Eimear Ryan: Camogie and hurling's differences are being flattened out, why not go the whole hog?
Cork star Amy O’Connor was broadly positive about the rule changes recently, but pointed out that the wording on the shouldering rule needs to be clarified. One person’s ‘minimal contact’ is another person’s haymaker, writes Eimear Ryan. Picture: INPHO/Bryan Keane
At the Camogie Association’s annual congress last weekend, they made it official. New rules which were trialled in last year’s league and championship, and which proved popular with players and spectators alike, have been formally adopted, meaning that it’ll be a new-look game when the league starts back in a month’s time.
I say ‘new rules’ but we are really talking about the elimination of old rules; all the differences between camogie and hurling are being flattened out over time.
When I first began playing camogie, the differences between the two games were legion — from being able to catch the ball three times in possession, to the number of players on the pitch, to being able to drop the hurley and handpass a goal. But over the last two decades, camogie has come more and more in line with its fraternal twin.
If this trend continues to develop over the coming years, the wearing of the skort will be the only distinction of note between the two games.
Perhaps the most welcome new rule is to do with physicality, a change that has been called for by players for years now. Until very recently, the camogie rulebook said that a player could not ‘deliberately shoulder an opponent’; for a game predicated on physicality and competing for the ball, this was near impossible in practical terms.
Now, a player is allowed to ‘use minimal contact on an opponent’s body from side-on once they are making a reasonable effort to gain possession of the sliotar.’ Hallelujah!
Cork star Amy O’Connor was broadly positive about the rule changes recently, but pointed out that the wording on the shouldering rule needs to be clarified. One person’s ‘minimal contact’ is another person’s haymaker. Its meaning will vary from player to player, and — more to the point — from ref to ref.
As unrealistic as the old rule was, at least it was unambiguous. It’s easy for those of us watching from the sidelines to call for more physicality, but the players on the pitch just need to know the parameters in which they’re operating.
If only there was a guideline or a template out there for shoulder tackles! Funny you should ask. The hurling rule reads as follows: ‘Provided that he has at least one foot on the ground, a player may make a shoulder-to-shoulder charge on an opponent (a) who is in possession of the ball, or (b) who is playing the ball, or (c) when both players are moving in the direction of the ball to play it.’
Sounds reasonable, right?
This is the mystery to me: all the trends of recent years have shown that camogie is coming more and more in line with hurling. This is what most spectators and players want. Why not just go the whole hog?
All progress is to be welcomed, but at this rate congress will be making incremental changes every year, when they could just make the necessary changes in one fell swoop.
Phrases like ‘minimal contact’ feel like a hangover from a daintier era, when the spectacle of women competing physically with each other was unseemly. But we’re now in the age of Katie Taylor, AFLW, and a thriving international women’s rugby scene.
One has to wonder — who are these ‘minimal contact’ rules designed to protect us from? Each other? Ourselves? It is not as if camogie players are, Rachael Blackmore-like, competing directly against men — in which case we would be flattened, due to not having an abundance of testosterone flowing through our veins.
Show me the player that applies ‘minimal contact’ when trying to win the ball. Go big or go home.
All nit-picking aside, the recent raft of rule changes will be good for the game. Quick puckouts are now sanctioned, penalties are now the same as in hurling, and — perhaps most intriguingly — players can now take a quick indirect free from the hand inside the 45, mark-style.
Hilda Breslin has been making positive and progressive statements at the outset of her presidency, highlighting the funding imbalance between men’s and women’s codes, and announcing her support for camogie and ladies football to eventually come under the GAA umbrella.
It will be interesting to see how the new rules play out when the league starts back on 15 May. Perhaps camogie’s most distinctive difference from hurling — the ability to drop the hurley and handpass a goal — has now also been done away with, although interestingly, handpassed points are still allowed.
This seemed to me to be a strange one to keep on the books, since handpassed points are such a rare occurrence. In fact, I couldn’t think of a single instance.
When I consulted the GAA hive mind — i.e. my Tipperary-based family — my dad got back to me instantly: ‘Nicky in Killarney in ’87. Levelled the match.’ I looked it up and, happily, the game in question is available to watch in full on the GAA website.
In the Munster final replay against Cork, Nicky English burst through the defence in injury time with three Corkmen on his tail. Knowing he’d be hooked, he dodged it onto his hurley and handpassed it over.
When the game went to extra time, Tipp won, thanks in no small part to two handpassed goals from Michael Doyle and Donie O’Connell, scores that would be impossible today.
It’s fascinating to watch back and reflect on how the game has evolved — but you can be sure that as soon as pitches re-open, I’ll be up at the goals by myself, practising that Nicky move.
