Eimear Ryan: The camogie skort is as redundant and gendered as a pink bow

One can only be frustrated - and sad - at the refusal of camogie delegates to take on board what the players want.

BLOCK: Galway's Niamh Mc Peake of Galway is tackled by Mairéad Eviston, left, and Clodagh McIntyre of Tipperary in the League Division 1 tie at The Ragg. Pic: Tom Beary/Sportsfile

My introduction to camogie, in the mid-90s, was a confusing experience: like a through-the-looking-glass version of the hurling I had watched and played all my life. Lining out for the newly-minted local camogie club, I was reminded that I could, if I chose to, drop the hurley; that I could catch the ball three times in possession; that I could handpass a goal; that we weren’t, strictly speaking, supposed to tackle the opposition players. Only 12 of us were lining out, the hoops of our hurleys were taped, and we were all wearing skirts, safety-pinned around our waists and layered over our O’Neill’s togs.

I was only nine or ten, but somewhere underneath my confusion at all this extra fuss, I felt patronised. I was about to play a dumbed-down version of hurling that had been decided, by some well-meaning committee, to be more in line with my capabilities as a girl. Even at a young age, I could sense that allowances were being made for my lesser ability, as the powers that be saw it.