Seven-Year-Old Aoife Callanan wins Lidl Ladies Gaelic Football 50th Anniversary Jersey Design Competition
Lidl Ireland are delighted to unveil Aoife Callanan’s winning design for the nationwide Ladies Gaelic Football Jersey Design Competition which challenged shoppers to create a bespoke jersey design to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Ladies Gaelic Football Association. The winning designer is seven-year-old Aoife Callanan from Ballinadee/Ballinspittle, County Cork.
Aoife, who plays Ladies Gaelic Football with Courcey Rovers, Ballinspittle, was presented with the first of her jersey design to be produced by Lidl Ireland CEO J.P. Scally in Croke Park yesterday at the All-Ireland Ladies’ Football Finals where she was welcomed by Lidl and the LGFA. Aoife and her family also received €1,000 in Lidl vouchers for winning the competition.
10,000 of Aoife’s jersey design will go into production with Irish sports company McKeever Sports and will be distributed to Lidl shoppers across the country as part of the Lidl Plus LGFA Rewards Scheme. Full details on how shoppers can get a 50th Anniversary Jersey will be announced shortly.
The Lidl LGFA Jersey Design competition was launched in May 2023 and ran across all 178 Lidl stores nationwide. To enter, shoppers had to complete a design template entry form and submit their entry in-store before the 11th of June. Over 10,000 entries were received from across the country and four entries were short-listed for a public vote across Lidl’s social media channels where Aoife’s jersey was chosen as the winner.
Speaking about her jersey design, Aoife’s mother, Claire Callanan, said:
“Aoife and our whole family are absolutely thrilled that she has won the Lidl LGFA jersey design competition. She’s a very creative girl and a big Ladies Gaelic Football fan. She plays with our local club, Courcey Rovers and loves learning the skills through her amazing coaches and having fun playing with her friends. Thanks to Lidl, who are great supporters of Ladies Gaelic Football and have made a big impact in promoting women’s sport, for running the competition and to everyone who voted for Aoife’s design. To be in Croke Park for the All-Ireland Finals and see her jersey up on the big screen was amazing. It will be a great memory for the whole family into the future. We look forward to seeing people around the country wearing the jersey to celebrate the LGFA’s 50th anniversary.”
J.P. Scally, CEO at Lidl Ireland, added: “Aoife’s design is fantastic and will likely become a must-have item over the coming months. It will be very exciting to see Aoife’s jersey being worn by people all across the country. There was a great response to this initiative and there were so many creative entries it was really hard to whittle it down to a final four before the public ultimately chose Aoife’s design. Lidl have been a major sponsor of Ladies Gaelic Football since 2016 and we are delighted to be playing our part in celebrating the LGFA’s 50th year. We will continue to bring our #SeriousSupport to all levels of the game and we have more exciting initiatives to support Ladies Gaelic Footballers to announce in the coming weeks.”
Mícheál Naughton, LGFA President, also commented: "When the voting opened for the Lidl jersey design competition, we were blown away by the options that the finalists had come up with. These young LGFA fans put so much time and effort into their jersey designs and while there could only be one winner, all entrants are to be applauded on their work, which was of the highest quality. Picking a winner was a tricky task for voters on social media and the response was impressive. Aoife's design won the popular vote and we can see why it polled so well. This jersey is a really beautiful piece of work and we look forward to seeing many of our members wearing it very soon. A huge word of thanks to Lidl for coming up with this fantastic initiative and we look forward to working alongside our National League sponsors and official retail partner throughout our 50th year."