Lidl Ireland and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) launched this year’s Lidl National Football League season in Croke Park with world champion boxer Katie Taylor putting her weight behind a new campaign to showcase the skill, quality and excitement of the game with a slogan proclaiming that ‘Greatness Deserves to be Seen’.
After a decade of support for LGFA, Lidl Ireland has reaffirmed its commitment to the LGFA until 2030 with a new €7.5 million investment, taking the retailer’s total spend on the LGFA to €22.5m since the sponsorship began. The new deal extension coincides with the official launch of the 2026 Lidl National Leagues, which kicked off last weekend.
Shift
Following on from the Lidl and LGFA’s ‘Get Behind the Fight’ campaign, a recent study by research agency Red C reveals a shift in public perception of women’s sport in Ireland over the last three years, with the ‘Katie Taylor effect’ and impact of other Irish female sports stars like Kellie Harrington and Rashidat Adeleke influencing the public psyche.
More than half tune in whenever Katie Taylor competes
A significant 83 per cent of the Irish public believe Taylor has paved the way for future sports stars. A recent poll of current LGFA players across Ireland echoed wider public sentiment, with 93 per cent of LGFA players saying that the Olympic and two-division undisputed World Champion helped raise the profile of all female sports.
The survey showed that 65 per cent of the public surveyed now rank women’s sport as ‘high quality’ (up by 12 per cent since 2023), 63 per cent rate it as ‘exciting’ (a jump of ten points) and 71 per cent see it as ‘skillful’ (up five points). More than half (52 per cent) of respondents now say they would like to see more women’s sport.
Defining
With the increasing appetite, the impact of female role models on Irish audiences is palpable, with Taylor emerging as the most visible and influential Irish female athlete – with national pride playing a defining role in this support as 79 per cent say that seeing Irish sportswomen succeed internationally makes them feel proud to be Irish.
