Chloe Singleton, 21 year-old Galway United and Rep. of Ireland underage international, but also an ambassador for the FAI and SSE’s sustainability drive for Irish football.
She sat down to talk about her work in securing a greener future for Irish football, the state of the women’s game, and her personal goals and ambitions with Galway United in the Women's National League (WNL).
Speaking on women’s football as whole, she discussed the success of THE last year for the game both internationally and in Ireland.
“The rise of women’s football has been huge in the past year, females are finally getting the recognition they deserve. In Ireland with Sky coming on board as sponsors for the senior women’s national team is huge. Seeing the progress the national team has made over the last few months is inspirational, equal pay with the men’s team also being a huge step forward.
“Within the women’s national league its great to have SSE Airtricity on board again as they are a really positive sponsor to have which encourages the improvement of the environmental footprint of Irish football. We also have LOITV which streams all of our games, last year TG4 and RTE came on board which was huge as some games were live on television, its great to have this progress especially for the new generation of young female footballers coming through.
“We can see the progress in Ireland with growing crowds going to games but also abroad as we’ve seen the record being set for the highest attendance in women’s football this year in the champions league tie in Camp Nou between Real Madrid and Barcelona. I think this record really inspired a lot of female players globally which is great to see.”
11 May 2022; League of Ireland Director Mark Scanlon and Lead Marketing Manager of SSE Airtricity Áine Plunkett, with footballers, from left, Chloe Singleton of Galway WFC, Will Patching of Derry City and Cian Murphy of Cork City pictured at the launch of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and SSE Airtricity’s sustainability drive for Irish football with Mark Scanlon of the FAI and Áine Plunkett of SSE Airtricity. The sustainability drive is aimed at improving the environmental footprint of Irish football across the country. The #DifferentLeague initiative will see every club across the leagues given access to internationally recognised sustainability accreditation experts GreenCode. Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile
Galway currently sit in 6th place in the league, just two points off Peamont United in 3rd, after ten matches.
With ten points from their last four games, including a hard-fought 2-2 draw with second place Wexford, there is a feeling that Galway are on course to provide a serious threat to the top three in the league.
“For this season we are aiming to break into the top three teams, we are into the second round of games now and we are looking to pick up as many points as possible and be more consistent with results than the first round of games as we had a few hiccups. The league is a lot tighter this year which is good as games are becoming more unpredictable. I believe we have a good bunch of girls more than capable to be striving for a top 3 position this year.”
Singleton has represented Ireland at underage level, and has been involved in camps with the senior team.
Obviously further training sessions with the Vera Pauw’s senior team is a huge goal for the midfielder, considering the current wave of success the team is having. But balancing footballing life with college studies will provide a challenge.
“My personal goals for the next year is to work hard and hopefully become involved in more home based sessions. I want to focus on my final year in college and playing well with Galway, hopefully after I finish my degree I will be looking at other footballing opportunities for me.”
The main aspect of the FAI and SSE’s sustainability drive is to give clubs access “to internationally recognised sustainability accreditation experts GreenCode”. Who will, in Singleton’s words, “work with each club individually to help audit, measure, and drive their environmental initiatives towards full accreditation.”
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