Diary of a Gen Z Student: Skorts are sexist, stop forcing female athletes to wear them

Dublin's Aisling Maher. Kilkenny and Dublin camogie players attempted to play their Leinster semi-final in shorts last weekend, and were told they would have to forfeit the match if they didn’t change into skorts. Picture: INPHO/Ben Brady

I remember being about 10 years old in primary school when a teacher decided to declare to the class that I wasn’t good at sports. Definitely an unnecessary comment for that teacher to make, but she wasn’t wrong. In spite of my lack of athletic talent, I was taking part in plenty of sports outside of school at the time - basketball, athletics, swimming, and badminton. 

Basketball was the sport I enjoyed most and continued to play until I was about 17. I knew I wasn’t the most talented player on the team, but that wasn’t why I was playing. For me, it was all about enjoyment. I liked going down to see my friends at training every week. Sure, it was nice if the team won a match. But for most of us, having fun was really the only reason we were there.

I also remember clearly how many girls started to drop out of sports as soon as we hit secondary school. In the space of a year or two, the number of girls on my basketball team was cut in half. 

I totally understand why that starts to happen when girls move into secondary school. You’re 13, and you’re going through puberty. You’ve suddenly got these hips and breasts that weren’t there before. You’re just starting to deal with periods. You can feel really uncomfortable in your body. 

When I learnt that skorts are mandated in camogie, I was honestly shocked

When I played basketball, before every match, the bag of uniforms would be opened, and we would all scramble to find a loose-fitting pair of shorts. It was important to us to feel comfortable while we played. And while one in five girls will stop taking part in sport when they move from primary school into secondary school, we’ve got to be aware of things that can be inhibitory for girls taking part in sport.

One major factor in that is the uniform that girls are expected to play in. So, when I saw that Kilkenny and Dublin camogie players attempted to play their Leinster semi-final in shorts last weekend, and were told they would have to forfeit the match if they didn’t change into skorts, I was so disappointed. 

For anyone who isn’t sure, a skort is a skirt with shorts underneath. I often wear a skort on a night out or walking around town, never to exercise in. 

I’ll be honest, I don’t usually follow camogie. So, when I learnt that skorts are mandated, I was honestly shocked. What an archaic and useless rule to enforce on women in sport. It’s almost laughable, if it weren’t so blatantly sexist. 

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Telling girls to wear a uniform that resembles a skirt while they’re trying to play their sport is ridiculous. It’s no wonder that girls’ participation in sport drops drastically once they hit their teenage years. If they can’t play their sport without their clothing being policed, of course, that will discourage participation.

The players’ decision to wear shorts was a protest, in support of an ongoing campaign by camogie players to allow players to decide for themselves if they would prefer to wear shorts or a skort. 

I have so much respect for these young women attempting to make a change. It’s not just about their own comfort on the pitch. It’s about their uniform being fit for purpose. 

That purpose is certainly not aesthetic. It’s not about appealing to anyone’s gaze. It’s about allowing them to play their sport. 

If giving players the opportunity to choose between shorts and a skort makes players more comfortable, I can’t see why anyone would be opposed to that.

I’m not an expert on camogie. But I am a young woman who watched plenty of my friends become inactive after primary school. That’s a problem. If we want healthy adults, we should be encouraging everyone to take part in sport. 

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I remember being a self-conscious teenage girl. If I had been told that I had to wear an uncomfortable skort to take part in my sport, it would have been a barrier. If girls are telling us that they feel more comfortable wearing shorts to play a match, why would we dismiss that? 

For most people, their sport is important to them because they feel part of a community. As soon as their community refuses to listen to their needs, like flexibility around uniforms, they will stop playing. 

The Camogie Association must listen to players if it wants their sport to flourish. Because a sport that doesn’t feel inclusive and refuses to listen to its players is neither inclusive nor fit for purpose.