Four days out from a National Camogie League game and Dublin star Aisling Maher doesn't know the venue
Dublin Camogie player Aisling Maher in Parnell Park
Dublin camogie star Aisling Maher has revealed her frustration about still not knowing where Saturday's National Camogie League game against All-Ireland holders Galway will be played.
Dublin are due to host Galway at 2pm though as of yesterday afternoon when Maher spoke at sponsor AIG's 2022 season launch, she still didn't know where the match would be played and said it's part of a wider problem around a lack of adequate facilities for camogie training and games.
"I would love to be able to tell you where the game is on on Saturday but the reality is I don't know," said Maher, an All-Star forward in 2017. "That has not been confirmed and that message has not been conveyed. That is a huge issue for us as players because I don't know in my head where that match is going to be from a sports psychology, visualisation perspective of the game and that is a real challenge.
"On top of that, you want to be encouraging clubs to be bringing young kids out. There is an opportunity there for a club to organise a bus and bring their U-10 team to the match but how can they do that when they don't have a venue? Those challenges speak for themselves.
"I know some counties are getting to a point where they can put in camogie dedicated facilities and obviously that is advantageous to them but that is not something the vast majority of counties have at the minute. It is a huge barrier to the promotion of the game and a huge barrier to the growth of the game. It is something to be addressed going forward as a priority."
Maher believes an historic merger between the GAA, Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football organisations, which the Gaelic Players Association are calling for, can't come soon enough.
Earlier this week, Galway camogie captain Sarah Dervan complained about a lack of access to basic training facilities, revealing that they're preparing mostly on astro pitches in the lead up to their first game of 2022.
Dervan also revealed that around 2012 or 2013, the players' belongings were removed from the dressing-room during a match and left at the side of a road as the changing facilities were required.
"I am not surprised to hear that story, and I should be," said Dublin's Maher. "You can imagine the headlines in the paper tomorrow if Dean Rock had sat down here and told you that happened to him. It just would not happen. Stories like that highlight the issue that is there and that is one of the reasons the three organisations coming in under the one umbrella would be positive. There is no point me sitting here now giving out about the GAA or Parnell Park because at the end of the day, Camogie is not part of their organisation and every time they give us a pitch, they are doing us a favour.
"They are moving other games to let us play. Any time they don't let us play is because they can't because there are other games on. But from a player's perspective, it is infuriating to see an U16 college hurling game being played in Parnell Park while we are looking for a pitch to a National League game."
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