At the second time of asking

IN ALL FAIRNESS

In the end, it was so decisive that it makes you wonder why it had become an issue in the first place!

Once again, in this country, whether it is sport or politics, when it comes to change, it generally comes at the second time of asking. Just over a year after a vote on making it optional to wear skorts or shorts in Camogie garnered just 45% at the Associations Congress, last weeks Special Congress saw it gain 98% of the vote, and with it, ended an issue that lacked so much common sense in how it should have been dealt with, not just in recent weeks since it reared its head again.

That players were forced into the nuclear option of threatening to defy Camogie Association (CA) rule over attire, and with the governing body deciding to postpone games in preference to protecting the integrity of the rulebook just shows where the priorities of some people in power lay, until they finally saw the wood from the trees.

Even in the hours leading up to Special Congress at Croke Park last Thursday, few were confidently predicting the motion for change would get the two-thirds majority (67%) it needed to pass. In the end, not only was it decisive, that the special meeting took so little time suggested there were few dissenters speaking against it.

This whole issue wasn’t just about allowing players the option to wear shorts or not, the overwhelming majority of them doing so in the championship games played last weekend, it was also an attempt by those in leading positions in the Association to continue to exert their power and their preference, over the prescribed feelings of their players.

Such was the silence from the CA in the early weeks of the recent impasse, it made you wonder where they hoping to just ride it out and the issue would just go away. What they failed to understand was the steadfastness of the players, not just inter-county, but also club players on the issue.

Also, they failed to grasp the enormity of the reputational damage the whole episode was having on the CA, with stories being covered on it going around the world, old conservative Ireland having one last day in the limelight. Thankfully, the vast majority of those delegates who voted against the motion in 2024, understood that there is no point in ignoring the will of the majority.

CA President Brian Molloy led the charge for change, despite him being in the invidious position of being a man in charge of a ladies sporting body, on an issue that would never impact on him personally.

In a statement released announcing the result of the vote, he mentioned the debate had mobilised the associations over 120,000 members, including 94,000 playing members, adding: “As the All-Ireland Championships begin this weekend, we ask everyone to support their teams, drive higher attendances at all upcoming games, and help us fill Croke Park for the finals on August 10th.”

This is the next challenge for the CA, as well as the LGFA, engaging more people to attend their games rather than on an issue around the game. It isn’t an easy fix. Take Tipperary for example, there are 40 thriving camogie clubs across the county with girls starting out in nurseries at under 5 level rising up to senior club level. That’s hundreds, maybe thousands of girls, yet how many have seen a Tipperary camogie team live in the flesh?

One of the issues as regards integration that is rarely mentioned ahead of the target for the GAA, CA and LGFA to merge by 2027, is the scheduling of games. This Saturday afternoon, the Tipperary under 23 and senior camogie teams play Cork in the All-Ireland Championship at the Ragg, fixtures that have been set in the calendar since the start of the year. Yet, the Tipperary under 20 hurlers All-Ireland final against Kilkenny has been planted right in on top of them around the same time. When in integration comes, this kind of fixture issue has to be avoided.

The start time for the All-Ireland Under 20 final could only be finalised in the last few days once the two finalists were known. An evening fixture for the final would have been ideal, as it was for the Offaly v Tipperary decider last year, but host broadcaster TG4’s hands were tied as they had committed to showing Munster’s URC quarter final which has a 5.30pm start and with rugby matches now almost two hours long, the lack of floodlights in Nowlan Park meant even a start of 7.45pm for the final wasn’t an option, which it would have been had the home & away agreement between the two counties fallen in Tipp’s favour, with lights in place at FBD Semple Stadium.

Still, it’s a clash that shouldn’t be happening and is likely to be one of those thorny issues of the GAA’s men’s inter-county games not hogging all the marquee time slots on a weekend when the three associations are fully integrated, whenever it happens.