Traditionally, it was the men on the staff who hopped the ball when it came to the primary school GAA team. But with women making up almost nine out of 10 new teachers, they are coming into their own out on the park. Grainne Fallerreports on the growing influence of women in schools' Gaelic games

When it comes to cultivating grassroots, the GAA is one of the best. Some of this country's finest athletes shed sweat, blood and tears on hurling or football fields. They have no promise of ever being able to play professionally or being rewarded financially. Training every evening, going to work the next day and why? They do it because it's what they have been doing every day since they were in primary school. The school team is a hugely important part of the GAA's ground-up approach and the time and effort of the teacher in charge is crucial.

Until very recently, that teacher would probably have been one of the men on the school staff. While primary school teaching is dominated by women, men have always punched above their weight when it comes to principalships and sports in schools. GAA in particular seems to have been a traditionally male preserve.

According to Maoilíosa Ó Dubhthaigh, chairman of Cumann na mBunscol Áth Cliath, there have been very few women in the Cumann until now. The Cumann is the organisation that manages interschool leagues and championships in Gaelic games at this level and Ó Dubhthaigh is very keen to get women involved.

It is imperative for the GAA that they do. These days, about nine out of 10 new teachers are female. In 2004 more than 40 per cent of primary schools did not have a male teacher on staff. As more men than women tend to have a GAA background, are the grassroots going to take a hit?

Not according to Pat Daly, Director of Games with the GAA. "It's a mistaken notion to think that the feminisation of teaching will lead to a contraction of the sport," he says.

Not an organisation to take any chances, though, the GAA is launching a resource for teachers who wish to either use GAA skills for PE or who wish to start coaching a school team (see panel). The GAA Fun Do learning resource pack comprises a mixture of DVDs, CD-Roms and booklets for teachers and the resource was designed with the new curriculum in mind.

The driving force behind the pack, however, had less to do with the gender of teachers and more to do with the fact that the GAA wants to see more of an emphasis on the health benefits and the fun aspect of Gaelic games in school. "I think in the past there was a huge emphasis on winning trophies, probably to the detriment of enjoyment," says Daly. "The feminisation of teaching may have been a worry in the past, but really, when we can present teachers, male or female, with materials and resources like these for lessons based around Gaelic games, there shouldn't be a problem."

It seems he's right and the change is happening already. Cumann na mBunscol Átha Cliath has more than doubled the number of school leagues it manages in the past 10 years. Female participation, on the part of both students and teachers, has gone through the roof. Ó Dubhthaigh says: "Five years ago, out of 90 people at our meetings, maybe 10 would have been women. Now, about a third of people attending are female."

"It's a massive thing in our school." Tricia Ní Mhaolagáin coaches girls' football and camogie in Gaelscoil Thaobh na Coille in Stepaside, Co Dublin. The school has had quite a bit of success in Dublin leagues, but for Ní Mhaolagáin that's just part of the story. "You can't beat it for building the confidence," she says. "Anyone who trains and comes to a match will get to play . . . It's such a positive thing, especially if someone who may not excel in school succeeds on the pitch."

There was no girls' team when Ní Mhaolagáin joined the school. "I was asked to do it, and I thought why not?" she says. "When I think about it I probably didn't have much of a clue. I wasn't playing myself, but we managed."

Training happens after school and during lunchtimes. It's voluntary for students and voluntary for teachers, who coach teams and organise matches on their own time. Ní Mhaolagáin never has a problem getting teams together. "I normally have about 30 at a training session," she says. "I think it helps that school sports - here at least - are about including people. Clubs are slightly different in that there's more of an emphasis on the competitive element."

Ní Mhaolagáin is one of many young women who are now coaching teams and organising sports in their schools. Elaine O'Rourke, a teacher in the Assumption Senior Girls' School in Walkinstown, Dublin is currently establishing a football team in her own school.

"They're so enthusiastic," she says of her students. "Even girls who may not be that sporty want to play and they really enjoy it." O'Rourke believes that the national growth in popularity of sports such as women's football has a positive influence on female teachers. "It just makes people more familiar with the sport. I think that a lot of women are very keen to do this sort of thing."

Indeed, Richard Bowles is involved in training student teachers in physical education in Mary Immaculate College in Limerick and he agrees that women's football and camogie have had a positive influence on the students he lectures.

"The female students coming in now have a much stronger tradition of football and camogie - much more so than when I was in college," he says. "Research would suggest that confidence is an issue when it comes to physical education in general, so I think support and resources in this area are needed so that teachers' knowledge and confidence can be deepened over their years of teaching."

The GAA is keen to have games and skills included in everyday PE classes. Pat Daly believes that female teachers are particularly suited to delivering the new resources. "We want the programme to be child-centred," he says. "I think anecdotally at least, women are probably more in tune with the idea of inclusion rather than competition. Either way, we just want to make sure the resources are used by everyone, male or female."

Ní Mhaolagáin is in no doubt as to the benefits of the training and the team for both the children and herself. "Of course, creating a healthy attitude towards fitness is hugely important. You notice a huge difference in fitness levels in just a couple of weeks."

There are advantages professionally as well. "It enables me to get to know children at the senior end of the school," she says. "Your role changes as a coach. You see another side of them . . . It's a very positive thing to be involved in."

GAA Fun Do: a learning resource

The GAA Fun Do learning resource pack, which will be launched on Monday, October 1st, will provide coaches of all levels with the tools to teach the basic skills of football and hurling to young players from nursery age right up to the end of primary school.

The pack contains a state-of-the-art interactive DVD, which is as user-friendly as it is technologically advanced. It sets out an array of activities, which enable coaches to plan effectively and carry out child-friendly training sessions according to best practice.

There are over four hours of video footage on the DVD-Rom. This footage is integrated with over 1,000 activities between hurling and football all of which are accompanied by a series of written manuals.

For more information see www.gaa.ie and click on the Fun Do tab.

Is the feminisation of teaching going to damage the GAA? Coaches have their say . . .

Cáit Ní Raghnaill

Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch, Bally- mun, Dublin

"I really don't think so. If you look at our school, we have one girls' and two boys' football teams all coached by female teachers. The children love it. They always want to go out training at lunchtime.

"There wouldn't have been a football team in the school before we set up the girls' team. Of course the boys soon started complaining that they didn't have one, so we set one up for them as well.

"I have a background in football and I used to play for Leitrim. I think it's hugely important for the students. I definitely think it gives them a huge amount of confidence. They're part of a team and that really helps them to interact with one another and work together.

"That's the important part, although when they do well in the leagues it's great. Our girls were in the final in Croke Park two years ago. On an occasion like that the whole school gets into it.

"Why do I do it? There's a question! Mainly, I just love the football."

Deirdre Naughton

St Mary's Boys' NS,

Rathfarnham, Dublin

"No. I can see how people could think that it might. Men may have had more of an interest in sports and GAA in the past and some women may be a bit reluctant to put themselves forward to coach a team, but that's a confidence thing I think. If you have a go it's fine.

"I take the junior football team in my school. We're very lucky because we have plenty of green space available behind the school. There's a good tradition of footballl. We have a handy system where two people are involved in each team. It's interesting actually as the partnerships have been male/male or male/female in the past and now in the there are a couple of all female partnerships.

"The school football is great. There is so much pressure nowadays to excel in everything. We stress the importance of taking part and playing with their friends.

"It's really great. I'm teaching second class, so it allows me to get to know children from fourth and fifth. I wouldn't give it up for the world."

Ciara Harte

St Laurence's CBS, Saville Place, Dublin

"I'd say that people who wonder about the influence of female teachers on GAA in school have very little to question. Man or woman, it's down to dedication and enthusiasm.

"There is a strong history of GAA in my school and I suppose I would have been involved in reviving the teams.

"I started coaching in the school while I was still in my third year of college and it meant that when I got a job there the following year we had a good basis to grow from. The boys are so dedicated and so proud of their achievements. It's great because they were always good at soccer and now they have this too. The interest in the school has created a real revival in the area in fact.

"When you manage a team in the school, I think you have a different relationship with the students. You really get to see them shine. When a child does well, even if it's in a training session, he may as well stand 10 foot tall out on the pitch. It reminds you why you do it."