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WHEN I WAS 11 years old, I was part of a history-making team. For the first time ever, my home club of St Mary’s in Sligo fielded a girls team at the under-12 grade.
This historic moment is not one that is recorded on the club’s roll of honour that adorns the stairway up to the clubhouse, but it was history, nonetheless. The year was 2006 and ladies’ Gaelic football was going from strength to strength.
The membership of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) had reached 100,000, big name brands like TG4, Suzuki, and VHI were backing the sport, and the association had just launched a three-year strategic plan to capitalise on the rising popularity of the game. And, for me, my interest in the story of ladies’ Gaelic football began.
On Thursday of this week, 18 July 2024, the LGFA celebrates a major milestone — its 50th anniversary. To mark the occasion, Unladylike is the first book to document the history of ladies’ Gaelic football.
I started carrying out research on the history of ladies’ Gaelic football as a MA student in UCD. With the freedom to write a dissertation on a topic of my own choosing, it struck me that, as a ladies’ Gaelic football player, I knew little about the history of the LGFA.
The LGFA’s website had some information on the early years of the association and the development of the game in various counties that helped me to get started. I found numerous books on the history of the GAA and men’s Gaelic football, and some of these had a small bit of information on ladies’ Gaelic football. Surely there is more to say about an association like the LGFA, I thought. And there is!
Ladies’ Gaelic football matches (and they were advertised as ladies’ matches rather than women’s matches) first began to appear as early as the 1920s. However, the game lacked support, both socially and organisationally, and it was not until the 1960s that ladies’ Gaelic football began to take off at local carnivals. Advertised alongside the likes of tug-o-war competitions, children’s races, and fancy-dress parades, ladies’ Gaelic football was considered a novelty act.
A few years later, the LGFA was founded in Hayes’ Hotel in Thurles, Co. Tipperary in 1974. The setting up of the LGFA, also known as Cumann Peil Gael na mBan, was significant as it meant that, for the first time ever, an association would actively manage and promote the playing of Gaelic football for women in Ireland.
The location of the inaugural meeting was significant, too – it was the same place the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) had met for the first time, 90 years earlier, in November 1884. However, at the founding meeting of the GAA, there had been no discussion about facilitating Gaelic games for women. Perhaps that is not surprising, considering that the social norms of the time laid down that sport, generally speaking, was for men only. Women were assumed to have a naturally weaker disposition, which made them unsuitable for strenuous activities; furthermore, the idea of breathless women chasing after a football was deemed quite ‘unladylike.’
Reporting on the game between Offaly and Kerry in O’Connor Park, Tullamore, in 1973 – styled as the first ladies’ All-Ireland football final in the absence of a governing body – the Irish Press stated, ‘that there is a future for this latest craze in the Irish sporting world.’
Indeed, a whole new future for women’s sport opened up in the decades to come. Since starting my PhD research over two years ago, I have built on my MA research and have drawn on newspaper archives, archival material, private collections, interviews, and more to piece together the history of ladies’ Gaelic football. From the feats of record-breaking teams to a headline-grabbing story of a footballing nun, writing the rule book and establishing game-changing partnerships, together these sources provide insight into the experience of ladies’ Gaelic football players, volunteers and administrators at both local and national level.
The emergence of women’s Gaelic football as a competitive sport was part of the wider ascent of women’s sport worldwide that began in the latter half of the twentieth century. It was not just in Gaelic football that Irish women broke new ground during and following this period, but also in soccer, rugby, athletics, swimming and boxing. Neither was it just on the field of play that women were afforded new opportunities, but also in sports administration and coaching. These efforts and achievements signalled that women were more than capable of practising sports and excelling at them. All of which reminds us that while the history of women’s Gaelic football is a story about sporting achievement, it is also a story about challenging the status quo.
Perhaps the status quo in Irish sports writing needs to be challenged, too. Until now, after all, no history had been written on women’s Gaelic football and the LGFA. In fact, the historical position of women’s sport has largely been ignored by Irish historiography.
So, this book aims to record the history of women’s Gaelic football and the LGFA over the last fifty years, documenting the key moments, developments, teams and figures that have contributed to the growth of ladies’ Gaelic football and, in doing so, have helped change the position of women’s sport, and women in society, in Ireland.
Hayley Kilgallon’s book, Unladylike – A History of Ladies Gaelic Football (New Island) will be available from 12 September.
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I would like to see a peer review on his theory.
He is an idiot beyond belief. If he doesn’t believe in autism, I personally invite him into my home and spend time with my beautiful sister. Jess is severely autistic but has been coming on in leaps and bounds due to the fantastic work done by the staff at her school, Saplings. She is literally the light of my life. Surely, by Humphreys “theory” if one child in a family is autistic, then all children should be due to the parents “cold” parenting. I am absolutely livid by such claims, my parents are loving and to say it was their “inadvertent” actions that caused my sister’s autism is an insult to them and to the entire autistic community. He makes me sick.
I probably shouldnt write this but I keep coming up against just how dangerous Dr Humphries’ article is. Dr Stephen Shore suggests a metaphor that I think explains the situation best. For most ‘normal’ people their social ability is like a ball, with which they can do anything. For those on the spectrum their social ability begins as a granite block. The thing is that through experience you learn tricks and cheats that cuts the corners off the block so that it becomes more of an octagon. It may never have as smooth or as easy to use as the ball but it can get you to where you need to go. If it hadnt been for my Mum’s strength of character and love I would still have the granite block, leaving me stuck in an institution somewhere. Something that Mum had been told that she should do. The danger of Mr Humphries article is thus that people on the spectrum will never learn how to cope and be left behind. I’m not suggesting that all people on the spectrum can grow themselves out of a neurological condition, especially one with as broad a range of issues as Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Rather I’m asking that people dont automatically define difference as bad. We all have trememdous potential so long as it is allowed to grow. The wonderful thing that this has highlighted is just how strong the parents and families dealing with ASD’s are. Unfortunately articles like Mr Humphries show the level of ignorance that still exists in many when it comes to the Autism debate.
Kevin, what a heartfelt inspiring comment. Thank you, it gives hope & that’s something that is in short supply when it comes to Autism & special needs in general.
Thank you Kevin for enlightening me on this subject. I think more people like yourself should be listened to get a proper perspective on the issue.
This man speaks unadulterated nonsense, and those previous posters who agree with him have obviously never read about Autism or encountered these children and their parents. This is a very sensitive issue, so people should refrain from commenting from a base of ignorance of the condition. This is not whether Sexton or O’Gara should line out for Ireland. It is far more black and white than that, and should not be open to bar stool “opinions”.
In my opinion I get the impression that no one really knows what causes Autism judging by his comments. About 11 years ago there was another controvertial comment by Dr Andrew Wakefield linking Autism to the MMR. It would be more appropriate to do clinical trials & studies rather that giving a “suggestion”. As a sister of a special needs adult, it would break my parents heart to hear that they were somehow at fault for what happened to my brother. This is a very emotive issue & should be treated as so.
This is a medical/Scientific issue and it is unqualified opinions that make it an emotive issue.Humphreys should know better and stop feeding the media with self serving bullshit.
There have been studies already done that disprove the refrigerator mother “theory”. That is why it is so shocking that someone who should know better would suggest such a thing.
Joe I absolutely agree you, actually I couldn’t have put it better myself..
I am an adult autistic,and a grandmother, and I am going to spell it out on very simple words:
Tony Humprheys attitutude (as well as the “Refrigerator Mother” theory) are just useless and senseless gratuitious abuse of parents who are young enough to be my kids.
What an arrogant man.
Why is he arrogant? He could be correct!
He is arrogant because 1. he has already been proven wrong by real studies, and he should know that and 2. considering the love and affection my family lavished on my children, and continue to do so (my snugglebug!), I’d like to see how he explains how my oldest is autistic- and my youngest (who is more stand-offish in the affection department) is not.
Well to be honest with you this article here is the first I have come across about this guys findings and it seems that the original article was take down by the Examiner. But from what I am reading it wasn’t taken down because he was proved wrong it was taken down because it upset a lot of folks, psychologists included. From what I read above in the short article I thought he was trying to say that children diagnosed with Autism who came from an environment where communication etc was poor were less likely to progress that children from healthy emotionally nourishing environments, which seems to make sense.
Also Amanda I hope you or anyone else was offended by comment as there was no offence caused!
The man is obviously a quack. I heard him interviewed and he has all the symptoms of a snake oil salesman.
Humphreys has not “opened up a debate”. He has a fringe opinion – one that was discredited in the 1960s. Debating this sets us back 50 years.
Would there be a debate if If Humphreys wrote an article that said smoking does not cause cancer? No, it is just wrong – plain and simple (rather like the man now that I think of it).
I agree with him. maybe he was z bit blunt about it. sure think about it. if you couldnt talk and were trying to tell someone something. if they didnt take the time to understand you. you would either shut down or get frustrated n violent even prehaps.
Should I just show home movies from when my child was a baby? When he was non-verbal, we actually took a while to notice because we understood him so well- his non-verbal-ness was initially blamed on us spoiling him. Then we took him to a developmental pediatrician, who confirmed him autistic.
People who believe that lack of parental affection or attention causes autism need to go out in their communities and work with these families and these kids, get educated on the latest REAL studies on the subject, and stop the ignorance that goes into the stigma of blaming families for ASD.
Just because an idea sounds plausible doesn’t mean that it is true. He needs to back up his assertions with data, and if he cannot do so then he should not be taken seriously.
Of course you would either shut down or get frustrated and even violent…but you would not become autistic…
Autism is something very different again…
The Angry masses ridiculed Freud or Jung for their contributions at first. It was not very flattering news to ‘most’ people.
Humphreys thinks he has opened up a debate. It’s more like he has re-animated an old, discredited theory from over 50 years ago. If there is a debate, it is not a scientific debate. Even the authors Tony cites have distanced themselves from him.There’s a lot we don’t know about autism, but one of the things we know is that it is not caused by cold parenting.
Tony is not a scientist and he should keep his psychobabble to himself. People like him (psychoanalysts) are responsible for unquantifiable damage caused to people with autism in France. We need to stick to evidenced based approaches to autism diagnosis and treatment.
I agree communication is important but the child also needs to initiate the communication in order for the parent to respond. It’s not a one way process directed by the parent. Frequently children with ASD do not initiate any communication or seek it out from others making it difficult for the most loving parent to respond. Social communication is one of the core impairments in ASD. Therefore communication with these children requires some innovation often involving visual symbols. For some it is often their preferred way of communicating because they have difficulty inferring the intent of others. Parents’ traditional ways of showing love adapts accordingly. I refer to children with more severe ASD and not Aspergers. Laying the blame at the parent’s doorstep is totally inappropriate.
Well I can speak as an high functioning autistic and add to what you have said that too much engagement can feel like invasion, become overwhelming and have the absolute opposite effect on an autistic…like, for examle, me…
I find it very hard to believe that this is the sole and only cause, plus he has no real evidence. Surprising that somebody who is a qualified psychologist can come up with such thin evidence. Most of these social developmental problems are due to a combination of factors, not just one blanket one. That said, one of the parents of an autistic child I know of is socially very difficult and dysfunctional himself, but that’s only one atypical case. Parental behaviour might be a factor in a minority of cases, but it’s unlikely to be the only factor.
An outrage.
Delayed the Angelus by 4 minutes!
No shame…
I think its unfair for people that dont live with autism to comment about this including said doctor. Noone knows more about autism than those who live with it. Im very sceptical of some of these guys expertise. I live with bi polar & I can tell you I never met a doctor that knows as much about it as I do cos i live it. We must also question these peoples attitudes as we dont have support in real terms from the health service in this country. I would not have the confidence in the people that work in such a broken system. I think its important to point out that until we have a proper working system here we should be sceptical about what they say.
im not suggesting that parents cause autisim at all. but im sure some would be communicating better if they were to do courses. its a two way street.
Please clarify what courses you are referring to?
“im not suggesting that parents cause autisim at all”
Then why are you agreeing with him? Make your mind up.
P.
With all due respect Gill if a child is completly non verbal and has parents, teachers, special needs assistants, speach therapists all working together to help a child learn to speak………which is what happens when a child has a diagnosis of autism……..can you suggest these courses for us who arent in the know??? This is why the article is so damaging to the autism community. people who do not know anything about autism and dont live with it are now telling us we have it wrong. My daughter who was born first walked, talked and did everything early, her brother who is autistic didnt speak till he was four. Same parents, same amount of love………in fact Ben had me full time as I gave up work when he was born, so he got far more attention than she did. Its a nurological condition………my son learns different to other people but he can learn. He is fully verbal now thanks to the team we have behind us.
There are plenty of courses *ANY* parent can take to make their parenting better and more mindful, and kudos to anyone who does them, but it has nothing, whatsoever, to do with autism, one way or another.
With respect Gill, why comment on Autism if you don’t even know how to spell it?
Spot on I’m autistic, my parents have NEVER being bad to me, the chap hasn’t got a clue. I personally won’t ever buy the Examiner now and I hope everyone in the country stops visiting their site and buying their papers, cripple them completely into extinction to set an example to everyone, don’t mess with us. Of course that won’t happen cause as we can see above certain people fall for bloody anything papers spout unfortunately, but I would like at least a few people to do this to hurt them at least a little bit financially and I urge everyone reading this comment to abandon that paper.
There should be mandatory Mensa tests prior to all public broadcasts to protect humanity
yerman is obviously trying to drum up business for himself from distressed parents . With his ” all the experts are wrong , and I’m right and have a cure ” bull . A shyster is all he is .
he got his free advertising though .
He appears to have no compassion, no empathy and shows no sign of remorse. He appears to seek attention, regardless of whether that attention is the result of people agreeing with him , or not. He does not appear to have the ability to understand the pain and suffering he is causing. Indeed, he seems to quite enjoy this. It is, as if he is actually taking pleasure in causing people pain. These psychological traits remind me of particularly nasty individuals, who for the life of me, I cannot remember what they are called. Ahem…
Somebody bloody put this guy back in his box and all of those agreeing with him, he nor you haven’t got a clue.
Here in Ireland, we have a long held tradition of putting unstinting faith in the medical profession. If Dr. Humphrey’s stands by his claims well then let’s look at the evidence. You can’t just come out with a comment like that and not have some sample studies to back it up. That would be totally unprofessional if not completely irresponsible given his credentials. If Autism is, as he says, linked to parental neglect, well then that is a very serious allegation for any family to take on board. But before we start lighting fires and going on a witch hunt let’s take a step back for a moment. This theory was surely mentioned long before now and if it is just a notional idea well then it needs to be treated as such. Just because Dr. Humphrey’s has letters after his name does not make him right, it’s just a highly qualified opinion.
The problem with the psychodynamic view is that: (1) It doesn’t adequately explain autistic behaviours; (2) there is no significant correspondence between deprivation behaviours of neglected children and behaviours of autistic children – in fact there are vast differences – you would expect otherwise if Humphreys proposal was true; (3) it doesn’t adequately explain the prevelance of epilepsy or other concurrent disorders such as SID in ASD; (4) it doesn’t explain why parents of children with autism have non-autistic siblings; (5) research contradicts a developmental view – e.g. behaviours evident at birth (such as atypical vocalisations, rigidity on touch), plus in one study 50% of people with autism showed evidence of organic brain disorder, and there is also evidence in the literature of organic brain damage such as meningitus leading to rapid onset autism; (6) the previous leading exponent of the field was exposed as a child abuser and a charlatan; (7) it’s a chicken and egg fallacy – just because intensive and adaptive social interventions lead to visible improvements in autism doesn’t mean maladaptive social responses cause it – that’s like saying penicillin causes measles.
Why did this Article get such coverage to cause so much hurt and distress to Parents and families who live with Autism particularly as he has no documented evidence to his claims
Sorry – I missed one out. Why the gender difference of at least 4:1? Mummies don’t like boys?
Fox News- us Pays $Millions in secret to vaccine -caused autism injured kids.
http://philosophers-stone.co.uk/wordpress/2011/05/fox-news-%E2%80%93-us-pays-millions-in-secret-to-vaccine-caused-autism-injured-kids/
Are some of the medical profession running scared and twisting the blame because of the epidemic of autism, ADHD, and other forms of brain damage which has been linked to vaccine injury?
No – we (parents of children on the ASD spectrum) don’t need that claptrap stirred up again either
Fox News- US Pays $ millions in secret to vaccine-caused autism injured kids.
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