'By the end of this tournament, there's going to be plenty of female footballers as household names'

LISA FALLON IS some woman for firsts.

While this though, is most definitely not a first with many female pundits gracing our screens of late, the ground-breaking Cork City coach is doing it for the first time herself through the 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup.

She’s most definitely not out of her comfort zone however, chatting at ease at the launch of RTÉ and TG4′s joint coverage on Tuesday.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Fallon, who’ll feature as a panellist and co-commentator on RTÉ, smiles.

“I haven’t done it before, no, so it’s a whole new experience. But look, at least you’re talking about football! Hopefully that will get me someway along the road.”

No better woman.

It’s got her quite a long way on the road so far anyway. Currently in her sixth year working with the 2017 League of Ireland double champions, the Lucan native first started out as a sports reporter. 

John Caulfield gave Fallon her first break and by the summer of 2016, she had left her permanent job to become a full-time coach/performance and opposition analyst with the Leesiders, and was also working with Northern Ireland at the European Championships.

Another major tournament this is, starting tomorrow in France, but Fallon will be watching it from the Montrose studios with a pen and paper, rather than pitchside.

Lisa Fallon Twitter. Lisa Fallon Twitter.

And us at home will be watching and listening intently, hanging on to her every word.

What an opportunity this is, the fact that there’ll be women’s football on TV, live and free-to-air, pretty much every day of the week for the next month.

“It’s going to be massive,” she agrees “I genuinely think this tournament and the coverage of it has the potential to be a game changer for women’s football not just in Ireland, but globally.

The level of exposure people are going to get to female footballers is going to be phenomenal. They’re going to be in people’s front rooms. It’s not often that little girls or little boys or even women and men have that opportunity to have female role models.

“Listen, to be fair, I think we’re pretty good in this country at promoting female sport. If you have a look at the Gaelic games coverage and Katie Taylor and stuff, we have so many female sporting role models here, but I do think in terms of football this is going to be a big game changer.

“I’m really, really excited about it. Not just from the players’ perspective, but from a coaching perspective, watching how they all do… it’s a different pressure as well because for the players and the coaches in women’s football, it’s going to be a whole new level of exposure, a whole new level of scrutiny that they won’t have had before.

“That brings its own elements as well. It’s going to be fascinating. I’m really, really looking forward to it.”

She’s asked if there’s anything in particular she’ll be looking out for specifically, and it doesn’t take long for an old friend to come up in conversation. 

How open the tournament will be, the USA coming in as key favourites, France as the host nation…

Their manager, Corinne Diacre.

Corinne Diacre. Liewig Christian / ABACA Liewig Christian / ABACA / ABACA

“I would know Corinne from when she worked in men’s football,” Fallon explains. 

“She was the first woman to manage a men’s team in France. She was the manager of Clermont Foot, and when she was manager there the two of us emailed each other.”

Fallon reached out initially, Diacre responded and they kept the contact going.

It was fantastic. We were the only two women in [high level] men’s football at the time. It was great, we used to keep in touch that way. I really hope Corinne does well with France. I’ll be fascinated to see how she gets on.

Likewise, Shelly Kerr — with World Cup debutantes Scotland — who has a similar background, and has made the same transition. 

The crossover pleases her. We’ve seen it work excellently in Gaelic football, for example, and she truly welcomes the fact that many coaches start in the men’s game and make the move then.

Bringing those skills, that knowledge and experience into the women’s game is key.

“Absolutely,” she nods. “I really think it’s down to preference [where you start]. Because women’s sport is so competitive now and there are becoming more opportunities in a professional capacity, it is an area that people want to get into.

“It is attractive, there is scrutiny there and achievements in women’s sport now are becoming recognisable and there’s a value on them. You probably don’t see too many making the transition the other way to be fair, but yeah look, the more level of expertise that can be brought into women’s game, absolutely.

It is a developing game and it will take a few years for it to maybe get to the same level of scrutiny and standard that exists in professional men’s sport. But we’re well on that road, well on that road and it is fantastic.

The World Cup, what else is there to be excited about?

England — everyone wants to see how they do, Germany, Norway as dark horses, just how competitive it’s going to be, Brazilian sensation Marta…

Brazil great Marta. Jose Breton Jose Breton

“What I love about Marta is, up until now, so many people have never seen her play. People will get to see her play and understand how good she is. That’s what, for me, is the most important thing.

What players like Marta do in people’s sitting rooms is what’s going to inspire the next generation. That for me will be the legacy of this generation of women, what they can create for the next women.

“I tell you, by the end of this tournament if people watch it, there’s going to be plenty of female footballers who are going to be household names. I have absolutely no doubt about that.

For us, whilst it’s disappointing that Ireland are not there, I hope people still embrace it as an opportunity to inspire their daughters to go and play and to watch it and to be inspired by these footballers, and to inspire the next generation and future generations, so that when these tournaments come around Ireland are qualifying as a regular occurrence and not, like this time, watching it without Ireland there.

“That doesn’t mean it’s a wasted opportunity,” she concludes. “I think it’s a massive opportunity to inspire the future generation of Irish players.”

That it is. 

And one that must be grabbed with both hands.

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