Having played basketball, rugby, football and gaelic football, all at a high level, we knew Lindsay Peat’s Laochra Gael episode wouldn’t disappoint, and boy did it live up to the hype.
The Dubliner, who was the latest to feature on the Tg4 documentary show came across as authentic, funny, and likeable as you’d imagine her to be, and her incredible sporting ability definitely shone through too.
Directed by Miriam Fitzsimons, the show featured interviews with herself, as well as Sorcha Furlong, Mark Ingle, Denise Masterson, Valerie Mulcahy, Daragh Ó Conchúir, Ken Peat, Marian Peat, Gemma Peat and Barra Peat-Brogan, and it definitely taught us a thing or two about the Irish sporting great.
Here’s five things we learned from Lindsay Peat’s Laochra Gael episode.
Laoch ár linne ✨
Féach siar ar scéal Lindsay anseo👇https://t.co/SZd6Y0HQPL@SportTG4 @lilypeat11 @Laochra_Gael https://t.co/w1QEGg1ChQ— TG4 (@TG4TV) February 9, 2024
1.Her fledgling journey in basketball start is straight out of a movie
Peat's entry into basketball is straight out of a movie, or more particularly straight out of the 1992 film "White Men Can't Jump" as she says herself.
Playing pick up games on a local outdoor basketball court, more specifically the Artane Beaumont Family Recreation Centre, Peat recalls her days there in which she battled it out with the boys.
"What I loved about the lads was that they didn't treat me any different," she said.
"You get a shoulder, you get a kick, they'd trip you up. They were tough on me and I liked that.
"They're some of my favourite memories."
Starting to hone her skills with Coolock then, who knew she'd go on to triumph on the national women's Superleague stage with DCU Mercy years later.
Which Irish sportsperson has played football, rugby and basketball for Ireland, and also has an All Ireland medal🤔❓
It could only be the legend that is Lindsay Peat!
👇Listen to her full story here👇#womeninsport #LindsayPeat #rugby pic.twitter.com/6UVqMTkpwz— Her Sport (@HerSportDotIE) October 10, 2023
2.Her family weren’t letting her forget about her ‘wild’ childhood ways
While Peat's sister Gemma is no doubt a star contributor in the documentary, the interviews with her mum Marian and dad Ken are not to be missed.
The eldest of three girls, Lindsay describes how her mum got a "baptism of fire" when it came to raising them.
"Her eldest daughter, her eldest child, was quite the wild one," Peat smiles, referring to herself.
While looking through some precious family photographs, her mum recalls how Lindsay "never done anything she was told."
Marian and Ken also remember how Lindsay never liked to stay still as a child, even flicking herself over the cot and then walking down the stairs come bed time.
Gemma too echoed this sentiment, in the loving yet teasing way only a sister could.
"Most of my memories growing up were of Lindsay breaking the rules," she said.
"That probably still stands to me today, the wildness, that energetic side of me" Lindsay says, following that segment of the show.
"As gentle as I try and be I probably break something, or break someone," she jokes.
"Sport was a place where I didn't feel that pressure [..] I could just be me."
Lindsay Peat ag labhairt faoin tábhacht a bhí le spórt ina saol agus í ag streachailt lena gnéasacht.
🏐 Laochra Gael 🥎
📅 Anocht/Tonight
⏰ 21:30
📺 ar @TG4TV#LaochraGaelpic.twitter.com/880h0vPWxp— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) February 8, 2024
3. She once was flown by helicopter to play a Dublin game
Yes, you read that right, a helicopter.
It's undoubtedly an unforgettable moment of the tv show, as well as Peat's own life too.
"There was definitely lots of slagging about it after the game," Dublin player Sorcha Furlong laughs as she thinks about the moment.
But how did that even come about?
Well, Dublin manager Gerry McGill and his team had arranged for Peat to be picked up from an Irish basketball game to help the The Jackies out for a match versus Kerry in 2009.
Originally thinking McGill was joking, Peat had responded "ah yeah, no bother, yeah" when the idea was first posed.
Sure enough, it did actually come to be, to Peat's amazement.
"He organised one and I'm extremely embarrassed that I got a helicopter from CityWest to a game, and got the last 40 seconds," she smiles, thinking back on the event in disbelief still.
That story Lindsay Peat tells in her Laochra Gael episode from last night where she gets a helicopter from an Ireland basketball game to play 40 seconds of a Dublin LGFA game is some yarn!
What a story, what an athlete 👏
Class as per too from @SportTG4 👇 https://t.co/SxkzHAqeyI— Alanna Cunnane (@acunnane10) February 9, 2024
4. She’s faced unthinkable nastiness in sport
In the programme, Peat talks about the homophobic slurs she had thrown at her during matches, in acts of sledging that are nothing short of disgusting.
That's especially the case when you consider the struggles Peat had earlier in her life with her identity and sexuality, although she always found solace in sport.
"Sport was a place where I didn't feel that pressure, I was the same as everyone else," she said.
"It was like an armour that I was able to be strong in," she added.
Reflecting on those specific instances though, Peat remembers how she was very disappointed that they happened, and that it added fuel to the fire inside of her.
"People will try and annoy you and they'll say stuff and vice versa, but I suppose there's a line you cross...and I was probably very hurt and disappointed that that line was crossed," she said.
Laochra Gael: Lindsay Peat 🏐🏀🏉⚽
📆 Anocht / Tonight
⏰ 21:30
📺 ar @TG4TV @dublinladiesg @LadiesFootball @LaochraGael #LaochraGael pic.twitter.com/z8KFDPh2MF— Spórt TG4 (@SportTG4) February 8, 2024
5. There was an exact moment rugby legend Alison Miller knew Peat would play rugby
The 2014 All Ireland final may be one Dublin fans would rather forget, but there was one instance in that match that still lives long in the memory.
Before scoring her iconic goal in that final versus Cork, Peat can be seen brushing LGFA legend Briege Corkery to the side with relative ease.
"Lindsay just did this hand off and Corkery fell flat," Valerie Mulcahy, former Cork player recalls, barely retaining her laugher.
It's in that split second that Irish rugby icon Alison Miller knew that Peat would go on to play rugby.
"I'm always like, right," Peat says in retaliation to that thought, "are you telling me I fouled her" she laughs.
Although The Rebels came out victorious on that occasion, there will always be that memorable and remarkable moment in that final for Peat.
A try on her @rbs_6_nations debut for Ireland prop Lindsay Peat #wrugby Ireland 7 Italy 5 pic.twitter.com/vmtKmIFSUU
— Irish Rugby (@IrishRugby) March 13, 2016
