Camogie chiefs vow to learn from 2015 controversies

Camogie Association president Catherine Neary is confident that this year’s championship will not be hit by the same controversies that dogged last season’s competition after taking steps to rectify a number of high-profile issues.

The 2016 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Senior Championship was formally launched in Croke Park yesterday with confirmation that this year’s semi-finals and final will be broadcast live on RTÉ One television.

The championship commences next weekend with Cork opening the defence of their title against Waterford in Walsh Park in one of five senior fixtures scheduled for Saturday (June 18).

Neary and the association will hope for a smoother season than last year when the competition was bogged down by a number of disputes.

The 2015 championship was nearly derailed by the coin-toss controversy over who would progress between Dublin and Clare, while dual players in Clare and Cork were later upset by fixture clashes before a disallowed 45 in the Wexford-Galway semi-final led to yet another unwelcome dispute. Neary insists that the Camogie Association have moved to address and avoid such controversies.

“These things happen and the GAA have it at the moment with regard to the Christy Ring final last weekend,” said Neary. “The issue with Wexford was resolved through the formal mechanisms that are there. The coin toss was a bit more problematic.

“As administrators, the big thing is to learn and to listen to what you’re actually hearing.

“While you might want to do something there and then, it’s a matter of bringing that into the following year to make sure you don’t structure everything the same way again because you’re likely to fail if that happens,” added Neary, who insisted that particular steps have been taken in an effort to avoid a repeat of the Dublin-Clare controversy where the fate of the counties was set to be decided by a coin toss before a play-off was belatedly scheduled.

“I think ultimately what will happen if we end up, there will be a play-off if we can’t separate the teams, but I think the fact that we’ve introduced the three points for a win and one point for a draw will lessen the chances.

“What we’ve decided to do is learn the lessons of the past but also try to bring as many criteria in place to lessen the chances,” said Neary.

Tomorrow week’s senior games have all been scheduled for a 5.15pm throw-in in an effort to avoid a clash with the Republic of Ireland soccer team’s Euro 2016 match against Belgium earlier that afternoon and to ensure attendances do not drop.

“We’d put our own game first but we try to look at what’s pragmatic and practical as well,” said Neary, who has also worked with the Ladies Football Association in an effort to avoid conflicting schedules for dual players.

This year’s All-Ireland senior camogie semi-finals will take place on a Saturday (August 13) to avoid another clash with the ladies football Munster SFC final and both fixtures will alternate between a Sunday date every second year.

“What we want to do is make sure the players ultimately win on that, so that our dual players don’t have to play two games in four or five hours,” added Neary.