Universities love to be good at sport. It improves their image and gives the university more prestige. The best way to be good at sport is to have good athletes. How do you get good athletes to enroll in your university? The answer is scholarships. On Friday, Trinity Sport announced 64 new sports scholars for the 2017/2018 academic year. Scholarships are a big deal for Trinity. The “Raising Our Game” initiative, rolled out in 2015, planned to invest €13 million into sports in Trinity and has also made efforts to reinvigorate the scholarships programme.
This year’s figure shows a decrease of two in the number of scholars from the 2016/2017 season, along with a fall in the number of female sports scholars. Last year, female athletes made up 62 per cent of sports scholarships funded by Trinity Sport alone. That number is now 56 per cent. This is not accounting for rugby scholarships, which are mostly funded externally by Trinity’s rugby club, Dublin University Football Club (DUFC).
When taking the rugby scholarships into account, the number going to women drops to 30 per cent.
Despite this drop, the number of scholarships handed out to female athletes funded by Trinity Sport is still higher than their male counterparts. With gender equality being such a hot topic in sport, Trinity Sport’s attempt to encourage women in sport is commendable.
After Ireland hosted the Women’s Rugby World Cup in the summer, it felt like the perfect time for women’s rugby to push on to a higher level
Yet this year may not be the great victory for gender equality in sport it appears to be at first glance. The fact men’s rugby, being funded externally or not, received 30 scholarships (up by two from last year) whereas women’s rugby got none after being awarded three last year may cause some discomfort for Trinity Sport. After Ireland hosted the Women’s Rugby World Cup in the summer, it felt like the perfect time for women’s rugby to push on to a higher level. Yet the scholarship programme in Trinity does not reflect this. The gap between men’s rugby and every other sport in terms of scholarships is staggering, with nearly half of all scholarships going to the club – all of which to male athletes.
Similar to the Ladies rugby team, the Ladies Gaelic football team received no scholarships after obtaining three last year. Gaelic football and rugby are both focus sports, so the lack of female sports scholars is worrying. Other notable focus-sport absentees from the list of sport scholars are the Men’s and Ladies Boat Club. Last year, the men’s team received two scholarships while the ladies scooped three. Neither club features on the list this year.
Although not as diverse as last year, plenty of scholarships have still gone to more obscure sports such as squash, taekwondo and badminton. Playing individual, niche sports can be a thankless job and Trinity’s recognition of the amount of effort these athletes put into their discipline and supporting them in their endeavours is something Trinity should be commended for. In spite of this, one couldn’t call Trinity’s selection of sports scholars drastically diverse. Trinity’s policy of having four focus sports – rugby, GAA, hockey and rowing – is still reflected in the list of sports scholars, with 73 per cent of all scholarships going to these focus sports.
Despite some successes for the scholarship programme in Trinity, it should still to be noted that the college continues to lag behind the likes of University College Dublin (UCD) in terms of the number of scholarships handed out by the universities. UCD hands out over 60 Ad Astra scholarships for elite athletes (not counting the ordinary sports scholarships given to the lower-level sports scholars). This figure seems especially stark in comparison to Trinity’s when one remembers that 30 of the 64 scholarships handed out this year were not funded by Trinity, but rather by DUFC through the Bank of Ireland scheme.
Trinity’s attempt to create distinct scholarship categories depending on the level of the athlete is a welcome development. This means Trinity can hand out higher quality scholarships, and thus attract the best athletes possible, something they could not do if all of the scholarships were the same. For example, Trinity’s most elite sports scholarship, the “Podium Scholarship”, is worth up to €9,500 compared to UCD’s Ad Astra scholarship which has a value of €3,000. Nevertheless, it is worth bearing in mind the sheer number of Ad Astra scholarships made available. Put simply, the more scholarships a college can provide, the more top-tier athletes it will be able to attract.
Trinity has to decide whether or not they are going to put their attractiveness to Ireland’s top athletes ahead of their academic reputation
The introduction of flexible admission arrangements would be a contentious reform, but would certainly benefit Trinity’s ability to attract better athletes straight out of secondary school. Athletes spend a considerable amount of time playing or training for their respective sports, which inevitably has an effect on their schoolwork. If a college is offering to decrease the number of points someone needs to get into college then there is a serious incentive to apply for that college. Trinity has to decide whether or not they are going to put their attractiveness to Ireland’s top athletes ahead of their academic reputation.
Trinity Sport’s reform of the sports scholarship programme has translated into some on-pitch success. This is most notable in rugby and hockey, with the men’s rugby team now plying their trade in the top tier of Irish amateur rugby, while Dublin University Ladies Hockey Club (DULHC) achieved promotion to the prestigious EY Hockey League at the tail end of last year.
According to the Deputy Head of Sport and Recreation in Trinity, Matthew Dossett, this year saw “the highest level of interest the programme has ever received”. This clearly demonstrates that the scholarship programme is raising the profile of Trinity as a sporting institution.
However, there is still work to be done. Trinity has undoubtedly made vast strides in its efforts to catch up with “big siblings” UCD and Dublin City University (DCU) in the last few years, but the proof, as always, is in the pudding. Both the men’s rugby team and the ladies hockey team have been on the wrong end of hammerings from UCD already this season, with both sides hovering near the bottom of their leagues. This newspaper has covered far more defeats than victories this season for Trinity’s sports clubs. The college still has a way to go until they can fully rival other colleges and universities in the sporting arena. Unless efforts are made to continue developing sports scholarships, Trinity simply won’t excel in the same way DCU and UCD have done.
