Cavan ladies footballers contemplating strike action over expenses row

The Cavan ladies footballers are contemplating strike action over a player expenses row with the county board.

Disgruntled and out-of-pocket Cavan players are considering not fulfilling their final Division 2 league fixture away to Tyrone this Saturday in a bid to highlight their grievances regarding the non-payment of travel expenses by Cavan LGFA and newcomers to the panel not being provided with any playing gear for the season ahead.

Speaking on the We Are Cavan podcast, Cavan football captain Neasa Byrd, Lauren McVeety, and Aishling Sheridan accused the county board of breaking the squad charter which had been agreed and signed by both the board and players in January.

The charter focused on providing minimum standards of physical support, performance support, facilities, nutrition, expenses, and gear.

“We were promised that such provisions would be put in place, that all efforts were being made to make the inter-county experience an enjoyable and professional one, but unfortunately here we are, nearly at the end of the National League, and our contract has been broken,” Byrd told the podcast.

The outstanding issue the Cavan ladies want resolved is the payment of expenses for the 20 players commuting from Dublin. Only one of their Dublin-based cohort is in full-time employment.

“We had asked the county board that the girls who are driving down on Tuesday nights for training get expenses. One week, girls received €30 for driving down, which was four cars that got €30 [each]. And then the next week, one car drove down and they got €30.

“But since that, we've received nothing more. Girls are constantly driving down the road, not getting a penny.” 

Byrd revealed that manager Gerry Moane recently paid for a bus to bring the Dublin-based players to training, with other members of management having also dug into their own pockets to help cover player fuel costs.

The trio say the county board have been unwilling to meet them for talks in recent weeks. They also alleged the board would not greenlight an Easter Camp, run by players, which would have served as a fundraiser to provide travel expenses.

Inter-county female players do receive a flat rate annual Government grant, but this is designed to cover a whole host of areas and is not specifically aimed at mileage costs.

Laurent McVeety said she clocked 16,783 miles last year between training, gym, and matches. She added that she received no travel expenses from Cavan county board in 2022.

Byrd said they want “a response” from the county board to “get this thing moving and to get the bare minimum for the team”.

If no resolution is achieved, the captain said there was talk about “maybe not playing the last [league] game”.

“[The thought of striking] has crossed our minds. It's either that or our management could possibly walk, which we don't want. We would rather strike and to keep our management than for our management to walk away and to be left with nothing,” she concluded.

Link to podcast.