The Camogie Association has announced it will hold a special congress to discuss and vote on the issue of wearing skorts.
The issue came to prominence again last weekend following a protest by Kilkenny and Dublin senior camogie teams at the Leinster senior semi-final, whereby the players wore shorts instead of the regulatory ‘skorts’, and almost saw the match being called off.
Later in the week, Dublin camogie instructed its referees to allow games to go ahead even if players refuse to wear skorts, despite the sport’s rules stating that games should be abandoned when it happens.
In a circular sent to the county’s referees, Dublin camogie chairman Karl O’Brien made it clear that games were not to be abandoned on the basis of shorts being worn instead of skorts.
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If the upcoming motion is successful, players would have the choice to wear either shorts or skorts from May 24th.
“The Camogie Association has announced that it will call a Special Congress on May 22nd at Croke Park,” stated the association.
“The Special Congress is being called to consider motion(s) to provide all players with the choice to wear skorts or shorts while playing camogie. The decision on whether this motion is adopted will rest with the Congress delegates (delegates represent all members of the association including all of our players).
“The Association had proposed to deal with this issue at next year’s Congress but having listened to player feedback, the Association recognises that waiting until 2026 is not acceptable for many. Although similar motions did not pass at the 2024 Congress, the Association is committed to representing the voices of players who wish to have a choice in their playing attire. If the motion(s) passes, the new rule(s) – allowing the option to wear skorts or shorts – would take effect from May 24th 2025.
“A working group, established to examine the comfort, fit, design and overall performance of playing wear, will remain in place and continue to engage with players at all levels across the country.”
Commenting on the updated position Uachtarán Brian Molloy said: “Our goal is to deliver, as quickly as possible, a best-in-class playing uniform designed for female players and allowing for individual choice.”
Dublin camogie player Aisling Maher has welcomed the news that may resolve the controversy.
“I really welcome the news that Camogie are recognising how significant this issue is for players, that they’ve obviously realised that postponing this issue until 2026, never mind 2027, is just not seen enough. So I really welcome news that it’ll be addressed this year,” she told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.
Ms Maher said she was hopeful that delegates will have re-evaluated the situation and that the vote at the special congress will be representative of how players really feel.
“I would hope that this can be dealt with in a common sense way. Obviously, the conversation that we had at the time of our game against Kilkenny last weekend was that if we proceeded in shorts, the game would be abandoned.
“I know a number of games have since been held at club level in a number of the counties where the approach that has been taken has been to ask the ref to note any players that are wearing shorts and as it is in breach of present playing rules to report it to the county board or the organisation that’s governing the game at that time.
“So I would like to think that the players in Cork and Waterford who have made it very clear that they want to play their Munster final on Saturday in shorts, that they’ll be there ready to go, play, put on a great display for everybody who’s going to hopefully go to support them,” she said.
“I would I would to think a similar approach can be taken. To ensure that they are allowed to continue to play this game in what feels comfortable for them, because it would be a backwards step to expect players in the interim of getting this across the line to wear skorts.”
