Camogie’s Munster Council have called off Saturday’s provincial final to avoid confrontation with players determined to wear shorts in the ongoing controversy over skorts, the prescribed wear for the sport.
In a statement from Munster camogie, chairwoman Christine Ryan said the committee had reviewed the situation.
“As the current camogie rules of play are still in place and the players have indicated they would not be prepared to play the game in skorts, the decision has been made to defer the game in the best interests of all players and officials involved,” the statement read.
“The details of the rescheduled fixture will be released in due course.”
In an effort to head off this particular situation arising, the Gaelic Players Association released a statement on Friday morning calling on the Minister for Sport to use his influence to ensure the match went ahead and that the rule on skorts be suspended pending that already announced special congress on the issue, scheduled for May 24th.
The special congress was the latest ratchet for the Camogie Association, which had originally stated nothing could be done about the rule until congress 2027 before revising that to next year’s congress and finally this week, a special congress later this month.
By then, events had moved beyond them.
The issue arose originally when the Gaelic Players Association released a report last week, indicating that 83 per cent of players surveyed were in favour of either wearing shorts or having the option to do so.
Teams from Dublin and Kilkenny wore shorts last weekend but changed into the prescribed attire when the referee threatened to abandon their Leinster semi-final.
This week, in advance of Saturday’s Munster final between Cork and Waterford, players indicated that they would wear shorts and refuse to change even at the cost of the fixture being abandoned.
In a pre-emptive move, the GPA released the following statement.
“The Gaelic Players Association is in correspondence with Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan to seek his support to ensure tomorrow’s Munster Camogie final, and other weekend inter-county camogie fixtures, go ahead.
Both the Waterford and Cork panels have stated clearly that they intend wearing shorts for their fixture.
“We have asked the Minister to use his influence to call for an immediate, interim relaxation of the rule, allowing for choice until Camogie Special Congress has to opportunity to change the rule.
“The GPA has also written to the Camogie Association for clarification on its position.”
“We continue to fully support any player’s choice to play in shorts or in skorts.
The focus this weekend should be on the players and the game – not on enforcement.”
Last year, delegates rejected two skorts-related motions put to them: 64 per cent said no to a proposal that “skirt/skort/divided skirt” be replaced by “shorts” in the rule book, and 55 per cent rejected giving players the option to wear skorts or shorts.
