Today, the Camogie Association will meet to hold a Special Congress to try and resolve the ongoing issues of players being forced to wear skorts rather than shorts on the pitch.
Taking place at Croke Park, a vote will be held on the introduction of a rule to give players the option of wearing either garments – if passed, it will go into effect almost immediately.
While a motion to give players the option to choose between skorts and shorts was defeated at the Annual Camogie Congress last year, the issue has resurfaced in a much more controversial manner in recent weeks.
At the start of this month, camogie players from Dublin and Kilkenny were forced to change into skorts before their Leinster semi-final in Blanchardstown, Dublin, after turning up in shorts in protest. This has sparked nationwide outrage.
This protest came just days after the Gaelic Players Association released a report finding that 70% of camogie players surveyed felt uncomfortable wearing skorts.
83% of players stated they “would prefer to wear shorts or believe that players should have the option to choose.”
The Camogie Association initially responded by outlining that they “established a working group to examine issues around the comfort, fit, design and overall performance of playing wear” and that the rule would be addressed again at the 2026 Congress.
However, on May 8 the Association announced that after having listened to player feedback and calls for action, they would hold a Special Congress to address the issue of “Rule 6b, Playing Gear” – which details that a player’s gear must consist of a “skirt/skort/divided skirt.”
Appearing on Ireland AM, Dublin camogie captain Aisling Maher explained that camogie players are “not being heard, we’re not being listened to.”
She continued: “They’re off developing a better skort when we want the option of wearing shorts. Everybody’s probably heard at this point we had our vote in Congress last year, 2024, with the vote on two motions – one to introduce to option of wearing shorts and the second to replace the skort.”
“Both were defeated separately in Congress last year. Huge frustration, obviously, from a player perspective. Last year, seeing that not go through because it had been an issue in playing rules for the last number of years.”
In regards to who will be voting this motion into pass or not this evening, there are approximately 150 people eligible to vote at Congress, across different levels of the Association in Ireland and around the world.
The Ard Chomhairle (excluding the Ard Stiúrthóir and the GAA representative, who are ex-officio) will have 14 votes.
Additionally, the eight living past presidents of the Camogie Association also hold the right to cast a vote, while the most recent former president and current secretary, Hilda Breslin, qualifies for just 1 vote.
There will also be two delegates eligible from each of the Cumann na mBunscol, Comhairle Chamógaíochta um Ard-Oideachas, Comhairle Chamógaíochta na nIarbhunscoileanna organisations.
Additionally, all eight of the international boards which affiliate as a Unit to Ard Chomhairle (Asia GAA, Australasia GAA, Camogie Board Britain, Canada GAA, GAA Europe, Middle East, New York, US GAA) will cast a vote.
For the motion to pass, a two-thirds majority is required to implement a change in the current camogie rules for the mandatory wearing of skorts on the pitch.
However, there is no guarantee that all of those eligible to vote will be in attendance at Croke Park this evening and there shall be no option to cast votes online.
Therefore, the majority will be calculated on the basis of those in attendance.
