Girls play too: Jacqui Hurley speaks to Woman's Way

“One thing that my boss has always said about our job is that when you look at the television it needs to reflect the picture that you look at around you,” says Jacqui Hurley. We’re chatting via phone and she is speaking about the importance of showing women that they have a place in sports.

“If you look around your living room you need to be seeing that on a screen as well because you need to feel like we live in an equal society,” she continues.

“I think sport, for me, was always hugely important in my house but one lesson that I learned from a very young age that sport was equal in my house… and I think you need to learn that with your own eyes – you need to see what the world looks like. So from my point of view I think it’s hugely important that women are involved in sports because it’s normal. That’s the reality. And I want it to be normal for my kids and I want it to be normal for their kids.”

When asked what being involved in sport throughout her life has given to her, Jacqui immediately answers: “Everything.” “I wouldn’t be the person I am without sport, that’s the honesty of it. It’s everything from learning how to read people, how to be around people, it’s leadership, it’s trust, it’s understanding. I think sometimes with people who are not into sport they see it as very physical and really sweaty and not as enjoyable. Whereas actually I think the attributes that sportspeople have are all those qualities about just being able to reason with people and being able to express themselves.”

When we think of sports, few of us immediately begin to think of the positive qualities and traits that Jacqui has already mentioned – leadership, expression, trust – and how important it is for young women to learn these skills. But Jacqui says that body image is also huge for young women (and men) and that sports can have a positive impact.

“I think sport can have a really positive effect on people because if you focus on how you feel instead of how you look, then how you look is going to take care of itself. Just having a healthy mind and a healthy body is just so good for young people and I think that’s a really important message for young girls. Just teach them that it doesn’t have to be about team sport.

“If you don’t want to play team sport then don’t do that but there’s lots of other things you can do – you can go to the gym, you can go for a run, you can go for a walk, you can hike up mountains if that’s what you want to do, but just do something.”

We start to talk about the disparity that’s often apparent where men’s training and sports is considered to be more important than women’s and how this was seen during lockdown when the emphasis was getting men back to training more so than women.

“The problem is it’s [one step] forward, one step back. Last year was such a positive year and even when you look at the Women’s World Cup, the figures, the way it changed people and their outlook around women’s sport was massive. The problem this year is once you got into COVID, everything was about project restart for men’s games. There was very little about trying to get women’s games back on… That is a big problem and I think we need to address it.”

However, looking on the bright side, Jacqui says that there’s still the chance to make 2020 a positive year for women in sport.

“Generally speaking the opportunity, when it’s there, you need to seize it. You know, I think this year with 20x20 and everything we’re trying to do with getting women active, and there’s loads of campaigns out there that are really positive, sometimes you do need to strike while the iron is hot. This is a really good year, it’s not over yet. Maybe we’ve lost some ground in the last couple of months but it can still be a big year, there is still a big opportunity for people to make their mark on this year and to continue the progression because there has been some remarkable strides made.”

As someone who has been involved with sports throughout her entire life, I ask Jacqui what she would love to see happen in the future when it comes to getting women involved. She tells me she would love to see women involved at every level of sports.

“The participation level is still a problem, we are still losing young girls and I think there’s a lot of research to be done around that,” she says.

She makes reference to a study which took place a few years ago which found that in relation to gaelic football, many young people were dropping the sport around the time when they started to get their period. The research found this was down to gaelic football shorts being white. Girls didn’t want to play because they were worried about that.

“A gaelic football club in Dublin made a decision that they were going to make their gaelic football shorts navy and suddenly their drop-off rates fell by more than 10 per cent. There was so many more people staying with the sport because of something that was perceived as a problem was no longer a problem for young girls. So there’s definitely some research that needs to be done around those age groups to make sure that we keep young women active. That’s the biggest thing I’d like to see.”

Speaking about participation, Jacqui says she would love to see more playing options available for girls in order to keep them interested.

“I do think if you could sort out the participation, get more people active and involved those people then would start going to games which then would generate more revenue and then you’re getting a better product on the television. I would start off, personally, if I was running this thing, I would start from the participation and then go from there and hope that you build a good solid base.”

With many prominent female Irish athletes pledging their support to campaigns such as 20x20 to encourage more women to get involved in sports, Jacqui was inspired to create a book for young girls. Girls Play Too: Inspiring Stories of Irish Sportswomen (Merrion Press). So why did Jacqui want to create a book like this? She tells me that the idea has been in her head for “a long time”.

“I would have loved to have a book that gave me all the stories of my favourite sportswomen because when I was a kid Sonia O’Sullivan was my idol and I knew lots about her because she was on the TV and she was in the newspaper but other women weren’t. I loved Sonia, but there was really only her. There were so many other female athletes out there that I would have loved to have heard about when I was a kid… So in a way I’ve written this book because it’s something that I wish I had.”