The organisation has given the women’s game equal billing, with professional contracts and streaming packages in line with the men’s game

Shelbourne FC League of Ireland women's football

The Republic of Ireland women’s side is set for its first World Cup this summer, facing co-hosts Australia in their first match in the same year they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Football Association of Ireland (FAI).

The women’s national team has seen a remarkable turnaround since 2017, when there were threats to boycott a match and claims they were being treated like ‘fifth-class citizens’ by their federation as it forced them to share tracksuits with underage teams and change in airport toilets.

Since then, sponsorship from energy firm SSE Airtricity began in 2021 and professional contracts were brought in from December 2022. There has also been a large increase in free-to-air broadcast coverage with 12 games live this season in partnership with TG4, an increase from zero in 2020, 4 in 2021, and 10 in 2022.

Now, for its current season the League of Ireland has given the Women’s Premier Division a brand refresh and equal billing to live games on League of Ireland TV, a D2C service that clubs stream through, as part of a combined men’s and women’s all-game pass costing €120.

Cian Nelson, League of Ireland club development manager, said: “It’s a League of Ireland pass not a separate Men’s or Women’s ticket. If you’re a Shamrock Rovers fan we want you to support the Men’s and Women’s teams.”

The new professional contracts mean female players are now subject to the same equal minimum wage structures as male counterparts, though this does not mean they are getting paid enough to turn professional.

“The business model is not there, the revenue is not there, there’s no economy around the women’s game,” said Nelson. “We want it to be a natural progression which will take time.”

The aim is to create an interlinked strategy to drive more fans through turnstiles, in turn increasing sponsorship for clubs to invest in facilities and players.

Nelson believes taking the women’s game seriously is vital: “We don’t hide the women’s game away. The Women’s Division is on the home page [of LOITV.ie] equally with the men’s. They are promoted equally. We’re inviting fans to come to the site and then decide what they want to watch.”

All League of Ireland matches, Men’s and Women’s, are live streamed and on-demand on LOITV, the FAI’s streaming platform, totalling 440 over the year.

Pixellot’s AI-assisted automated camera systems have been installed at the majority of Men’s First Division and all eleven Women’s Premier Division grounds since 2021, allowing for this increase in coverage.

Nelson explained the situation before this move: “Before Covid, clubs were filming games and streaming them off a mobile phone on a tripod. Without graphics and barely with commentary it was certainly not a professional standard.”

Club budgets are limited and most staff are volunteers, so little training is needed for those on site and professional graphics are added to the streams from a central hub. Clubs are also able to use the system’s tactical mode for video analysis and for clipping highlights to social media.

He added on the growth in exposure: “Prior to Pixellot the women’s game was played - figuratively speaking - behind closed doors. People didn’t know it existed. Now people can easily watch it and get to know our players, get to know our teams, and hopefully it piques their interest in going to games or playing football at a young age,” and the importance of LOITV, “LOITV is a small but important part of how a club builds commercially. Clubs can point to live streaming when pitching to sponsors and to the associate social media engagement.”

To drive engagement, the League of Ireland made the decision to make live streams of Women’s games free to view during 2021 and 2022. This year it returns to charging. Nelson said: “Charging certainly would have been the stick for critics to beat us with if we hadn’t attracted viewers.”

The national team’s success has brought more eyeballs again to the League of Ireland’s push to promote women’s football, and LOI director Mark Scanlon believes that the organisation can build on this: “It has been an exciting start to the new season, following on the back of a rebrand, the introduction of professional status and having both Galway United and Shamrock Rovers join the League. Attendances are on the rise and interest in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division has never been higher. The broadcasting of games on national television ensures that we are connecting with more people. This is something that we aim to build on.”