by Adam Moynihan

The Killarney Legion’s new Diversity and Inclusion Officer Joanne O’Riordan has set her sights on creating a safe space for everyone who wants to join the club, including wheelchair users, asylum seekers and members of the LGBT community.

O’Riordan, a 26-year-old journalist from County Cork, is a wheelchair user herself and is widely know in Irish sporting circles for her work as an inclusivity advocate.

As well as writing for the Irish Times, she also presents A Sporting Chance, an RTÉ documentary exploring women’s sport in Ireland.

She was given a lifetime membership of the Legion in 2014 after a chance meeting with club legend and Radio Kerry broadcaster Weeshie Fogarty.

Speaking to the Killarney Advertiser this week, O’Riordan said she is “delighted” to be taking up this new position with her adoptive club.

“For me, what it’s about is trying to get more people involved in Legion GAA, and it’s not just people in wheelchairs,” she revealed. “It’s about creating a safe space for LGBT players, refugees, asylum seekers, a whole spectrum of people.

“We’re very fortunate [in the media] that we get to meet an incredible amount of people who do incredible work every day, so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I just have to reach out to these people and hope that they can share their expertise and their experiences. Maybe I can rob some of their ideas!”

Club chairman David Randles says that Joanne will be "an extremely valuable addition to our team and her life experiences will benefit our club no end".

Although O’Riordan believes that progress has been made in recent years when it comes to inclusivity in the GAA, she still feels there is room for improvement.

“I think the GAA are trying but where they fall down is they literally have one person for this entire job on a national level. That’s very hard for one person to do. I think we fall down there in that regard.

“These messages like ‘give respect, get respect’ and ‘say no to racism’ get lost. They’re all just taglines that have no real back-up.

“My niece plays U12 with our local club, Dromtariffe, and she doesn’t see any differences [in people]. It’s actually when she goes outside the pitch and she listens to adults talking, she learns that differences do exist and she starts picking up casual remarks. I think that’s really unfortunate.

“It’s about tackling people’s perceptions really, and that’s a very hard thing to do. When you go to a GAA match you don’t expect to hear a racist or homophobic comment on the sideline… It’s really hard to tell someone that they have an unconscious bias because people don’t like to hear it. They like to believe that they think everybody is equal. It’s about raising awareness from that perspective.

“I think having a safe space to call it out is important too.”

As for her relationship with the Legion, O’Riordan fondly recalls being welcomed into the club seven years ago.

“I was honoured to be interviewed by Weeshie at a golf event in Killarney. That was insane for me. He asked me would I mind coming to Legion for their annual awards ceremony. Then he presented me with lifetime membership, which I didn’t expect.

“I think me and my father bonded with the club more than anything. We liked the players and they were incredibly sound. They had a good run in 2015, reaching the county final.”

The team’s fortunes have been mixed since: they won the East Kerry Championship in 2019 before getting relegated from senior in 2021. On Sunday they face An Ghaeltacht in the semi-final of the Intermediate Championship. O’Riordan is optimistic.

“As dad says, you’ve got to have a lot of downs to have a lot of ups, so hopefully this year we’ll have another ‘up’.”