Pink 'Ladies' GAA Jerseys-Why?

um7y1h83ge06nx · 25-07-2012 12:30pm

As a guy I really don't understand why products have to be "womanised" (my word!

) or made appealing to women by creating pink versions.

As young kids there is the whole blue for the boys, pink for girls thing. Typically though the whole blue for boys seems to stop in the teenage years but pink for girls continues into adulthood.

As a male the whole pink thing seems a little condescending when aimed towards adult women, almost treating them like kids. Although, being adults its womens choice on what they want to buy.

eviltwin · 25-07-2012 1:45pm

Forgive my ignorance because I have no knowledge of GAA tops but if women are wearing pink do they not all look the same?

Surely part of the reason for wearing your teams shirt is to stand out as being a supporter of that team, if women wear a pink shirt how do you tell who is supporting which side.

If I was a supporter I would always wear the official kit.

rebel girl 15 · 25-07-2012 11:41pm

iffy_2007 wrote: »

I have one & guess what? I bought it because I like it!!! I got mine of the ladies county board, our ladies county team get a percentage of the profits. I feel by wearing the pink jersey I am supporting the ladies team, i know they use them as training tops.

Different situation altogether - if I am right in assuming that you are from Dublin, then the jersey is actually the Dublin ladies gaelic rather than Dublin. I'm involved at county board level, and we get no profit from the jersies that we are on about here, which are these ones I'm fairly sure you are on about these ones

panda100 wrote: »

Sorry guys and gals, but I just can't see this as a bit of 'fun'.

Women's sports and women sport spectators aren't really taken seriously, and I really think a seperate pink 'supporters' top for women buy's into this notion. Its like women are more interested in what colour top they're wearing, than the team and the sport they've come to watch. If you really are a true supporter, you will wear you're county colours, and not some overpriced genderist fashion accessory.

One of the reason's I love GAA so much is women players and spectators are treated with respect, unlike rugby and soccer. These pink tops just make women look vain.

Given that its ladies GAA jersies, I'm going to jump right in, given where I stand with GAA. I don't see it as a slight on females sport at all, given that these jersies are targeted at female supporters of the males representing the counties. All the jersies are pink version of the male jersies. Some women are conscious of how they look, and would prefer to wear pink. I've seen a lot of younger girls wearing these jersies around the place. For the record, its the same price as the official jersey - it is a novelty factor for O Neills to try and promote jersies, a small niche in the market, and its obviously selling or else they would have taken them down. It is a novelty and a selling gimmick- for St Patricks day O Neills brought out green versions of every counties jersey.

It is a pink version of the official jersey - I'd have a big problem if they were making pink versions of the jersey with a major difference between what the mens one is and the female one is. Only difference is the colour. O Neills are now carrying the official ladies jersies of some county teams, which is a bigger step than the pink jersies. I agree that supporters should be wearing their county jersey and county colours - but I don't see an issue with women or men for that matter wearing pink jersies with their county's crest and sponsor on it.

Your quote about how you love the GAA because women players are treated with respect baffles me - can I ask what county you are referring to or is it in general? I'm involved with ladies football for the past ten years at this stage, and in the administration side of things for about 4/5 years, and I can tell you that its not the case from what I can see, and the disrespect is coming from within the GAA. The one club model that the GAA are promoting won't make any difference to the grass roots members - trying to get pitches for training and games, ladies clubs having to pay the mens club for the use of facilities, mens teams taking precedence over ladies teams no matter what. This has been my experience in general, but there are a number of clubs where the person in the ladies football club is also involved in the mens, which makes things easier.

If the GAA respected the ladies organisation, then why do the Ladies Gaelic Football Association have to pay to use Croke Park on All Ireland final day??? I'd take more issue in all counties, male and female not supporting the ladies teams in general than O Neills releasing a pink jersey for supporters to wear. I was at a Munster final, if there was more than 600 at it, I'd be surprised - a provincial final that had senior and intermediate teams playing. It just so happened that Waterford were in the intermediate, and the senior hurlers were playing the following day, Cork hurlers were playing that evening in Thurles I think. In fact, I met a number of supporters who if they did not have a bus booked to the ladies game, would have gone to the hurling.

To answer your original question about why - O Neills saw a niche in the market for "female" jersies and went with it as a marketing gimmick, and its working. Its still a jersey supporting the wearer's county as it has the sponsor and the official crest of the county, just not in the counties colours. Some people don't like wearing their counties colours, so O Neills came out with a different colour

rebel girl 15 · 25-07-2012 11:43pm

eviltwin wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance because I have no knowledge of GAA tops but if women are wearing pink do they not all look the same?

Surely part of the reason for wearing your teams shirt is to stand out as being a supporter of that team, if women wear a pink shirt how do you tell who is supporting which side.

If I was a supporter I would always wear the official kit.

Same sponsor and same crest as the home jersey - the pink is actually official kit, since it is manufactured by O Neills

dfx- · 26-07-2012 5:53am

if you have the Dublin crest and Arnotts/Vodafone written on the front, is there any doubt about who you are supporting? As someone who is vehemently anti-GAA and couldn't tell the difference between a full forward and a 45, even I'd know who the person wearing it was supporting, blue or pink colours..

ceegee · 26-07-2012 6:10am

A lot of people are taking issue with the fact that its a "ladies" jersey - the reason its labelled as such is because of the cut, there are also ladies versions of the original colours, same happens in rugby. Presumably oneills didnt launch a mens version as they dont anticipate enough demand - not sure if the average middle aged GAA man would be seen in a Stade Francais style jersey.

Interestingly, Kilkenny have 2 pink jerseys (black +pink and dark pink + light pink)

iffy_2007 · 28-07-2012 6:14pm

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

iffy_2007 wrote: »

I have one & guess what? I bought it because I like it!!! I got mine of the ladies county board, our ladies county team get a percentage of the profits. I feel by wearing the pink jersey I am supporting the ladies team, i know they use them as training tops.

Different situation altogether - if I am right in assuming that you are from Dublin, then the jersey is actually the Dublin ladies gaelic rather than Dublin. I'm involved at county board level, and we get no profit from the jersies that we are on about here, which are these ones I'm fairly sure you are on about these ones

Nope not from Dublin & yes it is the actual ladies jersey with the LGFA logo & county crest on it.

rebel girl 15 · 29-07-2012 7:27pm

iffy_2007 wrote: »

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Different situation altogether - if I am right in assuming that you are from Dublin, then the jersey is actually the Dublin ladies gaelic rather than Dublin. I'm involved at county board level, and we get no profit from the jersies that we are on about here, which are these ones I'm fairly sure you are on about these ones

Nope not from Dublin & yes it is the actual ladies jersey with the LGFA logo & county crest on it.

Thats fair enough - but the pink jersies with the men's logos have no money going back to the LGFA board of the county

suitcasepink · 30-07-2012 1:17pm

Saw an ad in the paper for the Waterford pink jersies and for every sale a contribution is going to Breast cancer research. Altho its Azzuri who make our jersies id assume O Neills are doing the same?

Honey-ec · 30-07-2012 1:54pm

I love pink and wear a lot of it, but I'm a massive Leinster fan and when I'm at a match, I wear blue and nothing else. Canterbury do have a range of pink Leinster gear, but I really, really don't see the point in it. Why support a team and then wear a colour that's not part of any of their strips?

panda100 · 31-07-2012 9:40pm

Just looking back at my last point. I think the word 'vain' was a bit harsh, and I aplogise If I caused offence.

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Given that its ladies GAA jersies, I'm going to jump right in, given where I stand with GAA. I don't see it as a slight on females sport at all, given that these jersies are targeted at female supporters of the males representing the counties. All the jersies are pink version of the male jersies. Some women are conscious of how they look, and would prefer to wear pink. I've seen a lot of younger girls wearing these jersies around the place.

You see this is where I have a bit of an issue with these tops. Women are evidently wearing them to look good, which is fair enough. I ,like you, have seen a lot of young girls wearing these tops, and personally I think that sends out the wrong message to young kids. When it comes to sport it shouldn't matter what women or girls look like. .
There is a lot of talk about women being put off sport because they are worried about their appearance (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18747137 ) I think the pink tops really just buys into this whole notion of women placing their apperance over their participation and inclusion in sport.

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Your quote about how you love the GAA because women players are treated with respect baffles me - can I ask what county you are referring to or is it in general? I'm involved with ladies football for the past ten years at this stage, and in the administration side of things for about 4/5 years, and I can tell you that its not the case from what I can see, and the disrespect is coming from within the GAA. The one club model that the GAA are promoting won't make any difference to the grass roots members - trying to get pitches for training and games, ladies clubs having to pay the mens club for the use of facilities, mens teams taking precedence over ladies teams no matter what. This has been my experience in general, but there are a number of clubs where the person in the ladies football club is also involved in the mens, which makes things easier

If the GAA respected the ladies organisation, then why do the Ladies Gaelic Football Association have to pay to use Croke Park on All Ireland final day??? I'd take more issue in all counties, male and female not supporting the ladies teams in general than O Neills releasing a pink jersey for supporters to wear. I was at a Munster final, if there was more than 600 at it, I'd be surprised - a provincial final that had senior and intermediate teams playing. It just so happened that Waterford were in the intermediate, and the senior hurlers were playing the following day, Cork hurlers were playing that evening in Thurles I think. In fact, I met a number of supporters who if they did not have a bus booked to the ladies game, would have gone to the hurling.

Well that is just terrible. I was completely unaware that the Ladies GFA have to pay to use Croke Park on Final day!It is a disgrace, would there be a possibility of launching a campaign around that?

Was at Thurles on Sunday, and every second women seemed to be wearing these pink tops. It doesn't matter if they have the county crest on, you still can't see what county they're supporting until your right up close to them. Just defeats the point of wearing a county top.

ceegee · 01-08-2012 12:52am

panda100 wrote: »

Just looking back at my last point. I think the word 'vain' was a bit harsh, and I aplogise If I caused offence.

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Given that its ladies GAA jersies, I'm going to jump right in, given where I stand with GAA. I don't see it as a slight on females sport at all, given that these jersies are targeted at female supporters of the males representing the counties. All the jersies are pink version of the male jersies. Some women are conscious of how they look, and would prefer to wear pink. I've seen a lot of younger girls wearing these jersies around the place.

You see this is where I have a bit of an issue with these tops. Women are evidently wearing them to look good, which is fair enough. I ,like you, have seen a lot of young girls wearing these tops, and personally I think that sends out the wrong message to young kids. When it comes to sport it shouldn't matter what women or girls look like. .
There is a lot of talk about women being put off sport because they are worried about their appearance (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-18747137 ) I think the pink tops really just buys into this whole notion of women placing their apperance over their participation and inclusion in sport.

rebel girl 15 wrote: »

Your quote about how you love the GAA because women players are treated with respect baffles me - can I ask what county you are referring to or is it in general? I'm involved with ladies football for the past ten years at this stage, and in the administration side of things for about 4/5 years, and I can tell you that its not the case from what I can see, and the disrespect is coming from within the GAA. The one club model that the GAA are promoting won't make any difference to the grass roots members - trying to get pitches for training and games, ladies clubs having to pay the mens club for the use of facilities, mens teams taking precedence over ladies teams no matter what. This has been my experience in general, but there are a number of clubs where the person in the ladies football club is also involved in the mens, which makes things easier

If the GAA respected the ladies organisation, then why do the Ladies Gaelic Football Association have to pay to use Croke Park on All Ireland final day??? I'd take more issue in all counties, male and female not supporting the ladies teams in general than O Neills releasing a pink jersey for supporters to wear. I was at a Munster final, if there was more than 600 at it, I'd be surprised - a provincial final that had senior and intermediate teams playing. It just so happened that Waterford were in the intermediate, and the senior hurlers were playing the following day, Cork hurlers were playing that evening in Thurles I think. In fact, I met a number of supporters who if they did not have a bus booked to the ladies game, would have gone to the hurling.

Well that is just terrible. I was completely unaware that the Ladies GFA have to pay to use Croke Park on Final day!It is a disgrace, would there be a possibility of launching a campaign around that?

Was at Thurles on Sunday, and every second women seemed to be wearing these pink tops. It doesn't matter if they have the county crest on, you still can't see what county they're supporting until your right up close to them. Just defeats the point of wearing a county top.

Why shouldn't the GAA charge for the use of Croke Park by another association?

ceegee · 01-08-2012 12:55am

deise_girl wrote: »

Saw an ad in the paper for the Waterford pink jersies and for every sale a contribution is going to Breast cancer research. Altho its Azzuri who make our jersies id assume O Neills are doing the same?

Pretty sure the ONeills ones aren't, no mention on the site or ribbon logo on the shirts

panda100 · 09-08-2012 9:21pm

ceegee wrote: »

Why shouldn't the GAA charge for the use of Croke Park by another association?

Why isn't the LGFA apart of the GAA?

I know the LGFA is a seperate entity to the GAA,but still you'd think the GAA would allow the use of Croke Park free of charge for the Ladies final.

tan11ie · 10-08-2012 12:29am

I'll be sticking to my blue

suitcasepink · 10-08-2012 12:40am

ceegee wrote: »

Pretty sure the ONeills ones aren't, no mention on the site or ribbon logo on the shirts

Strange one that, would have thought they'd want to do the same as Azzuri. Athough I think its the bare minimum contribution that theyre making..

goose2005 · 10-08-2012 8:14pm

I know the LGFA is a seperate entity to the GAA,but still you'd think the GAA would allow the use of Croke Park free of charge for the Ladies final.

I'd imagine it's because the crowd isn't large enough for the GAA to break even (Croke Park needs well over 30,000 to cover costs) so they're trying to share the losses.

IrishAm · 11-08-2012 9:50am

I purchased the pink Dublin jersey as I was under the impression the proceeds went to Breast Cancer Ireland.

I paid 60euro for it, its comfortable, ok its pink, but I don't really care. It is comfortable.

I wear it on occasion. Wouldn't wear it on the Hill, but would wear it when going for a jog,a swim, or when getting the groceries in.

Chimpokomon · 11-08-2012 3:45pm

IrishAm wrote: »

I purchased the pink Dublin jersey as I was under the impression the proceeds went to Breast Cancer Ireland.

I paid 60euro for it, its comfortable, ok its pink, but I don't really care. It is comfortable.

I wear it on occasion. Wouldn't wear it on the Hill, but would wear it when going for a jog,a swim, or when getting the groceries in.

Fair play to you, I haven't seen many blokes wearing them yet but I'd say it could catch on.

I actually didn't know they existed before this thread, thanks OP

IrishAm · 11-08-2012 3:51pm

A few young Dubs had them on in the Hill for the Me*th and Laois games. Brave buachails.

Oryx · 11-08-2012 4:01pm

Men can wear pink too.

Maybe all these people are supporting Wexford Youths.

Ellsbells · 12-08-2012 2:30am

I would never put a gaa jersey on my back. I think they are ridiculous looking enough on men and doubly so on women. Can't figure why any guy would think it's cool to wear a gaa jersey out for the night / on holidays / in Australia or basically anywhere other than on a pitch.

panda100 · 12-08-2012 9:59am

Ellsbells wrote: »

I would never put a gaa jersey on my back. I think they are ridiculous looking enough on men and doubly so on women. Can't figure why any guy would think it's cool to wear a gaa jersey out for the night / on holidays / in Australia or basically anywhere other than on a pitch.

I guess it a litte reminder of home when you're away in a foreign country. It's also very handy for spotting the other Irish people when you're abroad.

I find my Limerick GAA top very uncomfortbale to wear. It get's very sweaty , and I would never ever use it for exercising in. The fabric clings to you, and in a sweaty, clammy horrible way. I am suprised that people are buying these pink tops for 'comfort', as for me GAA tops are anything but comfortable!

Ah_Yeah · 12-08-2012 4:17pm

I don't own any GAA jerseys, simply because the Limerick jersey is just unflattering on me.

If I were to buy/wear GAA jerseys, I'd be wearing my county colours, because it's the colours that I've always grown up using to distinguish between counties. It's hard to zone in on a crest on someone's jersey, you can spot the county a mile away when wearing county colours.

I also hate pink, and it looks terrible on me 'cause I've bright red hair

However, I have no problem with people wearing these jerseys, male or female. So what if they want to wear them? Isn't it their support for their team that counts? I just personally wouldn't wear them myself.

IrishAm · 15-08-2012 3:06am

The GAA have been heavily involved with some great charitable organisations so I am kinda disappointed that they didn't involve Breast Cancer Ireland in this new age pink jersey phenomenon. Advertise it, market it well, give the charity a small cut per jersey sold and it would have really hit off.

They have dropped the ball big time here. When the Dubs wore the SOS jersey in the league, we could not buy that jersey. And dozens of Dublin fans that I know wanted to. As its a serious issue here and a great charitable organisation.

Probably Vodafone acting the bollix again. :mad:

carbob · 04-09-2012 12:00am

I know the ladies GAA team in Kildare are actually pink so I wound not mind wearing them to any of the matches (my Jersey is just the white Kildare shirt) I did buy a pink one for my one year old daughter she was very cute in it if I may say so myself

dfx- · 04-09-2012 12:41am

panda100 wrote: »

Well that is just terrible. I was completely unaware that the Ladies GFA have to pay to use Croke Park on Final day!It is a disgrace, would there be a possibility of launching a campaign around that?

It's progress compared to this supposed 1965 letter from the Irish Independent:eek:

LittleBook · 06-09-2012 10:07am

dfx- wrote: »

It's progress compared to this supposed 1965 letter from the Irish Independent:eek:

I love the way he didn't have the balls to put his full name to his letter.

shuffle65 · 15-09-2012 1:36pm

The pink jerseys are for breast cancer action, mind you, 1 miserable euro contribution from every jersey doesn't seem like much to me, considering a ladies jersey retails at 50 euro...

see:http://www.azzurri.ie/Product-Detail/364/2012-Donegal-Ladies-Jersey

QuiteInterestin · 16-09-2012 12:21am

shuffle65 wrote: »

The pink jerseys are for breast cancer action, mind you, 1 miserable euro contribution from every jersey doesn't seem like much to me, considering a ladies jersey retails at 50 euro...

see:http://www.azzurri.ie/Product-Detail/364/2012-Donegal-Ladies-Jersey

Sounds like it is just Azurri that are doing this, don't see any mention of it with any of the O'Neills jerseys, but I'm open to correction on that. From what I can tell from their website, Azurri produce the jerseys for Sligo, Donegal, Laois, New York and Waterford while O'Neills produce the rest of the counties.

panda100 · 16-09-2012 12:05pm

dfx- wrote: »

It's progress compared to this supposed 1965 letter from the Irish Independent:eek:

'A womens place is in the kitchen with scrubbing brush and washboard' I lol'ed at that bit. I actually don't know whether to laugh or cry at that letter.

The fact that tet letter was written not that long ago, and was actually published, shows how far womens sport has come in the last few years.

carly_86 · 16-09-2012 12:10pm

Its raising money for a good cause

padd b1975 · 16-09-2012 12:28pm

Ellsbells wrote: »

I would never put a gaa jersey on my back. I think they are ridiculous looking enough on men and doubly so on women. Can't figure why any guy would think it's cool to wear a gaa jersey out for the night / on holidays / in Australia or basically anywhere other than on a pitch.

Its called personal choice and freedom.

WhyGoBald · 16-09-2012 1:54pm

panda100 wrote: »

'A womens place is in the kitchen with scrubbing brush and washboard' I lol'ed at that bit. I actually don't know whether to laugh or cry at that letter.

The fact that tet letter was written not that long ago, and was actually published, shows how far womens sport has come in the last few years.

Ah, that battle has been raging for a while. I read a newspaper from over a hundred years ago which subtly made fun of the Bishop of Kildare who fulminated about women travelling to play camogie on a Sunday. This was in response to Patrick Pearse, who was rhapsodising about the cailíní gracefully wielding their camáns.

As for the topic, I can only clutch my camogie county jersey and say - why pink? Why?

padd b1975 · 16-09-2012 5:44pm

WhyGoBald wrote: »

Ah, that battle has been raging for a while. I read a newspaper from over a hundred years ago which subtly made fun of the Bishop of Kildare who fulminated about women travelling to play camogie on a Sunday. This was in response to Patrick Pearse, who was rhapsodising about the cailíní gracefully wielding their camáns.

As for the topic, I can only clutch my camogie county jersey and say - why pink? Why?

Because pink sells.

Manufacturers saw a gap in the market and took a punt on it.

Judging by the amount of pink jerseys about, their gamble seems to be paying off.

gara · 17-09-2012 3:39pm

Some women simply like pink and as the poster above pointed out, that's reflected in the profit margins.

Why are people so reactionary about something so innocuous as pink GAA jerseys?

Pink 'Ladies' GAA Jerseys-Why?

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