How Ireland’s soccer players forced change and won a World Cup spot

With her country having fallen short of another World Cup, Ireland’s Aine O’Gorman was done.

After 12 years, 100 caps and a long battle for equality with her own federation that caught the world’s attention, O’Gorman called time on her international career in 2018.

Five years later, she’s starting to think about a World Cup debut in front of 80,000 fans in, and against, Australia. But perhaps more importantly, her courage — and that of her teammates back in 2017 — has changed the landscape for women playing in the Republic of Ireland.

“I always thought it was possible to have a professional setup in Ireland,” she told DW a few days after she scored a last-minute winner for the re-formed Shamrock Rovers in the first round of the newly-professionalized Women’s National League in early March. “I think it takes someone just to lead the way.”

Though she was referring to her club, the league and its administrators, O’Gorman’s part in the widespread changes that have led Ireland to the biggest stage is not to be underestimated.

Player power

That was one of the leading faces and voices of the Irish squad that reluctantly threatened to boycott a 2017 match against Slovakia in protest at their treatment by the Football Association of Ireland (FAI). Players complained publicly of having to change in public toilets on the way to matches and share tracksuits with youth squads.

That protest and press conference, which drew global media attention, was one of the key factors in a revolution in women’s football in Ireland. Subsequently, a raft of institutional changes, including the resignation of controversial former CEO and UEFA Executive Committee member John Delaney, led to an equal pay deal signed in 2021.

“When you’re still playing, you’re in the moment, you just focus on the next game, the next match. You don’t really look back on your career and think how proud you’ll be of that moment. But I think it was important not just for women’s football in Ireland, but for women’s sports in Ireland in general,” O’Gorman said.

“Conditions have improved massively, we have the full backing of the FAI and great sponsors on board. But it’s still hard to believe that we’re going to a World Cup.”

That’s particularly true for O’Gorman. Having quit the international scene five years ago, the 33-year-old was tempted back in 2020 by the changes at the FAI and the overtures of Dutch coach Vera Pauw. Now her country’s third most-capped player, O’Gorman was picked by Pauw for the 1-0 playoff win over Scotland last year that made Irish footballing history.

That Ireland, and O’Gorman, could find a path forward from the depths of 2017 seems particularly pertinent in a World Cup year that’s been dominated by stories of international sides fighting their own federations. France and Spain have seen huge public disputes between players and staff while Canada’s players wanted to go on strike against their own federation. They were subsequently backed in their position, which bears some similarity to Ireland’s in 2017, by world champions the USA and European champions, England.

Worldwide impact

O’Gorman is disappointed to see such prominent countries still fighting the same battles she and her teammates won but sees hope in the Irish victory.

“I don’t think we were really aware of the impact until it all kicked off and we got the global support,” she said. “Anything is possible, I think, when you stick together and have the same goal to better their conditions.

“The fact we’ve even seen the USA have to go through a CBA [collective bargaining agreement] and the Canadian team going through what they are … that’s the world champions and the Olympic champions. It shows you have to keep pushing and improving on it.”

The stand that O’Gorman and her teammates took back then was also about future generations, she added. She was the only player based in Ireland in the squad that beat Scotland in that playoff in front of just over 10,000 people at Hampden Park in Glasgow with the rest spread around the English, German, American, Scottish and Australian leagues.

She hopes that won’t be the case for long, with clubs like Shamrock Rovers offering “more opportunity now for players to stay in Ireland and play at a good level.”

With a pair of friendlies coming up against the USA in April, and fellow World Cup sides Zambia and France lined up in June and July, Ireland are keen to test themselves before taking on Australia on July 20 in Sydney, a city with a significant Irish population.

“We’re playing in an 80,000 seater stadium [Sydney’s Olympic stadium] in the first game and we’re expecting probably half of that to be full of green. So it’s going to be a really special occasion and one that us players are all preparing for and hoping to be on the flight to Australia.”

If O’Gorman does make that long flight, she’ll know she’ll truly have earned her place.

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Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/how-ireland-s-soccer-players-forced-change-and-won-a-world-cup-spot/a-64961741?maca=en-rss-en-sports-1027-xml-atom