Louise Lawless

Can shorts replace skorts in camogie’s playing uniform? Alternatively, could shorts be added alongside skorts to the list of approved playing gear?

“I think there definitely are times I get deflated and downhearted,” says Vikki Wall, the newest recruit into the Irish Women’s Sevens development squad.

You’re 12 or 13 years old, have started secondary school, everything is changing, including how you look, how you feel and how you feel about how you look. You’ve been swimming at your local pool for years; nothing major, just lessons.
Then you get your period; you know about it but it’s awkward. You don’t know what to do. Would the pool go red if you got in? Would it be your fault? Would everyone know?
Even the walk from the changing room to the pool feels new, your body developing and expos...

Before an AIL game in April 2022, Hullon noticed a lump on her neck that would change her life
Vanessa Hullon plays some form of rugby multiple times a week, whether that be international tag rugby, Leinster at provincial level, rugby union with Old Belvedere or rugby league with Exiles. So when she played an AIL semi-final against Blackrock in April 2022 and thought, “this is not fun. This hurts so much. I’m going back to soccer,” it was another sign that something was off.
She hadn’t played...

There is only one word screaming from the front of the New Zealand Herald on Friday morning: ‘TERRIFYING’.
The opening game of the Fifa Women’s World Cup was put starkly into contrast after a gunman killed two people and injured at least 10. The gunman, named as Matu Tangi Matua Reid (24), died in a confrontation with police.
In Australia, the shooting was not given front page coverage but was dealt with extensively.
Elsewhere, the defining story of Thursday’s Australian game was Sam Kerr. In...

This Fifa Women’s World Cup is historic, record-breaking, unprecedented. It features eight debutants – including Ireland – broadening the playing pool to 32 teams. It’s outclassed the viewing records and the attendances set at the World Cup 2019 in France. After 16 games, the average attendance was 28,721 per match, marking a 54 per cent increase from the same average attendance for 16 games in the 2019 tournament. Days into the tournament, a whopping 1.5 million tickets had been sold. Austra...

On Tuesday, August 29, the lingering question over the Irish women’s World Cup campaign was answered: Vera Pauw’s contract was not being extended. The decision was made late that night after a six-hour meeting with the 11 members of the FAI board of directors, helmed by Marc Canham, FAI director of football, and leaving FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill with a phone call to make. In his public statement, Hill said: “On behalf of the Football Association of Ireland, we would like to thank Vera...

The Irish women's football team’s coach deserves credit for bringing them all the way to the World Cup, but her disproportionate focus on defence and noisy reactions to ongoing US investigations need to change if the FAI is to keep her in the job. Analysis by Louise Lawless in Australia.

Mediahuis (‘we’) and partners use technologies such as cookies to store and access (personal) data – online identifiers (e.g., IP address, sign-in ID), non-precise location and information about your browser, operating system, device as well as insights into your use of this domain – on your device for the following purposes:
Advertising and content measurement, audience insights and product development;
Personalised content;
Personalised ads; and
Social media.
If you allow such use, click "A...

Mediahuis (‘we’) and partners use technologies such as cookies to store and access (personal) data – online identifiers (e.g., IP address, sign-in ID), non-precise location and information about your browser, operating system, device as well as insights into your use of this domain – on your device for the following purposes:
Advertising and content measurement, audience insights and product development;
Personalised content;
Personalised ads; and
Social media.
If you allow such use, click "A...

Mediahuis (‘we’) and partners use technologies such as cookies to store and access (personal) data – online identifiers (e.g., IP address, sign-in ID), non-precise location and information about your browser, operating system, device as well as insights into your use of this domain – on your device for the following purposes:
Advertising and content measurement, audience insights and product development;
Personalised content;
Personalised ads; and
Social media.
If you allow such use, click "A...

Mediahuis (‘we’) and partners use technologies such as cookies to store and access (personal) data – online identifiers (e.g., IP address, sign-in ID), non-precise location and information about your browser, operating system, device as well as insights into your use of this domain – on your device for the following purposes:
Advertising and content measurement, audience insights and product development;
Personalised content;
Personalised ads; and
Social media.
If you allow such use, click "A...

“Hi, sorry to inform you but there’s personal videos of you online.”

An Instagram direct message from a stranger hadn’t initially worried Leigh Nicol.

At the time, she was a 23-year old semi-professional Scottish footballer, having been capped underage for Scotland and played her club football with Millwall Lionesses and Charlton Athletic. She hadn’t been in a relationship for a while, hadn’t taken videos. It must be a scam, surely.

Then the screenshots arrived. Intimate videos she’d made wit...

Everything you need to know about this low-impact sport that is gaining in popularity, particularly among older people
I’ve heard about it, but I still don’t know. What is pickleball?
It’s a game with players hitting a ball over...
Subscriber Only Article
Subscribe now, get the full story and unlock extra benefits
Just €1 for the first month
No obligation, cancel anytime