Womens' sporting heroes celebrated ahead of tournaments
Womens' sport was being celebrated ahead of the arrival of two major tournaments next month.
The women's Rugby World Cup will be played across Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, while the UEFA WU19 Euro 2017 football tournament.
On Thursday morning, representatives from rugby, football and the GAA met at the "A Level Playing Field: Women In Sport" event hosted by the Department for Communities.
It was hosted by the Public Records Office NI as a way to highlight and celebrate the journey that women's sport has come on over the years.
Sara Booth, Tournament Director for the WU19 Euro tournament said it was a great way to appreciate the talents of women and girls across the sporting spectrum.
"For me importantly, it's about looking forward to the future," she said.
"I played when I was younger and the things that they have now, I didn't have back then.
"The opportunities for women in sport now are incredible, particualarly with the rugby and the football tournaments coming up.
"It's just going to be a really exciting month for women in sport."
For Neal Johnston, Female Rugby Officer at Ulster Rugby, the chance to inspire young athletes and rugby players with the tournament is massive.
"The hope would be that it will have a massive impact on inspiring new players," he said.
"We had a recent summer camp and speaking with the players who had never played before, it was the publicity around the tournament that had caught their eye and brought them down.
"There are legacy projects already planned as well for increasing activity in schools afterwards too."
Kathleen Woods, Chairperson of Ulster Camogie and is set to become the National Chairperson next year.
She said the event was all about highlighting everything women had done in order to reach a point where women and girls felt encouraged to become athletes and players.
"Today is a celebration of female sport and the history of where we have all come from," she said.
"It's been a huge journey as it was initially for ladies only, the daughters of wealthy landowners or business people, who had time on their hands.
"For instance, I was looking at the displays today and saw that after the Second World War, ladies' soccer was banned across the British Isles and didn't re-emerge until the 1970s.
"That's the exact same era in which ladies' GAA developed, so there's great links there between our female sports.
"Now our sport, across all sections of the community is open to everyone, regardless of background."