‘I ran out of time,’ in World Cup bid with Girls in Green, says Sarah Rowe
She is currently back there preparing for the start of another AFL Women’s season with Collingwood, but had things gone differently, Sarah Rowe could well have been showcasing her talents in another sporting code in Australia this month.
A native of Ballina who has a number of championship campaigns under her belt with the Mayo ladies footballers, Rowe picked up a senior international cap with the Republic of Ireland women’s national team back in 2015. A series of impressive displays in a half-season stint with Women’s Premier Division outfit Bohemians helped her to be included on the standby list for a 31-player training squad that senior boss Vera Pauw named at the beginning of June ahead of the Women’s World Cup finals in Australia and New Zealand.
Prior to scoring four goals in 13 league appearances for Bohs, Rowe also had a short spell at A-League side Melbourne Victory at the start of this year. However, after devoting herself almost exclusively to other pursuits from 2017 to 2022 (there was a brief sojourn with Shelbourne two years ago), she freely admits breaking into Pauw’s final squad for the World Cup was always going to be difficult.
“I had been in touch with Vera throughout the whole thing and I got called into a home-based training camp about two weeks before they named the squad. She texted after saying ‘I’m pleased with how far you have come in such a short space of time and for that reason you are on standby’. I was due back to Collingwood about four weeks prior to when I actually went back so I stuck around playing a few more soccer games as well in that time,” Rowe remarked on a virtual media call for the Budweiser Combine event yesterday.
“I definitely look at soccer and look at the World Cup and go ‘I ran out of time’. If I had gone back a year ago or two years ago, where would I be now? The strides you were making in such a short space of time where you weren’t too far away from it, but it needed time. It needed more games.”
Focused now on her burgeoning Aussie Rules career at Collingwood – with whom she is contracted until 2024 – Rowe will be tuning in from afar when Mayo take on Kerry in the All-Ireland senior ladies football championship semi-final at Semple Stadium this Saturday.
While this was initially expected to be one of several games to be played under protest during the closing weeks of the season by female inter-county players across ladies football and camogie, these plans were halted in advance of last weekend’s games in both codes after the LGFA and the Camogie Association committed to implementing a standardised player charter for 2024.
Although she acknowledges there are obvious distinctions between professional and amateur games, Rowe believes it is important that steps continue to be taken in ensuring ladies football remains a big draw in the face of the AFLW’s growing appeal.
“I had a young girl come up to me when I was at home, and she was like, ‘it is my dream to play in the AFL,’ and I said, ‘that’s interesting.’ That wasn’t something that was there when I was growing up. My dream was to play for Mayo, so there is a massive pull towards Australia,” Rowe added.
“I know while we say everyone does apply themselves at the level of professional standards, the resources around that are what needs tidying up. Because the players are there giving it so much. I do think these things need tidying up and fast.”