Joanne O’Riordan: Here’s hoping my A Sporting Chance documentary will be dated in a few months

I remember reading a tweet once that asked, “how many lives have you lived?”

The weird thing about my life is that in the 26 years I’ve been annoying people on this planet, I’ve possibly lived almost 26 lives. First, it was a girl born without limbs. Next was a girl who challenged the Fine Gael government over disability cuts, then a United Nations speaker, followed by Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the World. There also was a short stint as a criminologist, but that got overridden by dog enthusiasts. But, it always came back to sport.

Then, this column came about, and I’ve been gracing these pages for the last five years. My current life consists of being Louis Theroux for women’s sports. A Sporting Chance, my documentary with Loosehorse Productions and RTÉ, initially came about early this year.

To be honest, my initial thoughts about the documentary were full of doubts and what-ifs. I love the freedom of being able to tackle taboos and women’s issues in this column, from periods to sports bras to pay inequality, and trying something new is always petrifying. Eventually, I gave in for a variety of reasons.

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The selfish reason, if I’m honest, is that not many people get offered the chance to do their dream job, with dream crews and comrades, while meeting their childhood heroes. This was also an opportunity to branch out and push myself.

But all those selfish reasons aside, there really was one true “why?” for this documentary. I believe that sports can be a catalyst and an actual vehicle for change, and sports can help create a world that we want to see and the world we want to exist in.

It’s terrifying to challenge the status quo – to challenge sexism, misogyny, racism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia. Trying to change a world where these have been the norm for so long can be petrifying, but women’s sports can be the vehicle for this change.

The ideal world would invest in women’s sports solely for their entertaining games and incredible athletic feats. From Vikki Wall absolutely bossing a sport that is brand new to her, to referee Michelle O’Neill standing tall among the bile and vitriol spewed to achieve a stunning triple tournament appearance at the Olympics, World Cup and European Championships. From Hannah Tyrell being remarkable at multiple sports while battling doubts and toxic thoughts in her own head, to Amy Broadhurst keeping that promise to herself as a 12-year-old and going on to achieve World and European success.

Throughout this documentary-making process, I learned that women’s sports continue to succeed despite their environment, not because of it. For far too long, women are expected to achieve amazing things despite the lack of investment, funds and support. And yet, despite the pitiful support, in this country we have developed Sonia O’Sullivan, Katie Taylor, Kellie Harrington, and many other incredible talents.

Rachael Blackmore and Leona Maguire highlighted how taking your own path can sometimes be the most significant stepping stone on the way to success. The Maguire sisters literally had each other for support and are carving out incredible opportunities inside the golf course and the boardroom.

The aspiration and hope for this documentary is to show that investing in women’s sports isn’t the “good thing” or the “charitable thing” to do. Words matter, and phrases such as “supporting women’s sports” need to be retired. You support causes and charities that need help to stay afloat and provide essential services – you invest in good businesses that repeatedly blow expectations out of the water.

Women’s sports are a good business decision, despite many people labelling it otherwise. This will not happen today or tomorrow, but a shift in attitude must occur in leagues, organisations, media outlets, fans and players. Today’s coverage focuses on what these athletes do off the field as mothers, activists and as “role models for young girls.” This is lovely additional content – but as the primary offering, it’s holding back the space that can be used for generating hype and content we know sports fans will devour.

Hype, storylines, drama, excitement and feats of athleticism are the main reasons we keep returning to sports, and women’s sports are starting to become one of the biggest growth stories of our time.

At an RTÉ conference in 2019, the then sports editor Declan McBennett told shareholders and sporting organisations that the train for women’s sports had left the platform. Whether you’re on that train or that platform is entirely up to you.

But A Sporting Chance will weirdly be one of the few documentaries aired globally about women’s sports. We love a good story filled with emotion, like Ross Whitaker’s fantastic work with Rachael Blackmore and Katie Taylor. The storylines are there, the opportunity just has to be grasped.

Ironically enough, the hope with A Sporting Chance is that it becomes dated a few months after it airs. In the programme I hear stories of no doctors on intercounty sidelines for training, lack of respect, Government hurdles, and attitudes that need to be changed. But, behind that noise, there are so many doers out there. Doers who simply don’t care what the status quo is.

As the kids say, this documentary provides the receipts on how good women in sport are. Let’s use this as a chance to buy into the vision of women’s sports. Investors look for reasons to say “yes” to investing in men’s sports. Let A Sporting Chance be the point where investors can’t find a reason to say “no” to investing in women’s sports.

I hope this documentary is the beginning of the end for female athletes who fight for what they deserve. Let it be the end of highlighting what’s been done, and the start of looking at what women’s sports can and will be.

A Sporting Chance airs on Thursday, October 27th at 10.15pm on RTÉ One