Camogie women, know your place!
Stick to the skorts.
What would have happened if some of the cardinals turned up for work on Wednesday wearing trousers?
But they didn’t, because they abide by the rules.
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The cardinals wore frousers for their big fixture in the Vatican.
Frocks with integrated trousers.
And very nice they looked, too.
Now here come the politicians sticking their oar in. Siding with the camogie women and their desire to wear comfortable gear when playing their chosen sport.
At this rate, these girleens will want to be priests next.
It’s a slippery slope from skorts to women priests, which is why the men who wear the frousers will be keeping a key eye on developments in the camogie world once they are released from their incarceration in the Vatican.
At least, Deo gratias, they were locked away in conclave when the women of Sinn Féin paraded into the Dáil and Seanad Éireann wearing shorts with not one modesty panel of distracting material between them and their hazardous haunches.
In fairness, they got a lovely day for it, thank God.
Still, it was unusual to see a couple of TDs in the chamber wearing shorts. In times past, the annual arrival of former Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan in his Man from Del Monte jacket signalled the official start of the Dáil Summer.
It seems the new intake have a different way of doing things.
Oh, wait. It’s more than two. Here’s another pair of shorts, and another, and another. This looks like a co-ordinated sporting fashion statement – which it was.
[ Opposition parties rally around camogie players favouring shorts over skortsOpens in new window ]
In fact, at least half a dozen Sinn Féin TDs wore shorts in the chamber when the Dáil resumed after the May bank holiday break. And more of them in the Seanad.
All of them women.
Which was disappointing. If a few Sinn Féin men couldn’t tog out in shorts to support the camogie playing women of Ireland, surely they could have managed a few solidarity skorts.
Perhaps the lads were afraid. Whatever about the sunny weather outside, it’s always quite chilly in the Dáil chamber.
And maybe the Sinn Féin men just didn’t want to get their knees out.
TDs returned to Kildare Street on a sun-soaked Wednesday at 2pm. It’s a tough week for them – they have to wait until around teatime on Thursday (although most of the rural-based deputies will have cleared off home by then) for the weekend to kick in.
Before business got under way, Opposition parties held their weekly press briefings on the plinth. And the issue that has gripped the nation was similarly exercising the TDs.
Skorts.
It’s a safe bet to say that when people were pondering what the hot topics of the new Dáil’s first term might be, the match-day kit worn by camogie players wouldn’t have figured on too many lists.
But if politicians reflect the thoughts of the people, perhaps it wasn’t that surprising to see them running on with this particular ball. They knew they were on to a winner here.
It’s daft, in this day and age, that women playing camogie at elite level must wear hybrid shorts disguised as skirts when lining out for their counties.
But it’s the rules, as reconfirmed by their governing organisation as recently as last year.
The vast majority of players don’t like wearing them, and for many, the skort inhibits their performance on the field. When the Dublin and Kilkenny teams dared to run on to the pitch wearing shorts last weekend, they were forced to change into skorts or their Leinster semi-final fixture would be abandoned.
And the resulting outcry took the matter from the pitch to the plinth and ultimately on to the floor of the Dáil.
[ Rebellion against ‘outdated’ camogie skorts rule gathering paceOpens in new window ]
Sinn Féin Senator Maria McCormack, and her colleague Nicole Ryan, also wore shorts during the Seanad sitting. On the plinth, Laois-based Maria said camogie players from her county would be visiting the Oireachtas and she would be raising the skort matter in the Upper House.
“It should be about the sport, not about the skort,” she said, calling on the Camogie Association to change the rule now.
She encouraged players in this weekend’s Munster camogie final to wear shorts “100 per cent”. It later emerged that the Cork and Waterford teams had already decided to do just that.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney welcomed the announcement that there might be a change in the rule in two years’ time, but hoped there could be a derogation until then.
“The fact that we are talking about women wearing shorts to perform at the height of their athletic capability is really quite shocking when we have so much else to deal with,” she said.
Noel O‘Flynn, Independent Ireland TD for Cork North Central, pointed out that “the most important thing here is the sport”.
“And we should be moving with the times. If the players dictate that this is more comfortable, this is what they feel better, we should be accommodating that.”
This pressing issue finally reached the floor of the Dáil around the same time as the fully frousered cardinals were getting down to business in Rome.
Joe Neville, Fine Gael TD for Kildare North, wanted to know if the Government would stand by the players in their efforts to get the skort rule scrapped.
He cited a recent survey that found 83 per cent of camogie players want the rule requiring them to wear skorts to be scrapped.
Joe said he asked the question “because participation of women in sports is so important, and for these people to take the stance they did, I think they should ultimately be supported by the Government”.
Former minister for agriculture and now Minister of State Charlie McConalogue launched into a McMonologue of an answer. Speaking on behalf of the Government, he seemed to back the protesting camogie players’ cause. He had a script.
“The Government – and we’ve seen in the country . . . massive progress made in relation to participation and equal participation for women in all sports and our national governing bodies have made massive strides in that regard as well."
Blah, blah, blah...
“Very much aware of the issue . . . really important that players engage with the Camogie Association . . . I have had engagement with the Camogie Association as well.”
Blah, blah, blah…
“It is important that they come together to find a resolution that is comfortable for everyone.”
Really, Charlie?
Do the decision-making delegates have to wear tight-fitting skorts at their big meetings and gruelling dinners?
If only he had adopted a more skorts earth approach and declared the rule ridiculous, outdated and patronising and said it’s about time the camogie hierarchy ditched it.
That’s one way to get back into the Government first team, Charlie.
