'You surf that wave' - New year, new aims for women's football

With the new Lidl National Football League season just around the corner, a drive to accelerate interest and attendances at women's games is being ramped up across the board.

Irish female athletes sent records tumbling in 2023, with the likes of Katie Taylor, Rhasidat Adeleke and the Republic of Ireland women's soccer team breaking ground in their respective sports.

A poll commissioned by the Lidl found that 59% of Irish people have never attended a female sports event, and are five times more likely to go to a male sporting event over an equivalent female sporting event. On Wednesday at Croke Park, the league launch doubled up with the unveiling of the 'Get Behind the Fight' campaign, which aims to boost league crowds.

There's momentum behind the growth of women's sport, but as Dublin captain Carla Rowe put it: "You surf that wave as long as possible while it's there."

"There's definitely areas for growth and opportunity there."

And, of course, there's always more work to do.

"That's the dream; we aren't too far off it," Rowe told RTÉ Sport when asked if she believed the Dublin ladies would ever consistently get a similar level of support that the men's team enjoy.

"It's possibly a couple of eyars away from Hill 16 [being full] and the 82,000 that Croke Park can hold but I don't think it's impossible.

"[In the past] to play in Croke Park, it was an All-Ireland final day. That was the only time you'd play in Croke Park. The league final is going to be in Croke Park for whichever two teams are in it, you sometimes get All-Ireland semis, All-Ireland quarters. We're deinitely getting those chances more often.

"It's getting there. It's just [about] trying to get it to happen as quick as possible would be fantastic."

Kerry's Síofra