Camogie president Brian Molloy has challenged the Irish sporting public – including those who were exercised by the skorts debate earlier this year – to help Sunday’s All-Ireland finals attract a record crowd.
The triple header of finals will see Armagh face Laois in the junior decider at 1pm, followed by the intermediate clash of Kerry and Offaly at 3pm before the main event at 5.15pm between Cork and Galway.
It is just three months since a protest by the Kilkenny and Dublin camogie teams in relation to wearing skorts sparked a debate that spread rapidly from the sporting sphere to become a central part of the national discourse for several weeks.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin even entered the conversation as folk from all walks of life rushed to offer their tuppence worth on the matter. For a period, it felt the Camogie Association was under siege until a vote to allow choice was strongly supported and ended the controversy.
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“There was a huge amount of comment all through May on the skorts issue,” said Molloy.
“There were TikToks and WhatsApps and all sorts of Instagram and Facebook (posts) and all that. All really good, all really positive.
“There were loads of media interviews, the vast majority of which, I’d say, was positive. There were some who didn’t really understand the situation, but those who understand camogie, understand Gaelic games and understand sports understood what the process was.
“And we got there. The vast majority of those people that commented at that time made it very clear they wanted to make a point in support of the voice of the female athletes, in support of female participation in sport.
“And if that’s the case, and I have no reason to believe it isn’t, their social media accounts should be as lit up this week calling on all of their followers, their constituents, their supporters to get to Croke Park on Sunday and demonstrate physical, tangible support for the women that in May they called on the Association to support.
“A lot of politicians were involved, a lot of senators, a lot of TDs, a lot of ministers. I want to see all those people using their position of influence in a positive way now for the camogie players and urging their supporters to come to Croke Park on Sunday.”
While reluctant to float a figure, Molloy is hoping the 40,000 ceiling can be broken for the first time. There was a crowd of 27,811 at the finals last August for a triple header that was also headlined by the meeting of Cork and Galway.
The largest ever attendance at an All-Ireland camogie final was 33,154 in 2007 when Cork beat Wexford – though that figure is skewed by the fact the All-Ireland under-21 hurling decider between Galway and Dublin was the curtain raiser.
A crowd of 30,191 attended in 2023 when Cork beat Waterford – the first time the 30,000 mark had been broken by stand-alone camogie fare.
“I would like to see us get up over 40,000,” says Molloy, whose ultimate ambition is to have Croke Park full on All-Ireland camogie final day.
“My point wasn’t about the ability to be able to deliver it (full house) in one year but I think we need to have the aspiration.”
And Molloy’s appeal is not merely for those engaged by the skorts debate. He believes a broader societal shift is needed to move the dial on how female sport is viewed in Ireland.
“I think we do need to look at ourselves as a society, where we have four All-Ireland finals and two of them are full houses and two of them aren’t,” he says.
“There’s a gender split. I think if there was any other part of life where we’re looking at similar events but the only difference is gender split, there’d be question marks being raised as to, ‘hold on a second, what’s going on here?’
“I can go through all the counties. Kerry, the number of people who came up to watch the Kerry footballers win their All-Ireland final, are all those people going to come to watch the camogie players in their All-Ireland final?
“(It’s a) historic All-Ireland final for those intermediate camogie players, it’s the first time that Kerry have got to the final in the intermediate grade. If they’re not (going to come support the team), why not?
“Why would you support your county men in the football but you wouldn’t support your county women in the camogie? You could ask the same question with regards to Cork.
“Cork obviously had a difficult hurling final but all those people who came up to support the lads playing hurling, surely all those people are also going to come up and support the women playing camogie. And again, if not, why not?
“Galway and Armagh, both counties happen to be in different competitions but both are playing on Sunday.
“They filled Croke Park for an All-Ireland football final just a year ago. So are all those people going to come and support the Galway and the Armagh camogie players?”
Molloy praised the initiative of Offaly GAA, who cancelled all of their club games on Sunday to try encourage fans to support the county’s camogie team at Croke Park.
“The first thing we need to do is get our own members to go to All-Ireland final Sunday, irrespective of which counties are competing,” he adds.
“The Association was set up over 121 years ago, it’s one of the oldest established national governing bodies for women’s sport in the world.
“If all just the camogie members came on Sunday, that would be over 124,000 people.”
