As part of this year’s Limerick Pride celebrations, Sporting Pride are delighted to partner with GCN to host yet another insightful online discussion relating to women in sports! This event brings together three of Limerick’s finest LGBTQ+ athletes who represented both province and country in the 1990’s, long before any form of equality had been achieved in terms of women’s participation in sport.
Joining us on the night are:
Grannie ‘Crossie’ Cross
Sinead ‘Cossie’ Cosgrave
Taking place on Thursday July 8th at 7pm this event will open up discussion on a wide range of topics that will outline the challenges faced by women in sport historically, which will in turn highlight the progress that has been made over the years.
The event will be hosted by Emma Loo, an avid sports fan working in the Diversity and Inclusion sector. She will lead the panellists through a variety of topics, including (but not limited to):
Their positive experiences in sport
Challenges they faced in relation to sports participation
Barriers facing both women and members of the LGBTI+ community in relation to taking up sports
Present day sports experiences and the changes that have come about over time.
Viewers can leave questions for the panel via the comments section on both the GCN Youtube page and Limerick Pride Facebook page, a unique offering that allows people to interact directly with the participants.
Lisa Daly, Chairperson of Limerick Pride, says they are delighted “to bring you what promises to be an insightful discussion with three well known Limerick women who excelled in sports throughout the 1990’s. I know all the women, with two of them having been former coaches of mine, so I'm very excited to make this event happen. It is a great way to respect the important women who are now trailblazers in highlighting the changes they brought about in women's sport”
To watch this live free webinar, go to the links below on Thursday, July 8th at 19:00
About the Panel
Emma Loo – Presenter
Emma is an eager sports enthusiast since childhood and a wearer of the number 1 jersey. She currently plays Senior camogie with Whitehall Colmcille GAA club and is the Vice-Chairperson of Na Gaeil Aeracha. She has represented Dublin camogie from the U/12 Development Squad to Premier Junior level. Emma works in the Diversity and Inclusion sector and is passionate about the promotion of LGBTQI+ inclusion in sport.
Grainne ‘Crossie’ Cross
Grainne Cross (known internationally as Crossie! ) is originally from and living in Limerick. Grainne came from a sporting family with 4 other family members being capped to lesser degree. Her first successful encounter in competitive sport was Community Games U14 Soccer - All Ireland Champions 1979. Capped in 1981 for Ireland Senior Women's at 15 years of age and 2 years later played 2 internationals matches on the same day - U18 & Seniors. (U18's had just started)
Grainne played for Ireland seniors for many years and played professionally in Italy (Monza) for 1 season. Locally, she won multiple league & cup titles and All Ireland Intermediate Cup with University of Limerick. She was player coach with Mungret Regional. In 1996, she took up rugby with Old Crescent and won the All Ireland League & Cup in 1998.
In that year she represented Ireland at the World Cup along with 3 other Old Crescent players. She was officially capped for Rugby in The Aviva in 2018.
For her, sport has been her second family where she has made great friends and met her wife
Jackie McCarthy-O’Brien
Born in Birmingham to an Irish mother and a Jamaican father, McCarthy-O’Brien moved to Limerick with the former when she was just a month old and has been there ever since. She was placed in an industrial school for the first five years of her life, she eventually settled in the suburb of Kileely following her mother’s marriage to Mickey O’Brien - an All-Ireland handball champion whom she considers to be her real father - in 1966.
She was the first female soccer player of mixed race to represent the Republic of Ireland and later repeated this feat in rugby union when making her debut for the Irish women’s national team in the spring of 1997.
Becoming a ground-breaking dual international may have may have been more by accident than design, but it’s a path she was happy to take.
Sinead ‘Cossie’ Cosgrave
Sinead Cosgrave is originally from Ballinacurra Weston, now living in Galway, but most Limerick people know her as Cossie rather than Sinead! She played soccer growing up and took up rugby as many of her soccer friends were playing. She played for Old Crescent when they won the All Ireland league and Cup with Grainne and Jackie. They then got selected for Munster and the Irish team with some of the other girls from the Old Crescent. They went to the world cup in Holland 1998 with the Irish squad, including Jean O Gorman. Up to the 1998 world cup they paid for their own trips to play games - flights, hotel, kit, food etc, but to be honest Cossie is adamant it was worth it and she’d do it again in a heart beat. They eventually picked up their caps for their first International Caps in 2018 after a long fight with the IRFU for recognition of past women’s players.
About The Hosts
Sporting Pride
Founded in 2018, Sporting Pride is Ireland’s sport, fitness and exercise body, tasked with inspiring the LGBTQ+ community to get active. Research shows that 55% of LGBT men and 56% of LGBT women are not active enough to maintain good health, compared with 33% and 45% respectively of the general public. As a member of the EGLSF and the Federation of Gay Games, Sporting Pride also offers LGBTQ+ sports people the opportunity to represent Ireland in international competitions. www.sportingpride.ie
Gay Community News
GCN is the national LGBT+ press in Ireland operating since 1988. GCN reflects queer life in Ireland and is delighted to collaborate with Sporting Pride and Limerick Pride to facilitate this vital conversation about the LGBT+ experience in the sports arena and how we can all work together to make sport a more inclusive space and accessible for the LGBT+ community. www.gcn.ie
Limerick Pride
Limerick LGBT has a thriving community working together and with other organisations to progress gay rights and culture in the city and county. The highlight of the year is the annual Limerick LGBT Pride festival. This year the festival will be virtual and held online from Monday, July 5 until Sunday, July 11 with a virtual Parade taking place on Saturday, July 10. Limerick Virtual Pride Parade will will show a mix of our Parades, messages, and pictures from the public. We are delighted to announce that this year’s Grand Marshall is Ranae von Meding. Find out more here: www.limerickpride.ie
Sporting Pride Contact
Karina Murray karina.murray@sportingpride.ie