Dec 17, 2020
Sport Ireland
Media Release
17th December 2020
Progress towards Gender Balance on Boards – Leadership Composition Snapshot (2nd Update)
In line with its Policy on Women in Sport, Sport Ireland is committed to publishing a biannual snapshot of female representation on the boards of funded National Governing Bodies of Sport.
Leadership and Governance is one of the four key strategic areas on which the Sport Ireland Policy on Women in Sport is built, along with Coaching & Officiating, Visibility and Active Participation.
In this regard, a key objective of the Leadership and Governance target area is to progress towards greater gender balance in board membership of funded bodies. The second objective is to provide a pathway for women aspiring to become leaders of funded bodies.
The first update, published in March 2020, showed that females make up an average of 29% of boards across funded National Governing Bodies. This was an increase from 24% at when the Sport Ireland Policy on Women in Sport was published in 2019.
The second snapshot published today shows that this figure has remained consistent; females currently account for 29% of board members.
As we start to look at female representation across all funded bodies, figures from the Federation of Irish Sport, Olympic Federation of Ireland and Paralympics Ireland have been included in this update.
Commenting on the publication of the statistics, Chair of Sport Ireland’s Women in Sport Steering Committee, Lynne Cantwell, said: “The overall representation of females on boards across the sector has remained consistent this year, however there have been a number of notable developments. Most recently, the Olympic Federation of Ireland has achieved gender balance on its board following its recent AGM. Sport Ireland is also seeing strong uptake from females across the range of service offered to both board members and staff among funded organisations. In particular, the Level 9 Certificate in Governance has been an excellent addition to the offering. The Women in Sport Steering group will continue to work with all stakeholders to support the increase in female representation at board level.
Action 32 of the Government’s National Sports Policy 2018-2027 tasks National Governing Bodies with developing equality action plans and setting gender diversity targets.
Sport Ireland Director of Participation and Ethics, Dr Una May, commented: “As part of Sport Ireland’s responsibilities under the National Sport Policy, we are monitoring progress and providing periodical public updates on the progress of our funded bodies towards gender diversity, in particular the make-up of boards. The launch this week of a new board recruitment service by the Federation of Irish Sport, with support from Sport Ireland, for National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships is a timely development. This is a positive for both potential board members, who will have the opportunity to put themselves forward for arising vacancies, and organisations, that will have a list of suitably qualified candidates to select from. Sport Ireland will continue to provide training and development opportunities for women as part of our strategic vision of a sector operating to the highest standards of governance and accountability.
As well as acknowledging the board composition of funded bodies, Sport Ireland is also monitoring the proportion of women in leadership positions within funded bodies. At present, female CEOs represent 28% of the total CEOs in NGBs (including the Federation of Irish Sport, Olympic Federation and Paralympics Ireland). Ten NGBs also have female Presidents.
Sport Ireland Women in Sport Lead, Nora Stapleton, added: “The work of the Sport Ireland Policy on Women in Sport and Women in Sport Programme invests in female leadership capacity, increases availability of skilled Female Board members and guides Governance best practice that supports gender equity. Sport Ireland’s M-Power Mentoring Programme continues to support females in the sports sector, while we are very satisfied with the leadership programmes being developed by the NGBs and LSPs.
Numerous NGBs delivered, and/or continue to deliver, excellent Women in Sport Leadership programmes for their members. Canoeing Ireland saw their ‘Bridge the Gap’ programme culminate recently with 35 female ambassadors taking part. Athletics Ireland, the IRFU and LGFA continue to roll out leadership programmes for their female volunteers, while up to 19 NGBs have provided opportunities for their female leaders to join a leadership programme coordinated by Swim Ireland. The programme continues to roll out across the sector due to demand and is now entering its fourth instalment.
Sport Ireland is also today launching its new Gender Diversity on Boards Toolkit. The resource comes in two parts, the first draws on International and Irish research to outline the business case for more gender diverse boards, while the second part contains a toolkit with actions that sports can implement within their organisation.
Commenting on the resource, Nora Stapleton added: “In order to support sporting bodies, Sport Ireland, with the help of expert consultants Leading Sport, have developed a resource that can be utilised by sports leaders in order to provide guidance on the recruitment and retention of women on boards. The benefits of diverse boards is widely accepted and this toolkit can help NGBs, LSPs and other funded bodies on their journey of improving, and or maintaining, gender diversity on their board”.
The resource can be downloaded from the Sport Ireland website. Sports leaders will also have an opportunity to attend a webinar in the New Year whereby they will be introduced to the toolkit, the background research and how the information might be useful within their own organisation.
Board Representation
The information contained within this update has been provided by National Governing Bodies, Local Sports Partnerships and other funded bodies through the Core Grant Application process or via direct contact in November 2020. It is encouraging to note that 32 sporting bodies) have achieved a target of at least 30% females on their board. This is up from 24 NGBs in March of this year. While 13 NGBs still report 10% or less females on their boards, it’s positive to note that this has reduced from 20 NGBs in 2019.
The Local Sports Partnerships also paint a positive picture with an overall 37% females on boards. 19 LSP Boards have obtained a minimum standard of 30% while 10 LSPs are under that. It is very encouraging to note that the leadership of the LSPs shows a positive gender split with females making up 59% of Coordinator roles. Females also account for 21% of chairperson roles on LSP Boards.
NGBs who have obtained 30% females on their board
| NGB |
% of Women on Board |
| Angling Council of Ireland |
33% |
| Basketball Ireland |
43% |
| Baton Twirling Sport Association of Ireland |
80% |
| Cycling Ireland |
30% |
| Deaf Sports Ireland |
33% |
| Federation of Irish Sport |
36% |
| Fencing Ireland |
50% |
| Golf Ireland (Transition Board) |
44% |
| Gymnastics Ireland |
44% |
| Horse Sport Ireland |
38% |
| Irish Orienteering Association |
33% |
| Irish Sailing Association |
40% |
| Irish Squash |
31% |
| Irish Taekwondo Union |
33% |
| Irish Wheelchair Association Sport |
57% |
| Ladies Gaelic Football Association |
57% |
| Motor Cycling Ireland |
50% |
| Mountaineering Ireland |
42% |
| National Community Games |
60% |
| ONAKAI |
42% |
| Rowing Ireland |
31% |
| Rugby League Ireland |
30% |
| Special Olympics Ireland |
46% |
| Speleological Union of Ireland |
30% |
| Student Sport Ireland |
50% |
| Swim Ireland |
40% |
| The Camogie Association |
77% |
| Triathlon Ireland |
33% |
| Volleyball Ireland |
71% |
| Table Tennis Ireland |
40% |
| Olympic Federation of Ireland |
50% |
| Paralympics Ireland |
56% |
NGBs who have yet to reach 30%
| NGB |
% of Women on Board |
| American Football Ireland |
0% |
| Archery Ireland |
20% |
| Athletics Ireland |
25% |
| Badminton Ireland |
25% |
| Bol Chumann na hÉireann |
13% |
| Bowling League of Ireland |
11% |
| Canoeing Ireland |
22% |
| Cricket Ireland |
17% |
| Croquet Association of Ireland |
29% |
| Football Association of Ireland |
25% |
| GAA Handball Ireland |
8% |
| Gaelic Athletic Association |
11% |
| Hockey Ireland |
25% |
| Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland |
0% |
| Irish Amateur Wrestling Association |
8% |
| Irish Athletic Boxing Association |
0% |
| Irish Clay Target Shooting Association |
10% |
| Irish Ice Hockey Association of Ireland |
20% |
| Irish Judo Association |
29% |
| Irish Martial Arts Commission |
26% |
| Irish Olympic Handball Association |
14% |
| Irish Rugby Football Union |
8% |
| Irish Surfing Association |
17% |
| Irish Tenpin Bowling Association |
25% |
| Irish Underwater Council |
27% |
| Irish Waterski & Wakeboard Federation |
0% |
| Motor Sport Ireland |
0% |
| Pitch and Putt Ireland |
9% |
| Racquetball Association of Ireland |
25% |
| Snooker & Billiards Ireland |
0% |
| Tennis Ireland |
29% |
| Tug of War Ireland |
20% |
| Vision Sports Ireland |
0% |
| Weightlifting Ireland |
14% |
NGB’s with 10% or less females on their board
| NGB |
% of Women on Board |
| GAA Handball Ireland |
8% |
| American Football Ireland |
0% |
| Horseshoe Pitchers Association of Ireland |
0% |
| Irish Amateur Wrestling Association |
8% |
| Bol Chumann na hÉireann |
0% |
| Irish Athletic Boxing Association |
0% |
| Irish Clay Target Shooting Association |
10% |
| Irish Rugby Football Union |
8% |
| Irish Waterski & Wakeboard Federation |
0% |
| Motor Sport Ireland |
0% |
| Pitch and Putt Ireland |
9% |
| Snooker & Billiards Ireland |
0% |
| Vision Sports Ireland |
0% |
Boards of Local Sports Partnerships
| LSP |
% of Women on Board |
| Roscommon |
67% |
| Wexford |
67% |
| Limerick |
63% |
| Dún Laoghaire Rathdown |
53% |
| Leitrim |
50% |
| Meath |
50% |
| Wicklow |
50% |
| Sligo |
47% |
| Laois |
46% |
| Mayo |
44% |
| Carlow |
42% |
| Kilkenny |
42% |
| Kerry |
39% |
| Total |
37% |
| Donegal |
33% |
| Galway |
33% |
| Kildare |
33% |
| Longford |
33% |
| Louth |
33% |
| South Dublin |
31% |
| Dublin City |
29% |
| Westmeath |
29% |
| Fingal |
27% |
| Offaly |
26% |
| Tipperary |
25% |
| Waterford |
21% |
| Monaghan |
20% |
| Cavan |
19% |
| Cork |
18% |
| Clare |
14% |
Dec 15, 2020
- The service will be available to National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships who are seeking suitably qualified independent persons for their boards in a variety of skill areas.
- The service, which is supported by Sport Ireland, aims to assist sporting bodies who are actively complying with the Governance Code and working diligently to improve their overall standards of governance, including their board composition.
The Federation of Irish Sport have today launched their Board Recruitment Service for National Governing Bodies and Local Sports Partnerships. The service, which opened for applications from members of the public in August, is now available for Federation members to utilise when seeking candidates for vacant board positions.
Speaking about the service, Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor said, “The importance of a strong, suitably qualified board has never been greater within the sporting sector. To continue to strive for best practise, good governance and future growth organisations need to be supported from the top down. Our new service will assist organisations in identifying expertly qualified personnel to fill skill gaps within their board positions. We hope it will be another step on the road to good governance and compliance with the Voluntary Governance Code.”
Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, said: “Good governance in all National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships is of paramount importance. This has never been more true, as we look ahead to 2021 where the adoption of the Governance Code for Sport will become a condition of funding for all organisations. The recruitment service launched today will assist organisations in putting in place robust structures and strong boards, with members fully aware of their responsibilities and the responsibilities of their executive. This new service will complement the range of services Sport Ireland makes available to National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships to support good governance in funded organisations. We thank the Federation of Irish Sport for their input and work on this service and look forward to its roll out in the months and years ahead.”
The project, which is supported by Sport Ireland, will be particularly useful to bodies as they approach key times of change within the organisation such as Annual General Meetings and term ends for board members. The facility will be available throughout the year and can be used by any Federation member organisation as often as necessary.
How it works:
Following a call for interest from members of the public, the Federation now has a foundational database which will build, change, and grow over time. The database is categorised by a variety of factors including skill area, geographic location, gender, experience – both sporting and non.
When a position arises within an organisation, the Federation member should contact database manager Sarah Maloney with information including a role description, any particular skill requirements and the process of selection employed by the NGB. Suitable candidates will be identified from within the database, contacted by the Federation to confirm their interest in the organisation in question and their details, including CV, then shared with the organisation seeking to fill a vacancy. It is then up to the organisation to engage with any candidate(s) they fill suitable.
All candidates will have been added to the database on successful cross checking of professional references provided. All candidates will also have made the Federation aware of any potential conflicts of interest from other roles they hold.
Skill areas identified:
Finance
Governance
Marketing & Communications
Legal
Audit & Risk
Public Affairs
Strategy & Planning
Women in Sport
Chairperson
For Further Information Contact:
Sarah Maloney on sarah.maloney@irishsport.ie or complete the expression of need form at https://www.irishsport.ie/expression-of-need-form/
END
Dec 15, 2020
Rugby’s moment of reckoning is here.
6 years after the NFL agreed a €765 million settlement for a concussion-related lawsuit, a “test group” of 8 former rugby players is suing rugby’s governing bodies for the effects of repeated concussion. Irish players may be involved in the next wave of cases involving up to 70 players.
Their claim is that the governing bodies negligently failed to protect them from the known risks of concussion. They allege these risks became more prevalent in the professional era of the game (post 1995).
All 8 players are under 45, played in the professional era, and have received the same diagnosis – dementia with probable chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head.
What must they prove to succeed?
A claim in negligence against a sports body, broadly speaking, requires proof of 3 elements:
- The governing body owed a duty of care to the player
- The governing body failed to meet the requisite standard of care
- This failure caused injury, loss or damage to the player
1.Duty of Care
This is a given – Governing bodies regulate the conduct of the game and owe a duty of care to players to set standards and safety protocols.
2.Standard of Care
The requisite standard of care differs from sport to sport.
In rugby, certain injuries are inherent risks of playing the game. Breaking an arm or a leg in a lawful tackle, for example.
Brain injuries and dementia fall outside that. Governing bodies must take measures to meet a certain standard of care that protects players from these risks.
In the NFL, it was alleged that the governing body knew about brain injuries and did nothing. A complete failure of standards and protocols on concussion. Until as recently as 2010, the NFL continued to dispute the evidence linking repeated head impacts in American football, to long term brain damage.
Arguably, rugby authorities have been more proactive in recognising concussion risks and protocols. They have implemented measures.
To meet the standard of care required, the law does not demand perfection but it does demand that every reasonable effort is made by the governing body to protect players from the risks.
This could include :
- Communicating the risks
- Training and education
- Adequate concussion protocols
- Rigorously enforcing the protocols
- Baseline testing
- Providing medical advisers
- Monitoring and training coaches and referees on the issue
- The Resulting Loss
If it is established that the governing body failed to meet their standard of care, the player must still establish that this failure caused the injury or loss – i.e. dementia.
Establishing this link can be difficult. It will require complex medical and factual evidence.
Previous concussion-related actions against the NFL, NCAA and NHL all settled before trial. These legal proceedings in rugby may follow suit. However, at what cost ? Rugby’s governing bodies are already cash strapped following COVID.
We may therefore see a different approach play out.
Dec 15, 2020
For more information contact Morgan Crowe at mcrowe@leman.ie
Dec 14, 2020
Baton twirling is not a sport that you will typically find outdoors. It relies on good and consistent lighting, a hard wood floor and enough heat to stop fingers from feeling numb when twirling a baton! But where there is a will, there is a way and Northern Star Twirlers, a club based in North Dublin, have been adapting to training outdoors over the past few months.
Since September a floodlit tennis court at Dean Swift Sports Club in Coolock has been the training location for Northern Star’s athletes who range in age from 2 to 18. The club continued its training outdoors with 6 sessions a week. Speaking about the past few months for their club, the Northern Star coaches said; “Even though it’s not ideal to be outdoors, particularly in the Winter, our athletes have been glad to be able to keep going and we are very grateful to have had the use of a floodlit facility, particularly as the darker evenings set in. The members of our club, along with their parents, have been incredible – no matter what the challenge, they have met it head on. Our young people have shown us so much to be proud of. We would like to thank Dublin City Council for helping us find somewhere to train, our national governing body BTSAI for all the support they provide to us, and Sport Ireland and the Federation of Irish Sport for continuing to advocate for sports like ours. This has been a tough year for everyone but we’re looking forward to 2021 with hope and excitement for a complete return to the sport we love”.
Dec 14, 2020
During this exceptional year we’ve been having there have been very limited opportunities to host events, with this in mind we were extremely lucky to be able to hold the #BeActive Paddle Day, a nationwide participation focussed event to get people out on the water for the first time. This event was made possible with a successful funding application to Sport Ireland and the EU Commission for support in running an event as part of the 2020 European Week of Sport (23rd-30th September). The whole week, and our event, was aimed at getting more people active and out exercising, sometimes for the first time or to rekindle their exercise habits.
With a massive amount of work put in behind the scenes, led by Events Manager Ciaran Maguire, the finer details of the event were ironed out and the wheels were put in motion. To get as many new people trying out paddlesports for their first time we partnered with affiliated clubs, Outdoor Education Training Centres and Local Sports Partnerships all over the country to make the event accessible to as many people as possible. These partner locations held a morning and an afternoon session, run by registered instructors for the attendee’s safety and to ensure the best experience for all involved. All of the equipment provided for the attendees was also fully sanitized between the sessions to ensure hygiene standards were adhered to for the safety of the participants. These measure in place due to no small amount of work from Emer Carton, putting in floods of work to ensure that bookings and the locations themselves were coordinated to the highest standard, both running smoothly and safely.
In the lead in to the event itself we also held a brilliant event launch to announce the Paddle Day and to mark the bookings as open. The launch, held on the Leinster aqueduct over the River Barrow in Monasterevin, invited local club members to come and take part and ensure the focus on clubs and participation for the event. Thanks to Sam Curtis, Canoeing Irelands Communications head, we had fantastic branding graphics made for the day, followed up with great visibility of the event and branding for the entire Week of Sport We were very pleased as well to have representatives from Sport Ireland at the event to support the launch.
In the lead up to the Paddle Day itself we were delighted to partner with Mazda Ireland, who provided us with a Canoeing Ireland branded CX-30 to help in our transport for the Paddle Day organisation, and the work across the Week of Sport itself.
On the 26th September the #BeActive Paddle Day kicked off on a cold but bright morning, a brief gap in the cold and wet weather preceding the weekend. In total 45 event locations were holding a variety of morning and evening beginner sessions across 21 counties. On the day itself thanks again to Mazda Ireland the CEO, Moira Aston, and Events Manager, Ciaran Maguire, were able to get out to many event locations to both see the success of the event and touch base with our fantastic clubs who were making the event possible. Across the sessions being held throughout the day the Canoeing Ireland team were able to visit event locations at Trim Canoe Club, Ribbontail Paddlers Canoe Club, Inny Kayak Club, Laois Kayak and Canoe Club, and the Athy Sports Hub. These locations all ran brilliant sessions, with a great attendance, loads of fun for all involved, and most importantly were run safely for all participants and instructors. These events that the team attended were reflective of each of the 45 event locations which all showed this same level of excellence in their respective session, as we saw during the barrage of brilliant photos of people out enjoying being on the water coming in from clubs and OETCs throughout the day. In total across these locations 1045 people were out on the water, the majority of which were out getting active on the water for their very first time in a boat. Among the locations and events were some fantastic set ups and causes, such as the West Cork Kayakers running a session in support of breast cancer, and the Limerick Kayaking Academy putting on a full Junior fun race in conjunction with the #BeActive Paddle Day, with a full day of Boatercross racing on the Castleconnell S Bend. It didn’t stop here with clubs and various partners running events affiliated with the Canoeing Ireland Paddle Day through the entire European Week of Sport. With all these people trying out paddlesports for their first time doing so through clubs and their own community we hope that they will continue to engage with and pick up the love of our sport through their fantastic local club.
Talking about the success of the event Ciaran Maguire said, “Blown away the uptake on this event. When we contacted the clubs who where interested, all they said was yes! The YES turned into a mass participation event it would not have been possible with out the networks of clubs involved rolling up their sleeves and running great session around the country. From Leenan and Letterfrack to Villlerstown and Lough Hyne, Baltinglass to Donegal we had am impressive spread. The big thanks to all who ran sessions and to those first timers who came along to enjoy the sport.”
We would like to again extend a massive thank you to the affiliated clubs, OETC’s and LSP’s who got involved and helped in running sessions, and especially to Sport Ireland and the European Commission whose support made this event possible.
