Lidl Ireland highlights importance of visibility of women’s sport

Lidl Ireland and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) have launched the 2025 Lidl National Football League season. They have also unveiled striking new research highlighting the importance of developing and elevating Irish female sporting role models due to their positive impact on individuals, society and their sport.

New research, conducted by Red C in November 2024, revealed the need for more high-profile female players in sport. This is because 42% of the Irish public said they would be more likely to attend a women’s sporting event in person if someone well-known was playing.

The challenge of player visibility and audience connection is evident as 43% of people believe that not knowing anyone who is playing is a barrier to attending a female sports event. This is an increase from 33% of respondents surveyed in Lidl’s 2023 research study.

The results of this new research comes ahead of the 2025 Lidl National Leagues.  There are four fixtures in Division 4 on Sunday, January 19, as Kilkenny, Antrim, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Sligo, Wicklow, Longford and Derry commence their campaigns.

Challenging Societal Norms

A quarter of current LGFA inter-county players (24%) surveyed say that gender issues and cultural or societal norms, such as prioritising male sport over female sport, is the most significant barrier to elevating their public profiles. 

This is reflected in the public’s behaviour and attitudes towards female sport. When asked about the reasons for not attending women’s sporting events, the majority of the public say they still prefer to go to men’s sporting events (51%) whilst almost a quarter (23%) believe the women’s game isn’t as important as the men’s.

However, two thirds (66%) of the Irish public said that having female sporting role models encourages equality, 56% say they encourage diversity and inclusion in society, and over half (56%) say it contributes to smashing gender inequality within sport specifically.

Importance of Female Role Models

Over half of Irish adults (57%) say they had a sporting role model growing up, with Sonia O’Sullivan being the most popular hero, inspiring almost one in ten respondents. 100% of inter-county players agree that having LGFA role models are important, with over half (58%) believing they can help raise the profile of the sport. But, 43% of players do not currently consider themselves to be role models.

Growing up, 37% of LGFA inter-county players surveyed said they looked to male sports stars as their role models, but just 2% of players say they currently have a male sports role model now that they are older, highlighting the changing needs for women in sport and the importance of inspirational female athletes throughout a player’s career.

As parents, men are more likely than women to believe that having a female sporting role model is important for their sons (54% men, 46% women) and daughters (61% men, 58% women) growing up.

Parent’s understanding of the impact on children of Irish female sporting role models saw a broad spectrum of benefits – from encouraging a healthy lifestyle for kids (57%), positive mental health (48%) and positive body image (46%); to essential life skills such as instilling teamwork (49%), good work ethic (44%) and leadership skills (37%). Female sporting role models were also deemed to promote equality (55%) and representation within their community (34%).

Leveraging a Stellar Year for Irish Women’s Sport

Three quarters of the Irish public (75%) were able to name an Irish female sports star unprompted. Of this, Katie Taylor remained top of the list and was named by more than half of respondents (57%), whilst a fifth of respondents named Kellie Harrington in second place – growing from just 4% awareness last year to 20% following her stellar gold medal win at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Other notable boosts in public profiles included Katie McCabe (growing from 10% awareness to 17% this year) and Rhasidat Adeleke (with a significant boost from just 1% to 12% this year) whilst Sonia O’Sullivan, Leona Maguire, Rachel Blackmore, Cora Staunton and Anna Geary all completed the public’s line up.

After an incredible year for Irish women’s sport, which saw the Irish public watch a range of different female sporting events including the Paris 2024 Olympics athletics (47%), boxing (43%) and swimming (39%) events; Women’s International Soccer games (30%); Women’s League of Ireland soccer (13%); Ladies’ Gaelic National Football Leagues and Championships (22%); Women’s Irish Open (11%) and Solheim Cup (9%), one in four (24%) people said they are more interested in female sport now than they were at the same time point last year. 

The 2025 Lidl National Football League season gets underway this weekend with four fixtures across Division 4, while action across Divisions 1 to 3 gets underway from January 25. TG4 All-Ireland Senior champions Kerry host Lidl National League Division 1 title holders Armagh in the opening round of Division 1 on January 25.

The 2025 Lidl National Leagues conclude across the weekend of April 12-13 with the Divisions 1 and 2 Finals taking place in Croke Park on Saturday 12 and broadcast live by TG4. The Divisions 3 and 4 finals will take place on Sunday April 13.

The LGFA and TG4 have confirmed live coverage of 13 fixtures from the 2025 Lidl National Leagues, via linear TV and the Spórt TG4 YouTube page, commencing with the Kerry-Armagh clash from Austin Stack Park, Tralee, on Saturday January 25.

Peil na mBan Beo will be available to audiences globally on the TG4 Player at www.tg4.ie/beo and on the TG4 Mobile and Smart TV App.

Tickets to attend the group fixtures of the 2025 Lidl National Football League matches are available via the host county boards and ticket information will be available on www.ladiesgaelic.ie