All this because players had signalled their intent to wear shorts rather than so-called skorts (a clumsy mixture of shorts and skirts), which Camogie Association regulations stipulate must be worn.
Officials would certainly have been placed in an awkward position yesterday had the two teams stepped out in the “wrong” kit in protest. Referees are bound to enforce the rule book, regardless of their personal feelings on any issue.
For the players themselves, and the fans who had been looking forward in this weekend’s fine weather to the final at The Ragg, it is difficult to see how the cancellation was, to quote the Munster Camogie Council, in their “best interests”.
Yesterday afternoon, when they should have been on the field battling for silverware, Cork and Waterford players were left to issue a joint statement decrying the postponement, pointing out the arduous training which they had followed for months with that date in mind. In that, they deserve everyone’s sympathy and support.
Unfortunate as it is that this long-standing row has only now reached crisis point, rather than earlier in the season, or even when the association voted to keep the controversial rule in place, there is, after all, an obvious and simple solution.
That is for authorities to back down and let women and girls wear shorts, if that is what they want, as they already can in women’s Gaelic football.
Players and fans are the heart of any sport. The associations which run them represent the head and the wisest of them understand when to give ground in response to public feeling.
At the same time, it is probably important for both sides to step back and take a deep breath.
Indignation and outrage are frequently justified in life, but a little bit of humour and compromise goes a long way, too. It surely behoves everyone wanting to encourage girls to keep up sport, given all the benefits that it has for their physical and mental health, to not present this mismatch of views as more iniquitous than it is.
The Camogie Association has scheduled a special congress for May 22, which may yet resolve the matter in a way that satisfies the players’ legitimate concerns. Considering how long this question has rumbled on below the surface, another two weeks does not seem long to wait.
What would help in the meantime is for politicians to stay out of the row. Tánaiste Simon Harris backed the protesting camogie players across various social media platforms last week, denouncing the rules around skorts as “archaic”.
From Gaza to the India-Pakistan border, the world has never felt more precarious than it does now, 80 years on from VE Day. That’s a full enough in-tray for any Foreign Affairs Minister, without feeling the apparent need to provide a running commentary on every news story.
It is no business of the Government what camogie players wear. While in receipt of central funding, the GAA and the affiliated women’s associations are proudly independent bodies who contribute hugely to the civic life of the nation.
At the risk of mixing metaphors, allowing camogie to become a political football benefits no one.
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