End of the Skort is nigh

IN ALL FAIRNESS

When the furore over the skorts issue was last at its highest following the decision taken at 2024 Camogie Association Congress to not at least give girls the option of wearing the garment or not in favour of shorts, those at the top of the Association must have thought that when the dust settled, that was the issue dealt with until 2027 at the earliest.

That is because rule states that a motion that has been voted on cannot be revisited for at least three years but the players and advocates for change weren’t prepared to wait that long.

Almost out of nowhere last weekend, the players, made their latest attempt for change in Leinster Championship games. On Saturday, prior to the senior semi-final between Dublin and Kilkenny, both teams came out onto the field wearing shorts, in defiance of Camogie rule. When informed by the referee that the game could not proceed unless the players wore skorts, the players on both teams returned to their dressing rooms to change and the game proceeded. It’s a pity the referee also didn’t make a stand on the side of the players and play the game with them wearing shorts. He might have lost out in the short term in terms of being selected to officiate at games, but he would have created a permanent positive legacy in the eyes of the players.

This latest protest came off the back of a GPA policy paper, in collaboration with the European Athletes and Players Association, which examined the wearing of skorts from a player welfare perspective. It found 70% of inter-county camogie players find skorts uncomfortable and 83% of players at least want the right to choose between wearing skorts and shorts. More specifically, 65% expressed concerns that wearing skorts exposed them in media content, affecting their mental state. While 49% experienced anxiety around period leaks.

In the paper, one unnamed player says: "Disagree strongly with wearing skorts. Always feel very uncomfortable during games and honestly think it impacts how I play in a negative way." Another said: "Skorts are so uncomfortable and do not stay in place. Constantly fixing them during matches which has massive negative implications to performance and concentration,” while another added: "Have been exposed on social media through images almost every season I have played both club and county."

The GPA also cited Sport Ireland's Women in Sport Policy which encourages National Governing Bodies to ensure that women and girls feel safe, respected, and confident in their sporting environments. It also points to the UNESCO International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport, which advocates that athletes should feel safe, confident, and respected when participating in sport, without discrimination or fear of discomfort. The GPA concluded that players should have the choice to wear skorts or shorts on the basis of player welfare and that player welfare should be prioritised over established norms and traditions in decision making.

However, the hierarchy of the Camogie Association continues to hide behind national rule and their statement in the aftermath of this latest protest was tone deaf to the concerns of the majority of its players.

In the statement, it said: “player welfare is at the heart of everything we do”. They also noted how “a democratic vote at Congress 2024 determined that the rules” governing the wearing of skorts should not change.

What is even worse is it added: “Ard Chomhairle established a working group to examine issues around the comfort, fit, design and overall performance of playing wear.

“As part of this process, a wide range of national and international manufactured skorts have been sourced. Testing of these skorts for comfort, fit and design, will begin in mid-May and will include adult and Juvenile players from Club and County teams, as well as referees. Once testing is completed, the working group will prepare recommendations for Ard Chomhairle consideration.”

It is hard to understand why a minority of Camogie Association members remain so at odds with their rank and file that they continue to dig their heels in over the issue rather than engaging a listening to their concerns.

In a cynical way, you’d wonder is there a financial motive in terms of the ties camogie has with companies that make skorts, and how they would lose out financially if shorts became the predominant garment. It also highlights the difficulty in terms of integration into the GAA family, if such a seemingly common sense issue is being deliberately being made more difficult to address by those who rarely put their head above the parapet and say in public why players should continue wear skorts despite the majority not wanting to.

The Camogie Association cannot win on this issue, no matter how they try to dig in. They’ll bury their heads in the sand and hope it goes away but it will come back again. The end of the skort is nigh, it’s just a matter of when and not if. The Camogie Association needs to decide how much reputational damage it is willing to take before they hold a special congress and make change happen.