Women's Rugby in Connacht

Nicole Fowley to make debut for Ireland Women against England

www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/internati...st-england-1.2863058

Ireland Women face Canada on Saturday 19th and New Zealand on the 27th

On a team that contains 5 representing Connacht

IRELAND WOMEN'S Team & Replacements (v England Women, Women's November Series, UCD Bowl, Sunday, November 13, kick-off 2pm):
15. Mairead Coyne (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Niamh Kavanagh (UL Bohemians/Munster)
13. Nicole Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht) *
12. Sene Naoupu (Aylesford Bulls)
11. Alison Miller (Old Belvedere/Connacht)
10. Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
9. Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union)
1. Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster)
2. Cliodhna Moloney (Railway Union/Leinster)
3. Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
4. Marie Louise Reilly (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
5. Orla Fitzsimons (St. Mary's/Leinster)
6. Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
7. Claire Molloy (Bristol/Connacht)
8. Paula Fitzpatrick (St. Mary's/Leinster) (capt)
Replacements:
16. Leah Lyons (Highfield/Munster) *
17. Fiona Hayes (UL Bohemians/Munster)
18. Fiona Reidy (UL Bohemians/Munster)
19. Katie Norris (Blackrock/Leinster)
20. Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
21. Mary Healy (Galwegians/Connacht)
22. Nikki Caughey (Railway Union/Ulster)
23. Jackie Shiels (Old Belvedere/Leinster

connemara man wrote: On a team that contains 5 representing Connacht

IRELAND WOMEN'S Team & Replacements (v England Women, Women's November Series, UCD Bowl, Sunday, November 13, kick-off 2pm):
15. Mairead Coyne (Galwegians/Connacht)
14. Niamh Kavanagh (UL Bohemians/Munster)
13. Nicole Fowley (Galwegians/Connacht) *
12. Sene Naoupu (Aylesford Bulls)
11. Alison Miller (Old Belvedere/Connacht)
10. Nora Stapleton (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
9. Larissa Muldoon (Railway Union)
1. Lindsay Peat (Railway Union/Leinster)
2. Cliodhna Moloney (Railway Union/Leinster)
3. Ailis Egan (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
4. Marie Louise Reilly (Old Belvedere/Leinster)
5. Orla Fitzsimons (St. Mary's/Leinster)
6. Ciara Griffin (UL Bohemians/Munster)
7. Claire Molloy (Bristol/Connacht)
8. Paula Fitzpatrick (St. Mary's/Leinster) (capt)
Replacements:
16. Leah Lyons (Highfield/Munster) *
17. Fiona Hayes (UL Bohemians/Munster)
18. Fiona Reidy (UL Bohemians/Munster)
19. Katie Norris (Blackrock/Leinster)
20. Chloe Pearse (UL Bohemians/Munster) *
21. Mary Healy (Galwegians/Connacht)
22. Nikki Caughey (Railway Union/Ulster)
23. Jackie Shiels (Old Belvedere/Leinster

6 if you include Sene Naoupu - can we still claim her?

If you haven't seen it today or yesterday the Connacht branch have taken over the Connacht women's Facebook page and have changed it to clubs and communities with the women bundled in there. I've posted on it how ridiculous that is if people herr could either unfollow or register some sort of annoyance that'd be cool.

They put a lot of work in to getting a following for it to be hijacked is ridiculous

sea_point wrote:

connemara man wrote: If you haven't seen it today or yesterday the Connacht branch have taken over the Connacht women's Facebook page and have changed it to clubs and communities with the women bundled in there. I've posted on it how ridiculous that is if people herr could either unfollow or register some sort of annoyance that'd be cool.

They put a lot of work in to getting a following for it to be hijacked is ridiculous

Folks unless you have the facts behind the change, I'd lay off throwing up accusations on the FB Page. It may very well have been that Connacht Rugby took over the page at the request of the Women's Rugby group as they didn't have the resources to do it justice.

I'm not saying that is definitely the case, but it could easily be...!

Seen what connamara man is talking about.
Sea point, hsve look on the page, the facts are there (unless deleted in last hour)
It was a great page to keep updated with women rugby but taken over now without consulting those who put in the great hard work.
There is even posts there from current connacht and Ireland player, disagreeing with the takeover!
Were the branch to lazy to set up there own page or did they want to steal the 2000+ followers of the women's rugby

This isn't heresay or anything like that. The people that had ran the page on a volunteer basis are incredibly upset by the whole thing as they have put in a lot of time and effort raising the profile of the women's game. There doesn't seem to be any logical reason for this as even the other provinces women's teams have dedicated social media outlets.

I'm not one for wild rumours seapoint I can assure you this is true

Very ironic (and sad), given today is International Woman's Day

Carol Staunton on Facebook

Folks, as a former Connacht women's captain, committee member, and Connacht Women's Rugby Facebook admin, I'd be very grateful if you'd oblige me and respond in some way to the action taken recently in commandeering the our Facebook page.

At first glance, this hardly seems like a big deal: it has presumably been taken over and rebranded to align more closely with the Connacht Rugby website, and will cover more rugby within the province as a result. All good, right?

Well, no - take a closer look.

The reality is that this wasn’t just a mere page. It was so much more than that: a carefully curated record of the goings on in women’s and girls’ rugby in the province following a meeting in 2013 during which we collectively copped on to the idea that this forum could be the means to how we build this aspect of the game, promote it and expand it – and MY GOD it worked!
We reached out to past and present players, to coaches, managers, and rugby enthusiasts. Friendships formed, as did working relationships, and what has emerged since then is a strong and colourful web of interactions that made us grow (from a measly 300 likes!), made us better, and made us stronger. It’s no coincidence that women’s and girls’ rugby in the province has boomed simultaneously.

So, it’s particularly galling to see that, in a home World Cup year, in the season that the women’s provincial teams broke through with some fantastic results, that women’s and girls’ rugby in Connacht has been made that little more invisible. The fact that this action was taken without the consultation of any of the Connacht Women’s Rugby Committee is farcical and a poor reflection of the branch’s attitude towards not only women’s and girls’ rugby, but to its volunteers who have often kept the show on the road.

By now, everyone must be bored with the repeated fact that coverage of women’s sports generally is substantially less than coverage of men’s sports. So, to subsume women’s and girls’ rugby under the Club and Community banner is to imply that the job for promoting it separately is done. It’s not; it never really is. We have not reached parity – and even then, parity sometimes isn’t the point. In many cases, just as in this one, the point is that a dedicated resource to this aspect of the sport becomes a network, a meeting place, an archive, a record. And now it’s no more. The fact that the other branches have dedicated women’s pages speaks volumes.

The support for the retention of the page from our brilliant friends and supporters of the game in Connacht has been extremely encouraging. There have been many calls to start a new women’s and girls’ rugby page. However, should you have correctly identified the need and desire among thousands of people for a dedicated resource to promote women’s and girls’ rugby, they would have started their own Club and Community resource. A splinter page, started from scratch, just doesn’t seem viable or, if I’m honest, fair. We already built our Facebook family from scratch – that work has already been done and, now, negated.

It’s not an exaggeration to say there is a huge group of past and present players, as well as supporters, that are genuinely hurting. And it certainly isn’t an exaggeration to say this was more than a Facebook page, and that this issue is bigger than “brand integrity”.

Oh, and Happy International Women’s Day!

Jaysus this is a PR disaster. Can't see the logic behind it. The branch needs to do something about this quickly.

Who in the Branch is responsible for this action regarding the purloining of the Women's Rugby Facebook page, and has Willie Ruane been approached to reverse the decision?

Betty Swallocks wrote: Who in the Branch is responsible for this action regarding the purloining of the Women's Rugby Facebook page, and has Willie Ruane been approached to reverse the decision?

All anyone knows is what Carol posted above. Anything else I could say I would be guess work on my part. The only way to know for sure is to email the branch or post on the community Facebook page that has taken over the women's page

Thank goodness common sense prevailed