The Cork and Waterford senior camogie teams have criticised Munster Camogie’s decision to postpone Saturday’s Munster senior final due to the ongoing protest over a rule requiring players to wear skorts.
The counties had been due to meet in the provincial decider at the Ragg in Co Tipperary, where there was set to be a 1pm throw-in. However, the game was called off on Friday evening following a review of the situation by Munster Camogie.
Both counties had stated their intention to wear shorts for the game, a position they maintained after the Camogie Association confirmed on Thursday that a Special Congress would be held on May 22nd at which delegates would vote on a rule change. Should the motion pass, the association said the new rule would take effect on May 24th.
However, it remained unclear whether the existing rule on skorts would be enforced in the interim and whether the Munster final would be abandoned if the teams went ahead with their protest.
Given the lack of clarity, the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) on Thursday said it had contacted Minister for Sport Patrick O’Donovan asking him “to use his influence to call for an immediate, interim relaxation of the rule” to allow this weekend’s fixtures to go ahead.
However, on Friday evening Munster Camogie confirmed the provincial final would be refixed, stating: “As the current camogie rules of play are still in place and the players have indicated they would not be prepared to play the game in skorts, the decision has been made to defer the game in the best interests of all players and officials involved.”
In response to the postponement, the Cork and Waterford teams issued a joint statement on Saturday afternoon expressing their disappointment over the decision.
“As a united group of players, we want to express our bitter disappointment that today’s Munster Senior Camogie Final has been postponed.
“It shows scant regard for the preparation of players both physically and mentally to be ready for a provincial showpiece, to make this decision just 16 hours before the scheduled throw-in.
“Anyone with an understanding of what it takes to compete in elite sport knows that this could never be in the best interests of players.
“We feel completely let down. Both panels had meticulously planned to peak for today. Training schedules and workload will now have to be readjusted, while not even knowing when the game will take place.
“There was an opportunity to take a step forward from the recent controversy. Instead, a provincial final has been postponed because we took control of what we would wear.”
“To us, that feels like a massive step backwards,” the statement concluded.
