Wicklow GAA Under Fire After ‘deeply disrespectful’ April Fools’ Post

'There is nothing funny about equality in sport. Nothing. This kind of messaging only reinforces the very attitudes we are working so hard to change.' Leane Lifely, Wicklow Camogie County Chairperson

The silence from Wicklow GAA is deafening this evening in the fallout from a social media post shared as April Fools’ content.  The post, published to Wicklow's county board account on X, is being slammed as disrespectful, disparaging and tone deaf.

Whatever its intention, the impact is rippling through club, county, community and into national conversation.  Even as I type this one question remains unanswered:  'What were they thinking?'

The 'Major Announcement' initially shares approval of a €160m redevelopment of Echelon Park in Aughrim (ha, ha very funny!) then  goes on to include 'Unity in Sport' with a quote from Chairman Damien Byrne as follow:

"This is an exciting move forward. We look forward to welcoming the LGFA and Camogie Association as equal partners in this world-class environment."

See, here's the thing - equality in Wicklow county sport, and access to county facilities is a live issue. An ongoing discussion. With a meeting held the night before this post went live. Yes, the night before!

Both Dominic Leech, Chairperson of Wicklow LGFA and Leane Lifely, County Camogie Chairperson shared strong statements of response on Facebook.

Clubs, sponsors, local representatives and advocacy groups like HerSport.ie are slating the post as disrespectful with one clear shared message ‘Equality is no joke’

The Wicklow County Board were contacted a number of times, across the afternoon as East Coast FM news broadcast this story, and offered the right to reply, in advance of this article going online. The post was deleted around lunctime.  It is not clear if the content was approved by Chairman Damien Byrne. We await their input.