Rules trial gets green light for next year
History will be made next year when camogie will trial rule changes for the first time and those changes will be revealed within the next two weeks.
Camogie Association CEO Sinéad McNulty — who declined to reveal the developments but confirmed that they have been adopted by the Association’s Ard Chomhairle — described the development as “brilliant” for the sport.
Earlier this year, at the launch of the Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Camogie Championships, the President of the Camogie Association president Kathleen Woods confirmed a commitment to modernising the code when stating that it had to catch up with the advancements made by players.
That arrived on the back of the vote at Congress to agree to trial new rules.
“Our Congress was really brave in April when it was passed that we would use trial rules for the first time in our history” said McNulty in New York, where the Liberty Insurance Camogie All-Stars Tour is taking place.
“There was a trial rules working group set up. Liam O’Neill was chairing that. It was a great committee with diverse membership and they put together a number of proposals which we will be announcing in a couple of weeks.
"We had a presentation on it last week to our Ard Chomhairle and they approved various trial rules. It’s very brave and it is going to be really brilliant. To be able to trial them next year is really important as well.
"It gives us a chance to try something new and to make sure it does what it is supposed to do.
“And if it doesn’t, you don’t bring it into rule. If it does, you do bring it into rule and with the next Congress where playing rules can be changed in 2021, that’s perfect timing.”
McNulty also revealed that the sport’s integration with the GAA and LGFA has accelerated.
“There’s a lot happening at a high level. There are people sitting on each other’s association committees, on the management committees, working together on the development of the coaching of games, and supporting volunteers.
Next year there will be a joint coaching qualification and a programme on leadership training. We want to bring that to the club and to streamline it, try and make it work more smoothly for members.
But what about the integration of the associations? “It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight. You have three associations with three cultures.
"Our memorandum is with the GAA, and the LGFA have a memorandum with the GAA and there’s a lot of work to do to see these bear fruit.”
