The camogie skort survives after Congress motions defeated

Action from Galway v Cork in the Very National Camogie League Division 1A at Duggan Park, Ballinasloe. Photo: Ray Ryan

The skort survives another day after four motions relating to the controversial piece of camogie playing kit were defeated at today's Camogie Congress in Clare, county Kildare.

Nor will the option of wearing shorts instead be available to players, despite calls by many current stars for choice.

Jessica Aigbologa (left) and Victoria McQueen of Thomas McCurtains Camogie Club, are seeking to allow players wear shorts instead of skorts.

Motions from Kerry and Tipperary proposed that skorts be removed from the list of playing gear and be replaced by shorts.

This was defeated on a margin of 64% to 36%.

Motions from Meath and Great Britain wanted shorts added to the list of approved playing gear alongside skorts. But this was also defeated, by a smaller margin - 55% to 45%.

The rule as it stands is that players must wear a “skirt/skort/divided skirt”. Refusal to comply results in a yellow card, leading to a red card if the dissent continues.

Very disappointed to report that our motion to replace "skorts" with "shorts" was defeated at @OfficialCamogie Congress today.

Gutted for all the players and clubs in Tipperary who voted overwhelmingly for this change.

— Tipperary Camogie (@camogietipp) April 6, 2024

As part of their ‘Shorts not Skorts’ campaign launched last year, the Thomas McCurtains club in London conducted a survey of 240 camogie players and found that 82% of respondents preferred to wear shorts rather than skorts when playing.

Meanwhile, 75% believed that the skort does not reflect current societal standards relating to clothing and sporting apparel. 

The next time delegates can vote on the playing uniform will be at Congress in 2027.

A temporary sub/blood sub rule was passed, as well as Rule 10.2, which prohibits a player charging directly into an opponent’s body, with or without the sliotar.

But motions for a quick puckout and sideline pucks from the hand were defeated.

The first male Uachtarán of the Camogie Association, Brian Molloy, was ratified. He follows outgoing president Hilda Breslin.

Molloy commented: “This is a very special moment and indeed an historic moment for our Association, as I am the first male to be elected president of the Association in its 120 year history. I am very proud to take on this role and very grateful to have been given this opportunity to lead the Camogie Association. We have a fantastic game that is a fundamental part of Irish culture.

"Integration with the GAA and the LGFA has long been on the agenda within the Camogie Association. We have been consistently in favour of integration and steadfast in our belief that the new combined and fully integrated singular Gaelic Games Association will be a stronger, more balanced Association.

"There are some steps towards integration that we can start to take right now. It starts with all three associations adopting an integrated mindset and reflecting that in their decisions and engagements now. We still tackle our day to day challenges but we tackle the challenges through the prism of how we would operate if we were already integrated”.