Face-to-Face: Maureen McGonigle, founder of Scottish Women in Sport

"It was good to find someone who had a voice and know that people were listening for a change," recounts McGonigle. "However, I thought: 'You are talking away there but I don't really think you are speaking to me here in Scotland.' I decided I was going to set up an association, downloaded a web URL: 'Scottish Women in Sport' and put together a concept paper."

Scottish Women in Sport (SWIS) was launched in November 2013 with tennis coach Judy Murray and Olympic gold medallist rower Katherine Grainger among its key supporters. The organisation, which is made up of representatives from sporting governing bodies, the media, MSPs, youth charities, business, education, equality groups and the health sector, has the backing of many of the country's top athletes and coaches.

Consider this stark statistic: only seven per cent of sports media coverage is currently devoted to women and a mere 0.4 per cent of commercial investment. "One of the things we are here to do is to lobby for change," says McGonigle. "There is no one else out there who is taking that responsibility on. When I first came up with the idea my thinking was there are all these women and girls playing sport in Scotland, if they came together with one voice then surely we could change things?

"We want to give our elite athletes the exposure they deserve. By raising their profile our hope is that could help bring in more finance for Scottish women and sport. It's also about creating role models for young girls who might be swithering about whether to continue in sport."

McGonigle is keen to stress, though, that SWIS is not simply about those among the upper echelons of sport but women in all walks of life. "We don't want to just create role models from the elite side because not every young girl can relate to that," she says. "They may look at an athlete who trains five times a week and think: 'I don't want to do that. I want to see my friends, have a boyfriend, eat a burger'.

"We want young girls to enjoy sport and get all the benefits that come from that in terms of education, camaraderie and leadership skills. We are also targeting young mums and trying to get them back into sport or to try it for the first time. What better role model than your mum, dad and family? If you are all enjoying sport together you are more likely to keep it up."

The eldest of two children, McGonigle, 61, grew up in Clydebank. Her late father Angus was a farmer and later a groundsman for the local authority while her mother Nan worked in a grocer's shop. She describes herself as a bookish child who was a voracious reader. "My mum once gave me a row because I put an egg on to boil, started reading my book and forgot all about it," she recalls. "The water boiled away and the egg turned black."

She enjoyed playing hockey as a youngster but was scuppered by a lack of opportunities to pursue that avenue recreationally. "When I was a young girl at school, there was no encouragement," says McGonigle. "In fact, it was quite the opposite. You had to play sport in your brown gym knickers, out on a red blaze park in all weathers, and then use the most God-awful showers afterwards."

Her path into sport came two decades later after being asked to take on a six-week administration role to help organise the Commonwealth Wrestling Championships which were held in Glasgow in 1985.

McGonigle moved into women's football in 1993. From the outset, she vowed to plough a furrow of change. "Seeing the passion and commitment of the players I found it really unfair that they were treated differently," she says. "I never understood why men should get one thing and women shouldn't. That has irked me throughout my life."

She was made redundant from her role at Scottish Women's Football in late 2013. McGonigle sat on the Scottish FA Non-Professional Game Board and is the only woman to have received a long-service medal from the Scottish FA Council. "I was the only woman on the council for 14 years," she says. "When I first started in football we weren't an affiliated national association and had to work towards that."

McGonigle wryly regales with tales of the casual sexism she encountered over the years. "One of the first dinners I went to was for the opening of the South Stand at Hampden," she says. "I was at a table with all of the [Scottish FA] council wives while my work colleagues were sitting elsewhere.

"Afterwards I wrote to [then SFA chief executive] Jim Farry and said: 'I'm not a wife, I'm actually a worker'. I then became the first woman to sit at a men's table at one of the dinners. To be fair, I was always treated well within the council but they never knew how to address me. It was always: 'Good morning gentleman ... and Maureen.'"

Football is in her blood. Her late uncle Leslie Johnston made his debut for Scotland during the Second World War and later went on to set a transfer record of £12,000 - "a fortune in those days" - when he joined Celtic. After he died, McGonigle took some of his memorabilia to the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden. "One of the guys told me: 'I remember your Aunt Babs and Uncle Les, they were the Posh and Becks of their day,'" she says, smiling.

McGonigle has a raft of colourful anecdotes from her days working to advance the women's side of the sport. "Looking back 20 years to the first European Championships I was involved in, I remember being in Park Gardens and Bill Richardson, who was the SFA deputy chief executive at the time, said: 'I hope you don't get the Faroe Islands because that will take up your entire budget.'

"I thought: 'What are the chances?' Back then, you couldn't fly direct and had to go via Copenhagen. Sure enough we got the Faroe Islands in the draw. In the end we hired a little 33-seater plane from Aberdeen that had to stop at Wick to re-fuel. It saved money because we didn't have to stay the night. They even held the airport open for us after the match."

There is a newspaper cutting on her office wall which shows the number of years until women and men reach equality. That depressing figure is 79 years and 11 months. "It will be long after I'm gone," says McGonigle. "But you never know. I think the benefit of a small country like Scotland is we can make changes and see those happen a bit quicker."

Away from work, life for Erskine-based McGonigle revolves around spending time with family including her 86-year-old mother, two grown-up children and four grandchildren. Asked if she has a party piece, a fleeting look of worry crosses her face. "I thought for a second there you wanted me to show you," she says, laughing. "I love karaoke. It does take a few drinks but I'll get up at some point. I usually sing Old Time Rock and Roll or Summer of 69. I've a wee bit of a rocker hidden inside."

Months of hard graft have gone into getting Scottish Women in Sport established but the group now faces a pivotal point. It has received some small grants and sponsorship but is seeking long-term financial assistance. The past year has seen McGonigle work full-time without a salary and she admits that situation is not sustainable for much longer.

She would love to see the Scottish Government set aside funding and the nation's businesses lend their support. "Why do the same old, same old?" she says. "The group I'm working with are always thinking outside the box which is brilliant. My ultimate goal is to make this the first port of call for women in sport."

For more information, visit scottishwomeninsport.co.uk