Will Tyrone benefit from post World Cup bounce?

THE manager of Tyrone’s leading women’s football team has said he is “not hopeful” that the sport will see an increase in popularity after this summer’s World Cup.

While Tony McGinley, who is in charge of Sion Swifts Ladies FC, described the women’s tournament as a fantastic spectacle, he doubts whether governing body, the Irish Football Association (IFA), will be able to capitalise on the goodwill it has created across the globe.

The BBC reported that the women’s final between England and Spain peaked at a UK-wide audience number of more than 12 million viewers, the biggest TV audience for a sporting event this year.

But, sadly, due to budget cuts and a failure by the IFA to use other events as a springboard to increase the popularity of the women’s game, Mr McGinley is less-than-hopeful that there will be a rise in players or support locally.

The manager, whose team plays in the NI Women’s Premiership, praised the World Cup as an “amazing tournament” and highlighted the great quality of the women’s game.

However, he continued, “This does not mean that, locally, we will see any benefit from that whatsoever. We are very much out on our own as a club and have had to face funding cuts from the IFA.

“It does seem like the people behind the game do not care about local grassroots football. We had the European Championships last year, where Northern Ireland qualified and the IFA squandered that opportunity.

“They expect local clubs to produce players, and we do at a very high level. But to keep producing to the level we are, we need more funding.”

The IFA were contacted by the Tyrone Herald for a response, but this was not sent at the time of publication.