Taylor ‘most admired’ in Onside sponsor research
CHAMPION boxer Katie Taylor has defended her status as Ireland’s ‘most admired’ sports personality, according to research by sponsorship advisers Onside.
Rugby players continue to score well with Irish consumers as Johnny Sexton enters the top three rankings of most admired Irish sports personalities.
Rugby legend and pundit Brian O’Driscoll climbed up two places to second position.
According to John Trainor, founder of Onside: “Taylor’s dominance in appeal among the Irish public is on the rise for the past three years in particular, with her net volume of support up 58pc yearon-year alone.”
Taylor will return to the ring on November 2 in the UK.
“As the push for greater recognition of women in sport in Ireland makes huge strides generally, it will be encouraging for initiatives like the 20x20 campaign to see that Taylor’s biggest support is coming from Irish females aged 18 to 34,” he said. However, Trainor believes “there is some road left to travel to win greater admiration levels for female Irish athletes, with just 7pc of the sports stars identified being female.”
He added: “Next year’s Olympic and Paralympic Games are a big stage for stars like Annalise Murphy, Sanita Puspure and Ellen Keane to take their public support to the next level.”
The winner of the 2019 Open Championship, Shane Lowry, shot his way into the top five for the first time this year. Conor McGregor fell from third to ninth place in the research.
Outside the sports arena, the Onside star track 2019 found that Ryan Tubridy has retained the top spot as the most admired television or radio personality in Ireland for a seventh consecutive year, with Gay Byrne in second place.