This weekend the Ladies Gaelic Football Association, along with the players, are urging fans to converge on Croke Park in an effort to break a European attendance record.
The current record for a European female sporting event in 2015 is the Women’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Notts County at the beginning of August, which was watched by 30,710 spectators at Wembley Stadium.
The LGFA want to better this record for this year’s Junior, Intermediate and Senior All-Ireland Championship finals and finish the calendar year with the highest attendance for a women’s sporting event in Europe, which is certainly achievable when one looks at the history books.
As LGFA president Marie Hickey points out in her interview on the LGFA’s Youtube channel, in 2001 the final between Laois and Mayo attracted 33,000 fans to ladies football’s showcase, so a target above the women’s FA Cup attendance is undoubtedly doable.
“To break the 30,000 mark and get up into that sphere would be absolutely fantastic,” said the LGFA president.
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These sentiments are also echoed by the players themselves. Cork’s captain Ciara O’Sullivan is urging fans to get out in numbers to support what should be three highly entertaining contests on Sunday afternoon.
“If you look at last year’s finals alone they were unbelievable finals, so if you do come you’ll be guaranteed a good day.”
Dublin’s Sorcha Furlong feels the women’s game has something different to offer those who may only watch men’s football, which has been much maligned in recent seasons for its focus on a short passing, possession-based game.
“For people who haven’t been before, the game is a lot more football-orientated than the men’s game can be.
“You see the ball moving very quickly, there’s a huge amount of talent on display and we put in every bit of work that the men do, so it would be great to have a big crowd out there supporting us.”
In the Intermediate Championship Kidare will face Waterford while the junior final will see Louth take on Scotland. The main event will follow these clashes at 4pm when Cork take on Dublin, with the Rebelettes having won all but one All-Ireland title since 2005.
Rob Lyons, Pundit Arena
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Listen to our dedicated GAA podcast, The 16th Man, below.
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