IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Tim O’Connor, The Bar of Ireland
proper resources and support equivalent to that given to the men’s team, leading to considerable difficulties and loss of players, and the resigna - tion of coaching staff. It is fair to say that women’s sport generally is not equally funded, and that there is awareness of this as an issue. There have been developments in this regard. The Women’s Six Nations rugby tournament has been decoupled from that of the men to be a standalone, and efforts to market this as outreach to new fans and players seem to be successful. The presence of the Irish women’s team at the Olympics Sevens tournament was a notable step forward. In Gaelic games, the formerly hived-off women’s games are being amalgamated into one shared body where all will have an equal say, although this remains a fraught and slow process. Foot - ball, of the three main field sport associations, appears to be having the most high-profile suc - cesses with a new management team bringing positivity back to the game. Smaller, often Olym - pic, sports, such as rowing, sailing, hockey and athletics appear to be achieving considerable returns with little fuss, and are noticeably push - ing female engagement. However, despite some very high-profile spon - sorships, such as that of Ladies Gaelic Football by one of the major supermarket chains, the commercial exploitation of this as a driver of rev - enue is still underdeveloped. Although streaming and YouTube broadcasts are now as common - place as in any sport, the major sponsorship and broadcast revenue deals are still much more in the three main male field sports associations. The increased exposure of an Olympic year could, if used properly, be a catalyst to change
this and build the critical mass of interest that would make commercialisation viable. As noted above, the governance changes requiring much more equal representation on the boards of national governing bodies and other sporting bodies are recent and to some extent bedding in, but it is to be expected that cultural shifts as a result of this may accelerate processes further. Esports have not yet been a significant feature of the Irish domestic market, although esports firms maintain a presence in Ireland, availing of the wider tech infrastructure. The esports indus - try would up to now have been approached very much in the global rather than the domestic con - text. However, a new National E-Sports Centre was opened in March of 2025. How this new infrastructure will affect the market remains to be seen. 10. NFTs, AI and the Metaverse 10.1 Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) These do not feature as a notable part of the Irish sports law market. 10.2 AI Although AI is becoming all-pervasive, it is still in its infancy in the Irish context. Notably, many sporting bodies do seem to be availing of it for the generation of social media marketing image - ry. 9. Esports 9.1 Esports Overview However, there are few specifically local devel - opments in sport per se. It would be expected
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