“We’re looking at a ten-year plan to produce women who will knock on the door at the European and World championships”
It was an ad on DoneDeal that led to the birth of what is now Female Cue Sports Ireland.
Husband-and-wife team Dan Carroll and Annette Newman – who is Ireland’s most successful cue sports player of all time and President of Female Cue Sports Ireland – have been promoting the female game since the late 1980s.
But, in 2009, they were able to take a giant leap forward in bringing the games of snooker, pool and billiards to schools and community centres around Ireland when they spotted an ad on DoneDeal offering 160 pool and snooker tables for the princely sum of £1.
“I decided to ring and see if the ad was for real, and I was the only person to call,” says Dan, who is Chair of Female Cue Sports Ireland (previously called the Republic of Ireland Ladies Snooker Association).
Annette Newman receives a Carlow Sports Star Award for Snooker & Billiards https://t.co/005ceN36zx
— RILSA (@RILSA147) April 9, 2023
The tables were ex-shop stock and would have been destined for incineration if Dan hadn’t made that call.
“Annette and I went up to this huge warehouse in Dundalk and we went through them and thought we could get them into schools and get kids playing and develop the game,” he says.
The couple ran a fundraiser to pay a truckdriver Dan knew to collect the tables and bring them to their home in Ballinabranna, Co Carlow.
“The three of us offloaded 14 pallets of tables. They were in the sheds, they were in the house, they were out in the yard, they were everywhere. We got them into around 80 locations – YouthReach centres, primary schools, community centres and special needs centres.”
Introducing cue sports to people with special needs is a cornerstone of what Female Cue Sports Ireland do, and it has been a great success. “We have seen great progress over the years with young people with special needs. Their teachers have been amazed at the interaction they have with them since the tables went in,” he says.
The sports of snooker, billiards and pool are on the rise among women of all ages in Ireland and Female Cue Sports Ireland is determined to see that growth cemented and extended.
So, with the help of National Lottery Good Causes funding, they created an academy of excellence at their base at the Sharkx Newbridge recreation centre in Co Kildare, to drive the visibility, participation rate and success of the women’s game forward.
The academy, which was opened by Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media Catherine Martin in 2022, has five pool tables, a small snooker table and five full-size snooker tables.
The Female Cue Sports Academy of Excellence is the first of its kind anywhere in the world. “We’re looking at a ten-year plan to produce women who will knock on the door at the European and World championships,” Dan says.
As well as developing the female game at elite level, Female Cue Sports Ireland, which has 936 members and more women and girls joining every week, is committed to growing participation at all levels and continuing to foster the game in schools and special needs centres across the country.
With that in mind, they have an ambitious programme in place to develop more female coaches. “In November we started a coaching plan for teachers in the schools that have taken tables. Up to then we only had two female coaches in Ireland, but we now have 12 coaches with more due to qualify soon,” Dan says.
Including Annette and Dan, Female Cue Sports Ireland has a tightknit board of seven who keep the organisation running. “It’s a lot of work but we enjoy it, and we have a great team. We’re now recognised as the main body for developing and promoting female cue sports in Ireland,” Dan says.
“There’s a push on now for equality in sport. The achievements of the likes of Rachel Blackmore, Leona Maguire, and the girls in the athletics, of course, and the Irish football team, have encouraged young women to get involved in sports, and that has really pushed female cue sports to the forefront as well.”
RILSA Receives Funding from Women in Sport to Develop Female Cue Sports in Ireland & New WIS Policy Launched https://t.co/V9k4hC7Au7
— RILSA (@RILSA147) November 19, 2023
Nearly 30 cent in every €1 spent on all National Lottery games goes back to Good Causes in the areas of sport, youth, health, welfare, education, arts, heritage, and the Irish Language. In total more than €6 Billion has been raised for Good Causes since the National Lottery was established 36 years ago. In 2022 alone, €259.5 million was raised for local Good Causes in communities across Ireland.
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