WE HAVE TO KEEP FINDING WAYS TO PROMOTE THE GAME
“Sponsors see the potential in women’s sport”
JACKIE Cahill is living the commercial manager’s dream, peddling a product that has a healthy habit of being able to sell itself.
Little over two years ago, the Tipperary native parked his busy career as a GAA journalist to take on the newly-reconstructed position of communication and commercial manager with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association.
His knowledge of the brief was hardly in question, having spent over a decade compiling roundups of the ladies game and, in the process, helping to creak open the doors to ensure its visibility in the mainstream media.
The days when the ladies game begged for exposure, though, belong to the past, with the growth rate of ladies Gaelic football dwarfing most sports.
‘We have reached the point we now have more than 213,000 in the LGFA, which translates to significant year-on-year increases. There is just a natural evolution in terms of the greater awareness of the sport,’ explains Cahill.
There are other numbers that back it up. Since 2013, their showpiece All-Ireland finals day has seen attendance numbers climb aggressively to the point that they have doubled in seven years.
Last year’s attendance of 56,114 was not only a massive 6,000 increase on the previous year’s record, but the only female sporting event that eclipsed it in attendance was the women’s soccer World Cup final — and even then by barely over 1,000.
It is a measure of both the popularity of the game and the promotional strategy, which Cahill directs, which compliments it.
‘We are always trying to innovate. We started live streaming of matches on Facebook last year and it proved very popular and we are continuing that on this year.
‘We are always looking to promote the game in new ways.
‘I came from a print background and I still don’t think there is anything nicer in the morning with a cup of coffee than the feel of newsprint in your hands
‘But if you are looking for updates on a Sunday, the first place you are going to go is Twitter. We are conscious of that and we would have someone dedicated to that every weekend.
‘We have seen a significant pick-up by our counties as well over the last two years in the way that they use social media, with more and more of them signing up to Instagram. And we have seen an 80% growth in that platform, which was a medium that perhaps we’d not paid too much attention to in previous times.
‘We have moved it on, Twitter and Facebook are both up 15% in terms of followers and that is the kind of stuff that you can quantify.’
Those are numbers that reel in commercial interest. TG4, who are also the championship sponsors, will celebrate their 20th anniversary covering the Ladies game this year.
Just like social media, their figures also suggest the ladies game is reaching levels of awareness that few would have thought possible at the start of this decade.
The television viewing figures for last year’s finals hit 660,000 – an increase of 80,000 on the previous year.
Meanwhile, retail giants Lidl are in their fifth year – having renewed their deal – as sponsors of the league.
‘You see a trend as well developing with some sponsors who might have traditionally favoured men’s sport but who now see the real potential in tapping into female sport and we are seeing some of the benefits of that.
‘We have a number of other partners as well. We teamed up with AIG last year as our insurance partner and there are a number of others in our commercial family which we are always looking to expand.’
Almost two and a half years into his role and Cahill admits it has passed in a blur.
‘It would be impossible to compute the hours that go into it because there is stuff happening at weekends but I probably get a few more weekends off than when I was working as a journalist,’ he laughs.
Married to Lisa, with two young sons Jack (4) and Conor (1), while also feeding his addiction to Liverpool FC, time is at a premium.
‘I love it as a job, but that is not to say that there are not challenges.
‘The biggest one is we have to keep finding ways to promote this because the biggest incentive is that our players are seen as the elite sportspeople that they are.’