Former camogie president says GPA are using female players as 'pawns'

PROTESTS ARE 'SILLY': Liz Howard. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher

Former Camogie Association president Liz Howard has accused the GPA of using female players as “pawns”.

Howard, who was the Sunday Game’s first female pundit and the first woman elected as a GAA county board officer, described the protests by inter-county camogie and football panels as “silly”.

“I think they’re very silly because the GAA is being forced into integration by the Government and Sport Ireland,” she told Tipp FM’s Extra Time show.

“I was involved in the GAA and Camogie (Association) for a long time and I have found with the GAA, you get your foot in the door and then you gently ease in the rest.

“I think they’re being used as pawns by the GPA. Over the years, you’ve had a lot of very controversial people there who, many of them if you go back, caused the Cork strike and personally I think Cork has never fully recovered from that.

“I’ve talked to a few of them (current players) and I’ve said to them, ease back, you’ll get an awful lot more by using the honey approach than this kind of approach.” Players are demanding minimum standards of care and welfare to be enshrined in a mandatory charter from 2024.

They have held protests before games and this week received support from their male counterparts in an open letter signed by all 68 captains of men’s inter-county teams.

“Now their issues are about expenses. Camogie, while it has made huge progress and has some sponsorship, generates nothing like the revenue of the GAA. And what are they looking for? I’m not quite sure,” said Howard.

“Is it for the GAA to pay their expenses? You’ve got to be real and you’ve got to understand it (integration) is complex.” 

Howard raised questions over the consultation process being undertaken by the Steering Group on Integration, led by former president of Ireland Mary McAleese.

“I have concerns about it. Miriam O’Callaghan, a terrific woman who was president of the Camogie before me, and I, neither of us have been asked our views on integration. Who are they asking? Who are they talking to?

“I think Mary McAleese is very pro the GAA and I just wonder is she there because she’s more GAA than women’s sports? And that’s a fairly blunt statement. I just don’t know where it’s going.

“I’m making a statement based on what I know about her closeness to the GAA. I think she has been a brilliant president but I don’t know where it’s going.

“I’ve asked. What progress had been made? Where are we at? Who is with us? Who is against us? And I frankly do not know.

“I thought it was a mistake and I’m sure other presidents weren’t asked their opinions. We’d all have views and we’d all have an input and we’d all have the good of all associations (at heart), not just one.” 

Howard believes integration is important for sponsorship, pooling resources, and TV coverage.

RTÉ are the primary camogie rights-holder and will broadcast the knockout stages of the All-Ireland Championship, starting with this weekend’s quarter-finals.

However, the sport is absent from the TV schedule for much of the year.

“Look at TV coverage, that’s a big issue,” added Howard. “The GAA has much better innings there. Ladies football does quite well with TG4 but they discriminate against camogie very badly. They show the odd match, the club championship and that.”