Lidl Ireland Gets Behind the Fight for Equality in Sport with Ladies Gaelic Football Association

Research commissioned by Lidl and carried out by RedC, has shown that more than half (59%) of the people in Ireland have never attended a women’s sporting event. Lidl has come a long way since it started supporting the LGFA in 2016, a significant body of work remains to be done to change hearts and minds across the country, driving attendance at games. In order to take ladies football to the next level, the nation needs to get behind the players' fight for equal footing in the world of sport. The only way to get equal support, equal media coverage, and equal player treatment is for fans to buy tickets to matches and support the national sport in its entirety. 

Every year, it’s as clear as day to see the disparities in attendance levels at the All-Ireland finals. The LGFA have never filled Croke Park, yet tickets for the men’s finals are like gold dust.

Lidl and Folk VML created a rallying call that invited the nation to 'Get Behind the Fight' for equality by filling every seat at every game because when fans show up, everything changes. Support in the stands has the power to elevate whole communities and positively impact the lives of the players too.

To show how equal support can change the game for the better, Folk VML created a 60” split-screen film that follows one player on a journey to the biggest game of her life. On one side of the screen, we see how fandom impacts her community, the sport, and her own positive outlook. On the other side of the screen, the same story plays out but without the full support of community and country. The story concludes with hero protagonist, Cavan LGFA Player and Lidl Brand Ambassador, Ally Cahill, destroying the negative side of the screen to leave viewers fully immersed in a world of electrifying fandom. The iconic track 'Mandinka' by Sinead O’Connor was chosen to elevate this moment and relate to the players’ unwavering fight for this sport. On the radio, listeners will hear the disparities in attendance levels on matchday. On social channels, Folk VML worked with Lidl LGFA ambassadors and invited them to destroy negative comments, tweets, and posts about the sport. To help the county get to know these players better, a content series of interviews on the subject of the ambassadors steadfast commitment and what it means to teams when the fans show up.

Tom Mughal, marketing director at Lidl Ireland, said, “At Lidl, we’re exceptionally proud of our partnership with the Ladies Gaelic Football Association. The aim of this campaign is to break through the bias to showcase the incredible skill of players and quality of gameplay and the potential that the game has to deliver for fans with more support behind it. It’s about creating a new wave of support for the next generation to drive on the game.”

Speaking on the campaign, creative director Jonathon Cullen said, “It’s shocking to see that there’s still huge disparity between the men’s game versus women's. Everything from the facilities like access to pitches, changing rooms, right down to the jerseys can be poles apart. The disparities are as clear as day, and the effort the women put in is colossal, but unfortunately, the turnout at most of their games is anything but. We wanted to highlight the inequalities in our campaign and get people to get behind the fight to show up and support the whole sport and not just one side of it.”

The full 360 campaign will unfold throughout the year with the aim of increasing attendance numbers at games throughout the league.