Fergus Finlay: Skorts row might seem silly but it highlights a bigger issue

Camogie’s skort rule is about more than sportswear — it’s a test of respect, choice, and how we treat women in Irish sport

Galway and Clare join skorts protest. Picture: Galway Camogie / Facebook

The world is in a terrible state of chassis, son. That was an expression my father used to use a lot when I was a kid. In fact, it was his explanation for everything — why we couldn’t have the immersion on; why the buses or the banks were on strike; why the weather was too miserable to allow us to go down to the seafront in Bray.

I never knew quite what it meant, although it seemed to sum everything up perfectly. Especially the things for which there wasn’t a proper explanation in the first place. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered that the phrase was actually the last line in Sean O’Casey’s great play Juno and the Paycock. It was uttered by the Paycock himself, Captain Jack Boyle, right at the end, as he sinks into drunken despair.