WE MUST LEARN FROM 20x20 Positive engagement is way to progress
CULTURE WAR must be one of the most tire some modern phrases. It is used to describe the collision of attitudes and opinions that are wielded like cudgels, and the most obvious manifestation of a culture war is the four-year row over the nearly spent presidency of Donald Trump.
The phrase has a much wider application than that, though, and is seen by some of its most enthusiastic participants as a way of destroying fossilised attitudes and enlightening the world.
Few things are that simple or easily resolved.
Sport is often roped into the culture wars, and sexism is regularly the reason.
Men’s sports dominate global audiences and there are few athletic pursuits in the world where women receive coverage that is close to the level men enjoy. Athletics and swimming are two rare examples.
This debate has reached Irish shores, too, the most recent example a strange opinion piece accusing the GAA of misogyny.
The inevitable row ensued, full of heat and emitting little light.
There seems no good reason for dwelling on the accusation that the GAA is misogynistic. It is, rather, a sporting movement founded in the 19th century whose popularity has always centred on men’s games. There are obvious historical reasons why this is so, but it is also down to years of immense sporting drama, and the implication that this came at the cost of women is odd.
The GAA is also, though, a
‘It’s possible for new sports to emerge’
social and cultural movement that has brought joy and meaning to communities all over the island, and that has consistently provided solace to parts of the country frequently overlooked by the machinery of the State.
But, as with any body that is almost 130 years old, the GAA has features that fit awkwardly into a world shaped by sensibilities that in places differ wildly from those that held in 1884.
Also what needs to be noted is that women’s football and camogie have their own administrative bodies, and there is more resistance to the idea of a formal union between the three bodies within the women’s organisations than within the GAA.
Accusing the GAA of misogyny is not only unsupported by logic, it is also choosing an attitude of confrontation on a subject where there is a better way already established.
That was shown by the 20x20 movement, which champions women and girls in Irish sport.
Change can happen through positive engagement. There is an audience for women’s sport and there is a requirement on every single sector that engages with sport, from State bodies, to administrative organisations, to the media, to serve it. This brings up a question that should have been discussed in every media organisation in the country, particularly over the past decade: why cover women’s sport?
It is one that changes depending on emphasis. There is a body of opinion within journalism, for instance, that wonders why it should be covered to any significant degree.
This position sometimes relies on the defence of tokenism, the shaky argument that it is actually disrespectful to women if their games are covered simply for the sake of covering them.
There are plenty of poor women’s matches in various sports, goes the thinking, yet there is a reluctance to discuss this.
The second half of that argument is actually the more coherent. It is true that coverage of women’s sport tends to be less trenchant than the criticism often applied to men’s games.
But this is because women’s sport is at a very different point in its development; the country’s dominant men’s sports have been established for centuries.
They shouldn’t have to apologise for that, but this gets to the heart of this issue: it is possible for new sports to emerge and be supported. A time will come in women’s football, for instance, when All-Ireland finals will be scrutinised as minutely as the men’s equivalent.
And there is an onus on those involved to recognise that there is a line between support and cheerleading. But women’s sports have the potential to transform Irish sport, and introduce farreaching improvements in our society generally.
They should not be viewed as a threat to their male equivalents. This is a mistake too often made, with some supporters of the established codes adopting defensive postures.
This is as unhelpful as groundless slurs about misogyny.
Contending that the sometimes patchy quality of say, a camogie championship, should impact on how it is covered also ignores the application of critical standards to its men’s equivalent.
Limerick led Waterford by three points at half-time in last month’s hurling final, but the second half was done after about seven minutes, as Limerick extended their lead to seven.
The vast majority of time in both football semi-finals was consumed by the winners amassing vast totals, as their hapless opponents struggled.
Yet no one would think for a moment that the standard of play should affect how those games were reported, that coverage should be halved in the following day’s paper because the Dublin-Cavan match was a nonevent, f or i nstance. This is because of the prestige around the football and hurling Championships, a status hard-won over the years.
That is one good reason to cover a sport.
But surely other good reasons to cover a sport include recognition of the fact that it is growing in popularity, and that it has the potential to i nspire half the population.
This is related to another tired argument: that women don’t deserve as much financial support, for example in the form of Government grants, because they don’t fill Croke Park as regularly as the men do. Go by that logic, and they never will, because only the strong will ever be rewarded. That is no way to organise a sporting environment, or a society.
This goes for sports other than Gaelic games, of course.
One of the pities of the devastation wrought on Irish sport by the Covid-19 pandemic relates to the effect it had on women’s sport last year — and looks certain to have through 2021 as well.
No games means no promotion opportunities, and drastically reduced possibilities of inspiring the coming generation of women’s athletes.
The threat to the Olympics is significant in this regard, too. It is the biggest sports event in the world but also one where in many cases women have equal status with men.
Any list of Ireland’s greatest Olympians in the modern era should be headed by two women in Sonia O’Sullivan and Katie Taylor, while if the Tokyo Games do go ahead, Kellie Harrington looks certain to lead Ireland’s medal hopes.
No Olympics means no platform on which outstanding athletes like Harrington, Natalya Coyle and Fionnuala McCormack can fill living rooms all over the country, and show young girls what can be achieved.
That is a dreadful thought, but even if the Olympics fall, the women in sport movement will not be rerouted back into the sidings. Not even another barren calendar of events this year will be able to do that.
The sporting landscape in Ireland is changing. It will take time and support, but it is happening.
And this is to be celebrated, just as the p h e n o menal effect that established men’s sports have had on Ireland should be, too.
This is no war.
‘Not a threat to their male equivalents’