Ireland's historic first qualification for the Women's World Cup marked a significant milestone for women's football in the country. However, the entire campaign since qualifying has been marred by a series of controversies that have emerged one after another since October 2022.
The tournament was supposed to be a landmark moment for Ireland's WNT, but instead, it has been plagued by various issues. Much like the infamous situation involving Keane and McCarthy in Saipan during the 2002 men's World Cup, this tournament appears to be heading towards a negative conclusion.
Here is a list of controversies that have followed the Ireland team since Amber Barrett's historic strike in Scotland last autumn.
Republic of Ireland players applaud fans (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)Irish players chanting The Wolfe Tones in Scotland
Last October, Ireland made history by defeating Scotland 1-0 at Hampden Park. Amber Barrett's late strike ensured that the Girls in Green would be heading to their first-ever major tournament in history.
Players were understandably elated at reaching the finals in Australia and New Zealand in July. However, soon after, a video surfaced online showing the players chanting the famous 'Celtic Symphony' by the Wolfe Tones.
Regrettably, the words 'Ooh, ah, up the 'Ra' were chanted, leading to a firestorm in Ireland, with people both condemning and defending the players for their actions.
As a result of the controversy, Ireland's Aine Gorman and the FAI were compelled to issue apologies, and Chloe Mustaki made an appearance on Sky Sports to further express the team's remorse for the inappropriate chants.
This marked the beginning of a series of issues that plagued the team.
New allegations surface around Vera Pauw's time in the US.
Ireland's final game in their home country before heading off to the World Cup was against France. The match was supposed to be a celebration before the team departed, but it turned out to be anything but that.
A report from The Athletic, a sports website owned by the New York Times, brought forward fresh claims about Ireland's coach, Vera Pauw, just before the game.
The report alleged that the 60-year-old coach had been "physically aggressive" and "weight-shamed players" during the 2018 NWSL season with Houston Dash.
In response to the allegations, Vera Pauw vehemently denied them, asserting that they were lies and accused of double standards due to her being a female coach.
The pre-match press conference, initially intended to focus on Ireland versus France, was instead dominated by questions concerning the allegations.
Ireland's captain, Katie McCabe, expressed her frustration with a touch of sarcasm, saying, "It’s been a pleasure talking about the World Cup, guys. Really appreciate it."
Again, not ideal in the lead up to the World Cup.
Dublin , Ireland - 5 July 2023; Manager Vera Pauw, left, and Katie McCabe during a Republic of Ireland women press conference at Tallaght Stadium in Dublin. (Photo By Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)The Columbia friendly that was called off after 20-minutes
Ireland played Colombia in a warm-up friendly before they faced co-hosts Australia in Sydney.
According to reports, the game was abandoned around 20 minutes by Ireland's players and staff after a number of meaty challenges in the game.
One of the tackles that emerged online was between a Colombian player and Ireland's Denise O'Sullivan. The Cork native was later taken to the hospital with a shin injury during the game.
There had been fears that her World Cup participation was over, but this wasn't the case, and she featured in all of Ireland's three World Cup games.
Ireland's coach, Pauw, said: “Then there came a huge challenge on Denise, a challenge not within the rules of the game, and she was in awful pain.
“The players were extremely upset and had fear for themselves. We are not a team who fears tackles or challenges.
“I took them away to calm things down, brought them to the bench. We discussed it, and there was contact with the president and the CEO of the FAI.
“Collectively, we knew it would not come right anymore, and if it went on, we would put our players into a potentially serious situation.
“We had a calm discussion with the ref, and they called off the game.”
Soon after, a video was captured on social media of Colombia star Daniela Caracas describing the Irish women as 'babies' in conversation with Colombian fans following the game.
“They are just girls," said the Espanyol star, "one little foul and they started complaining, they were having a chat amongst themselves to continue or not so we weren’t going to hang around waiting for them.”
Again, Ireland's players and Pauw didn't need a saga like this.
McCabe v Pauw sub issue against Nigeria
This week, Ireland completed their World Cup group adventure by drawing 0-0 with Nigeria. Ireland was already out of the tournament after losing to Canada in the second game, but the fallout from the Nigeria game on Monday has once again created another firestorm.
During the game, McCabe asked Pauw to bring on 'fresh legs' and substitute someone else. Sinead Farrelly was apparently the target of McCabe's request.
Pauw ignored McCabe's pleas, and Farrelly was not brought off. Pauw finally made an 84th-minute substitution when she introduced Marissa Sheva and Abbie Larkin for Heather Payne and Lily Agg. Diane Caldwell was also brought on.
Yesterday, when asked why she didn't honuor McCabe's request for a substitution, Pauw said, "Why would we change?" in response to her captain's request.
"If Katie McCabe wants a change, it doesn't mean she's the coach. Everybody was doing so well. So I said 'what do you want Katie, taking the best player off?' No. A player is allowed to be emotional, is allowed to say that, it’s fine. But during the game, I step back and analyze and make changes that are necessary."
Pauw then stressed, "No, no, no, because a player doesn't ask, and you refuse. A player can ask always, but as a coach, it’s not a refusal, as a coach, you make decisions on what is necessary.
"A player can say anything to the coach, at least to me. Sinead Farrelly was arguably the best player on the pitch at that moment, so I was not prepared to take the best player off."
McCabe then tweeted on her own account with an emoji, indicating her silence on the matter, which has only increased the speculation around a rift between Pauw and her.
🤐
— Katie McCabe (@Katie_McCabe11) July 31, 2023
What happens next
Ireland's first-ever participation in the Women's World Cup was set to be a game-changer for women's football in Ireland, and it still could be when the dust settles from the tournament.
However, one can't argue that their debut tournament has been hit with one too many sagas since beating Scotland in 2022.
Katie McCabe's wonder-strike against Canada was one of the few standout moments from the team, and the sad reality is that Ireland has had fewer good moments and more bad moments since reaching the finals.
Vera Pauw's future with the Irish team has not been clarified by the FAI, and it feels that her time in charge of the Irish team looks to be at an end.
Hopefully, Ireland can reach more major finals in the future, but let's hope that they aren't as blemished as this one.
