20×20 is a new campaign aimed at creating a measurable cultural shift in the presentation and perception of Women’s sport in Ireland.
It is a broad-based approach with three key metrics in mind to boost media coverage, attendance at key events and participation each by 20 per cent between now and 2020.
The campaign was launched this morning at the Google Foundry in Dublin and is an initiative driven by the Federation of Irish Sport and originated and developed by the creative agency Along Came A Spider.
Mary O’Connor and Roddy Guiney as CEO and Chairman of the Federation have been the driving force behind the campaign, working closely with Sarah Colgan and Heather Thornton of creative agency Along Came a Spider.
It will be championed by Ireland’s National Governing Bodies of Sport and Local Sports Partnerships, and is being backed by AIG, Investec, KPMG, Lidl and Three all of whom are already significant and committed supporters of women’s sport through their sponsorships of Dublin GAA, Women’s Professional Golf, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, National Football League and the Ireland Senior Women’s National Football Team.
A host of Irish female sporting heroes including Louise Quinn (Irish International and Arsenal Footballer and Three’s Ambassador for 20×20), Sarah Rowe (Mayo Senior Ladies Footballer and Lidl’s Ambassador for 20×20), Laura Twomey (Dublin Senior Camogie Player and AIG’s Ambassador for 20×20) as well as Irish professional golfers Leona Maguire (KPMG’s Ambassador for 20×20) and Stephanie Meadow (Investec’s Ambassador for 20×20), joined forces with Head Coach of Manchester United Women and former England Women’s National Football player, Casey Stoney MBE, to lend their support to the 20×20 campaign.
They were joined by the CEO of Swim Ireland Sarah Keane, 18 Time All-Ireland Cork Camogie and Ladies Football Champion Rena Buckley, Irish Women’s Hockey Head Coach Graham Shaw, Olympian and leading Horse Trainer Jessica Harrington as well as Sport Ireland CEO, John Treacy to discuss the campaign which has the overarching objective of inspiring Ireland to culturally embrace women in sport, so that they can become part of who we are and what we follow.
Pledge
Clubs, universities, schools, leisure centres, community groups and the general public are being asked to pledge one action to show their support by doing anything that can accelerate progress for women’s sport in Ireland and realise the key objectives.
International strategies and research reports, which aim to improve female participation, acknowledge that the shortage of female role models is a significant factor.
20×20 will showcase the range and breadth of Irish females involved in sport. As part of this Along Came A Spider are creating five short films on different themes that impact on women in sport.
The first of these will be available to view on www.20×20.ie as well as on the campaign’s social channels later this morning.
Individuals are being asked to share their pledge idea by visiting the 20×20 Twitter, Facebook and Instagram pages on social media.
People can also show their support by simply putting the two 20×20 stripes on both cheeks and posting using #20×20, #ShowYourStripes and #CantSeeCantBe online.
Research
Research commissioned by 20×20 and conducted by Nielsen as part of the campaign found that significantly less than 20% of all media coverage is dedicated to women’s or mixed sport.
RTÉ Sport, Off The Ball (Newstalk), SportsJOE and Her.ie are also early supporters of the campaign as Media Partners and significantly have each committed to increasing their own coverage of women in sport by 20% over the course of the initiative.
“It is true that women’s sport in Ireland receives less recognition and acclaim and as a consequence is undervalued broadly in Irish society,” said Federation of Irish Sport CEO Mary O’Connor speaking this morning.
“The aim of the 20×20 movement is to give increased profiling to girls and women involved in sport at all levels. We want this campaign to stimulate behavioural change to ensure that subsequent generations have female role models to emulate as athletes, coaches and referees.”
Positive Influence
“We aim, through the 20×20 campaign, to showcase the importance and positive influence sport and physical activity has on girls by increasing media coverage and increasing attendances at competitions and events.”
“Sport provides such incredible opportunities,” said Casey Stoney, Head Coach of Manchester United Women and former England Women’s National Football player.
“As a young girl I was told that football was just for boys and yet, I went on to play 130 times for England including at World Cups, European Championships and even representing GB at the London 2012 Olympics.”
“I now find myself as Head Coach of Manchester United’s first women’s team. I firmly believe our 21 players will be history makers and as the biggest football club in the world can truly transform women’s football not just in England but around the globe.”
“It is so important that girls and women have role models to whom they can relate. It is for this reason that I was so excited and delighted to get the opportunity to come and lend my support for the launch of 20×20. I believe if supported by all involved in sport it really could be a landmark moment for sport in this country.”
“By increasing the visibility of women’s sport, whether through increased coverage, attendances or participation, we make it a greater part of our culture. We’re a proud nation of sport lovers and have a huge amount to gain by fully embracing the sport of 50 per cent of our population.”
“By clubs giving greater parity to female teams, schools creating new opportunities for girls in sport, sports fans attending women’s events and parents encouraging their daughters, we’re hoping everyone will pledge one action to grow women’s sport in Ireland.”
JLT Ireland has signed up for a second year as the headline sponsor for the 2018 National Gymnastics Awards evening on Saturday 17th November.
“We are very proud to be back to support the 2018 JLT Gymnastics Ireland National Awards,” said Amanda Harton a Partner at JLT Ireland.
“The sport continues to grow in numbers year on year and there have been some amazing results such as with Rhys McClenaghan’s historic European championship win.”
“JLT Ireland is glad to be able to support an event that recognises the key achievements of the Gymnastics Ireland community from club to national level.”
McClenaghan’s Gold was a major highlight not only for Gymnastics but for the whole of Irish sport over the summer and was shown live on RTÉ Television despite being one of the busiest Sunday’s of the year with action from those Championships, the GAA Championship season and the Dublin Horse Show vying for attention.
Gymnastics Ireland also signed a new multi-year sponsorship deal with Nestle Cereals and was awarded as Sports Governing Body of the Year at the Federation Sports Industry Awards.
Membership has grown by ten per cent and is now over 30,000 making the sport one of the largest in the country in terms of registered participants.
“2018 has again been a huge year,” said Gymnastics Ireland CEO Ciaran Gallagher.
“This event has established itself as a real celebration of all things gymnastics and serves as a great social occasion for our members and community to get together outside of the gym or competition arena. It is great to have JLT Ireland back on board as sponsors once more.
Ministers for Transport, Tourism & Sport Shane Ross and Brendan Griffin have confirmed that the 13% increase in investment in sport outlined in Budget 2019 includes €6.5 million in additional funding for Sport Ireland, €8.8 million for the new Large Scale Sports Infrastructure as well as €16 million to complete Phase 2 of the National Indoor Arena.
Included in the additional funds being made available to Sport Ireland, €2.3 million has been allocated for National Governing Bodies. €1 million in additional funding has been provided towards its Women in Sport programme, with €1 million also being provided to create a dedicated programme for disability sport through the deployment of a Sport Inclusion Disability Officer in all 26 Local Sports Partnerships Nationwide. The Minister confirmed the allocation of €1.5 million to high performance in preparation for Tokyo 2020.
A further €40 million is also to be made available in 2019 to enable a further round of the Sports Capital Programme that allows clubs and organisations right around the country apply for funds to develop and maintain sports and equipment.
The Federation also welcomes the Ministers statements that the significant increase in funding for Sport Ireland is proof of the Government’s ambition to increase sporting participation at all levels from grassroots to high performance.
Speaking after the briefing from Ministers Ross and Griffin at Government Buildings, CEO, Federation of Irish Sport, Mary O’Connor said: “This is a good day for Irish Sport. The Federation and our members have for a long time being advocating for a significant increase in funding to Sport Ireland. It is these monies that translate into the investment in people and programmes from grassroots to high performance that ultimately allow sport positively impact on people’s lives and ultimately on public health, tourism, community and even the economy. An additional €6.5 million represents real confidence in our ability as a sector to deliver on a wide range of Government policy objectives as outlined in the National Sports Policy published in July. We look forward to working with Government and our members to ensure that we deliver and maximise the potential of the much needed additional investment. We also welcome the significant investment in capital programmes that will enable the development and improvement of facilities at local, regional and national level. ”
Dublin’s Niamh Coyne has taken the silver medal in the women’s 100m breaststroke at the 2018 Buenos Aires Youth Olympic Games with a time of 1:08.90.
Sligo’s Mona McSharry finished just out of the medals in fourth place with a time of 1:08.97. Mona was first to turn at halfway, just missing out on a medal in the closing meters.
To have two swimmers in an Olympic Final is an incredible achievement and a measure of the pipeline of talent coming through in the sport.
Team Ireland in Buenos Aires comprises a squad of 16 athletes from 9 sports. The team of 5 male athletes and 11 female athletes includes Nhat Nguyen (Badminton) and Mona McSharry (Swimming), recipients of Olympic Solidarity Scholarships which were awarded to assist with qualification and preparations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
This is the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games which are hosted every four years. The Games, running from October 6 to October 18 will feature more than 4,000 talented junior athletes aged 15 to 18 from 200 countries in over 32 sports.
Minister for Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform Paschal Donohue has announced a commitment of €126 million to support a range of sporting initiatives in 2019.
This represents an increase of just over €14.69 million on the total investment in sport this year.
The increased investment marks a first significant step towards realising the commitment contained in Ireland’s first National Sports Policy, published in July, to double the investment in sport.
The breakdown of the overall investment will be confirmed by the Minister for Sport, Shane Ross at a briefing on Wednesday. It has been confirmed however that €41million will be invested in sports projects to benefit clubs and organisations in every county in Ireland.
Minister Donohoe also confirmed that the 9% VAT rate for sporting facilities is to be retained.
Speaking after the announcement of today’s Budget 2018, CEO, Federation of Irish Sport, Mary O’Connor said:
“Budget 2019 certainly seems like it is a positive one for sport. While we look forward to hearing the detail regarding the breakdown of the increased investment across people and programmes and capital projects, our initial reaction and that of our members is positive. The publication of Ireland’s National Sports Policy in July this year was a significant first step in recognition of the important contribution sport can and should make to Ireland.”
“It is great to see Government begin to commit the necessary funds to allow for the implementation of that plan in the first budget following the publication of that landmark Policy for Irish sport.”
The Federation of Irish Sport is made up of National Governing Bodies of sport as well as the 26 Local Sports Partnerships that operate around the country working with Local authorities to implement a wide variety of sporting programmes.
Each month we carry a round-up featuring some of the many activities that are taking place around the country so that you can see just how effective they are.
EUROPEAN WEEK OF SPORT
All of the Local Sports Partnerships got really stuck into the European Week of Sport with activities and events that were bot imaginative and successful in getting people active.
Laois and Cavan had family-friendly fun evenings at the weekend with climbing walls, yoga, boot camps, music, games and so much more.
DUBLIN CITY SPORT AND WELLBEING PARTNERSHIP
The inaugural Dublin Sportsfest proved to a real winner through the last week of September.
With activities covering every age and level of ability, it proved to be a very visible reminder of the many opportunities there are to engage in sport.
The week got rolling with the Great Dublin Bike Ride on Sunday, 23rd before taking in a Sports Stadium event at Dalymount Park on Monday, an Olympic and Elite Sports experience for Transition Year schoolkids on Tuesday, the Older Adult Sports Day on Wednesday, Docklands Fitfest with Ireland Active on Thursday and a host of club and venue based activities through the week.
These included glow football and glow fitness events, Yoga classes in City Hall, Taster sessions, runs, the Lord Mayor Liffey Paddle down the river and a host of other activities.
MEATH SPORTS PARTNERSHIP
Meath Sports Partnership got seven new community walking groups up and moving during September.
They will be hosting a special training day for Walk leaders, in partnership with the Irish Heart Foundation on November 17th.
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY SPORTS PARTNERSHIP
They teamed up with former Irish international race walker Colin Griffin to deliver a series of sports science seminars through the Autumn. The first of these took place in September and there are two more scheduled for October and November.
If you would like to feature in next month’s Round Up please send your information by email to reach us no later than Friday 19th October.
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