite movie of all time?
I went to see Aladdin and loved it! My favourite movie of all time is hard to say, I loved Django because of the incredible casting and well paired music score. I also loved The Theory of Everything because of the superb acting. Senna is probably the most emotional movie I have ever seen again was directed so well.
9. What music do you listen to?
I have always played music myself and music runs in the family, I like all types of music but have recently enjoyed alternative music – Tame Impala, Alt J, Cashmere Cat. My favourite bands of all time would be the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Muse. U2 music as with most Irish people is very close to my heart.
10. Are you a reading fan? If so what are you currently reading?
I have just finished two books whilst on holidays, ‘Bad Blood’ about a Silicon Valley start-up, Theranos that duped investors into thinking it was creating a ground-breaking blood testing technology but ended in the lies and coverups being exposed by a Wall Street Journal writer. ‘Elsewhere’ is a book by Rosita Boland and takes you through nine stories of various travels in her life – I adored reading this. Really lovely book. I went to Hodges Figges when I arrived back to Ireland and bought four books and am starting, just for fun, with ‘The Bluffers Guide to Formula One’.
11. Do you follow any sports stars on social media? If so who?
I love to follow tennis players – Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Coco Gauff, and Formula One drivers, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen and more – their lives are full of travel and hard work! I follow Katie Taylor (of course) and an Australian snowboarder Scotty James – he won Olympic silver at PyeongChang 2018!
12. Forget about your sporting diet for a moment? Your favourite meal when you breakout?
My favourite meal is Japanese food! Salmon Sashimi, Miso Soup, Sushi Roll, Gyoza, etc. We have sushi once a week. I love fine dining restaurants – Peploes, Chapter One, Mr. Fox.
13. Who do you most admire in your own sport?
In Rowing, Paul and Gary O’Donovan – again they are extremely modest and unfussy.
14. Do you have a special ritual before competing?
I don’t have any ritual but I have to be calm and focused, ensuring the crew are calm and focused.
15. Do you still play other sports for fun?
I run – but I don’t participate in any other team sport. I would love to ski someday!
16. What advice would you give to young girls & boys to encourage them to participate in sport?
I have 5 nieces and a nephew, they are all into sports, I tell them to train hard and see where it gets them 😊 – one of my nieces I am convinced can be a serious runner in the future!
17. What has been your biggest sporting achievement?
My biggest achievement to date is being a part of the Home International Irish squad and winning an Irish National Championship in 2019.
18. How do you cope with (a) injuries; (b) other setbacks?
Setbacks for me are generally being excluded from the crew for a certain race – staying focused is very key because switching off makes you loose focus on your goals.
19. What do your family make of your success?
My family have very little interest in my sport – rowing can be a difficult one to understand for those not involved as a lot of time goes into it!
20. What does sport mean to you?
It gives me purpose which I can’t live without – it is the most important aspect of life! It allows me to be competitive and also to socialise.
Check out the 20×20 Women in Sport Calendar for upcoming fixtures
https://20×20.ie/event-calendar/
Sep 4, 2019
Our International 20 x 20 Women in Sport Award this week goes to our own Sanita Puspure who last weekend retained her single sculls world title, an incredible achievement. Sanita who moved to Ireland from her native Latvia in 2006 began competing in Ireland in 2010 before gaining full Irish nationality in 2011. In 2012 she became the first female sculler to represent Ireland at an Olympic Games since the Games in Moscow in 1980. She became a double Olympian in 2016 when she competed in Rio where she reached the quarter finals.
She originally took up rowing in Latvia aged 15, and in 2004 won gold in the Student Games in France. It is however in the last two years that her rowing career has taken off with gold in the 2018 World Championships, a further gold in the 2019 European Championships and then that second World gold last weekend.
In a sport where Ireland has begun to have worldwide success she is a standout competitor and a real inspiration to girls and women countrywide as to what can be achieved when determination, dedication and talent combine.
Aug 30, 2019
Fiona Coghlan is a former Ireland women’s rugby union international. Coghlan represented Ireland at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Women’s Rugby World Cups. She also captained the Ireland team that won the 2013 Women’s Six Nations Championship. In 2013 Coghlan was named The Irish Times/Irish Sports Council Sportswoman of the Year after captaining Ireland to their first ever Six Nations, Grand Slam and Triple Crown titles. Coghlan was a member of the first Ireland teams to defeat France, England and New Zealand. She was the Ireland captain on the latter two occasions. In addition to captaining Ireland, Coghlan also captained her club team, UL Bohemians, her provincial team, Leinster and was captain of the first ever Barbarians women’s team.
20×20: Questions with Fiona Coghlan
1. What’s your first memory of sport as a child?
Watching Wimbledon every year as my Mam loved it and I would watch it with her. I thought Steffi Graf was unbelievable and she was one of the few sportswomen that were visible on TV at that stage & definitely I tried to emulate playing “Wimbledon” on the road!!!!
2. How did you first become involved in sport?
I originally played short tennis after school. One weekend away when I was about 7 my parents sent me horse riding to try and get an hours peace. I had the time of my life and when we came back from holidays I insisted on taking up horse riding, which then consumed much of my free time for a number of years.
3. What sports did you try as a child?
Tennis, horseriding then when I joined secondary school I got exposed to team sports and got involved in Basketball, Hockey, Badminton in school. When I was 16, Clontarf GAA club set up their first Ladies team and I joined, tried my hand at a bit of Camogie too.
4. What decided you to settle on your chosen sport?
I went to college in UL and wanted a new challenge and signed up for rugby. I went out to the first training session and was put with the forwards, there was a lot of standing around so I didn’t think it was for me. A week later I got a phonecall to play a game & so down I went & I haven’t looked back since.
5. Who has had the most impact on your sporting career?
My parents have always supported me and given me the opportunities to get involved in whatever sport took my fancy. In rugby it would be my first coach Ian Costello and then the likes of Philip “Goose” Doyle.
6. What female do you most admire in the world of sport?
What Katie Taylor has done for Women’s sport and Irish sport has been unbelievable & it’s even more impressive that she has done it on her own with no team-mates as I relied on my team-mates for so much through the years.
7. Outside of sport what do you do in your leisure time?
I love meeting up with people, coffee, walk, drink, just spending time chatting. I now have a “yes” attitude with regards to new things now. While playing rugby I was constantly saying “no” to everything outside rugby so now if someone asked me to something new I try to say “yes” as often as possible. I still watch a lot of sport away from playing.
8. What is the last movie you went to see? What is your favourite movie of all time?
Not really a movie person, the last one was “A Star is Born” because so many people were talking about it.
9. What music do you listen to?
Whatever is on the radio or if someone has a playlist playing I will listen to anything.
10. Are you a reading fan? If so what are you currently reading?
I have restarted reading since retiring. I love autobiographies my favourite was Andre Aggassi “Open”
11. Do you follow any sports stars on social media? If so who?
Too many to mention, the majority of my following is athletes.
12. Forget about your sporting diet for a moment? Your favourite meal when you breakout?
Not much of breakout but I love fresh fish. I’d have a sneaky crisp sandwich every now and then.
13. Who do you most admire in your own sport?
My team-mates, as they were what motivated and drove me to get out of bed on winter mornings at 5.30am and pushed me in every session we did.
14. Do you have a special ritual before competing?
Not a ritual but myself and Joy Neville used to sit in the same seats just at the back stairs of the bus going to training or games. You couldn’t rely on it as a ritual as sometimes we had buses that had no back seats, also Joy retired a year earlier than me, so I was on my own for a year.
15. Do you still play other sports for fun?
When I retired from rugby I went back to GAA and played for three-year culminating in an Intermediate Club All Ireland medal. Then it was time to retire as the talent coming through was running rings around me. Trying to get into golf, but it’s a slow process.
16. What advice would you give to young girls & boys to encourage them to participate in sport?
I firmly believe there is a sport out there for everyone, sometimes you might have to go out of your way to find it. Give everything a try!!
17. What has been your biggest sporting achievement?
I think there has been different highlights on different levels.
• Winning 11 AIL’s with team-mates and very close friends in UL Bohs.
• My first cap for Ireland.
• The Grand Slam in 2013 as it was years of progression and then consistency across the tournament.
• Beating the Black Ferns in 2014 was a huge moment for World Rugby
18. How do you cope with (a) injuries; (b) other setbacks?
I was very fortunate with injuries, mine were all cosmetic so I would feel like a fraud talking about them. Losing matches or not playing the way you wanted was always tough and gave me sleepless nights after the games but you always have to look forward, learn and improve.
19. What do your family make of your success?
They loved following the Irish Women’s Rugby Team, even in the early days when there wasn’t much to be shouting about. I would say they have been to 95% of my games at every level. They miss me being involved but they are still very supportive of the team.
20. What does sport mean to you?
It is engrained in every part of my life, from my job, to friends to what I do or watch in my free time. Also the experiences I have had through sport has in many ways shaped me as the person I am today.
Check out the 20×20 Women in Sport Calendar for upcoming fixtures
https://20×20.ie/event-calendar/
Aug 28, 2019
Our International 20×20 Women in Sport award this week goes to former England soccer international Eniola Aluko, who has just published a memoir “They Don’t Teach This” which details her battle with the English FA after she highlighted a culture of racism in the set-up for the English women’s International team.
A remarkable woman she has played more than 100 times for England. Born in Nigeria she moved to England as a baby. She is a qualified lawyer who graduated with a first class degree from Brunel University London. The first ever female pundit on Match of the Day she also writes a column for the Guardian. Most recently she has played her football in Italy for Juventus wining both Cup and League last season. It is, however, as a whistleblower that she is destined to be best remembered. And her book goes into this in detail from her initial accusation of racism by the management team foe the England women’s international team to taking on the FA for turning a blind eye to her accusations.
Undoubtedly her international career has suffered as a result of what she has done, but while not claiming credit, she points to other recent examples where the New Zealand, Australian and US (World Champions) women’s teams have all gone public to highlight issues where women are disadvantaged.
She is a real champion for women in sport everywhere.
They Don’t Teach This by Eniola Aluko is published by Yellow Jersey Press.
