Ever kick a ball for the dog, forgetting it had been out in sub-zero temperatures overnight (the ball, not the dog), and then spent the rest of the day hopping around on one foot?

That line from Ger Brennan about the Ladyball, then, had some of us looking for the ‘Click to buy’ button: “I have no doubt the softer texture will be welcomed by all the ladies out there.” Too right.

As teaser campaigns go, that one was quite a triumph in terms of attention received, Ladyball generating a 'huh?' in most corners of the planet. Even the Washington Post was writing about it, although their description of Gaelic football as an "obscure sport" will go down in infamy.

That some fell for it and took it that the Ladyball was an actual thing possibly says a great deal more about the way women’s sport has been marketed over the years than it does about them, although the fact that most twigged it was a rascal-ish teaser for a new marketing campaign might suggest we’ve progressed a bit.

Daftness

Thumbs up or down? Those of us who quite liked its daftness were probably in a minority, more than a few finding it demeaning and wondering why, in 2016, marketing people believe tactics like these are required to draw attention to women’s sport.

Probably because they are, to be honest.

If the teaser video had featured a few talking heads telling us how great women’s football is and that we should all support it, how much attention would it have received?

If the view count on YouTube had hit double figures, they’d have been doing well.

It’s hard enough to argue, then, that something a little quirky isn’t required when the level of attention women’s sport receives is still so low.

And to be blunt, if all those offended people who argued that we don’t need Lidl to tell us how good women’s Gaelic football can be, or that we should take it seriously, actively support the game, there wouldn’t have been 50,000 empty seats at last year’s All-Ireland final.

The only folk demeaned in the video, really, were the Neanderthals who have issues with women playing football – and ridicule is always a delicious and powerful weapon.

The let-down was the follow-up ‘reveal’ video which should have switched tack and focused on the excellence of some of today’s players, rather than displaying a series of the Neanderthals’ tweets. The battle isn’t with them; let them go, the challenge is to fill those empty seats with people who love Gaelic football but haven’t got around to supporting the women’s game.

So, instead of a couple of still images of those stars, accompanied by a rather defensive commentary, why not a video of a supersonic Briege Corkery swapping a Ladyball for the real thing, hunting down and tackling three opponents at the same time, as is her wont, slipping a pass to Caroline O’Hanlon, who’d pick out Cora Staunton ahead of her, Staunton slaloming past half a defence before laying it off for Geraldine McLaughlin, who’d break the back of the net with a thunderbolt? Directed by Lenny Abrahamson, of course. Music by the Artane Band (feat Beyoncé).

Maybe that’ll be the next ad.

More will be revealed in Croke Park today about Lidl’s sponsorship of women’s football, so we’ll just have to wait to see if they put their money where their Ladyball is in the long term and demonstrate a real commitment to the sport from grassroots up. And it needs all the support and investment it can muster.

Many wondered if the loot spent on the advertising campaign, which had to be considerable, wouldn’t have been better invested in the game itself, but Lidl, presumably, would argue that they had to do some attention-grabbing first.

Mission more than accomplished. Now the task is to turn the grabbed attention into positive promotion of the game.

Wonderful

But that a major brand is investing at all in women’s sport in Ireland is a wonderful thing, for years we’ve watched some of our very finest sportswomen with no sponsors’ names at all on their shirts or, at best, something along the lines of ‘Dinny’s Drain Unblocking (087-2716***)’.

Fair play to Dinny, but you sensed the deal wouldn’t cover sandwiches after the opening game of the National League.

So, hats off to Lidl. For all the criticism they got during the week, they’re one of the very few major companies on this island that has decided women’s sport is worth backing.

May their move open the floodgates. The first steps weren’t quite flawless, but what first steps are?