Molloy calls on supporters to back players, as they did during skorts debate, on final weekend

Irish Examiner

3 days ago

Camogie President Brian Molloy is targeting a record All-Ireland final attendance of 40,000, challenging every single person who weighed in on the skorts debate to be present at Croke Park for Sunday's decider.
Camogie came under intense scrutiny, both locally and internationally, when inter-county players protested against the mandatory wearing of skorts during May's provincial championship fixtures.
Cork and Waterford's refusal to wear skorts for their Munster final led to the fixture being pulled less than 24 hours before throw-in, with a hastily convened Special Congress two weeks later voting in choice and the option to wear shorts on matchday.
Ahead of this Sunday's All-Ireland final triple-header at GAA HQ, Molloy called on the politicians, commentators, and social media influencers who spoke out during the skorts debate to now turn their words into action by supporting the same players in person.
Waterford reaching a first All-Ireland final in 78 years contributed to a record 30,191-crowd at the 2023 decider.
That remains the sole All-Ireland camogie final where the attendance surpassed the 30,000 mark.
Last year's Cork-Galway showpiece was watched by 27,811, with Molloy hopeful of a significant leap to 40,000 for this latest instalment between the counties.
'The amount of focus we had on camogie in the month of May, a huge number of people all across the country, and internationally, took time out of their lives to comment online, to do TikTok videos, WhatsApp posts, Instagram posts, Facebook, Tweets, and all that carry on. It was hugely welcomed because we got a massive change into our game as a result of that focus.
'But the message all those people had was it wasn't about jumping on the bandwagon, it wasn't about self-promotion, it was actual genuine support for these women and for the women across the country who play camogie. I have no doubt whatsoever that that is absolutely true, but in order to manifest that properly then, they need to light up their social media as much this week as it was lit up in May,' said Molloy.
'This time the message should be to all of their followers, and all of their constituents because there were a lot of politicians, senators, TDs, Ministers involved, they need to communicate the importance of actually physically supporting the players, not just verbally supporting the players, and that means turning up to Croke Park.
"Demonstrate physical, tangible support for the women that in May they called on the Association to support.'
After sold-out All-Ireland hurling and football finals, 48,089 turned up for the Dublin-Meath ladies football final last Sunday, while it would represent a massive step forward for the Camogie Association if they were to achieve Molloy's stated aim of half filling the venue this weekend.
The Camogie president said the gender-rooted disparity in crowds does not reflect well on society.
'The fact that the split is on a gender basis is not good from a societal perspective. We really need to get better at actually putting into practice the support we espouse for female participation in sport, the support we espouse for equality and equity in sport. It needs to be reflected on the ground and on the seats of Croke Park.
'There was a huge crowd up for the Kerry footballers for their All-Ireland final. Are they all going to come up and support Kerry camogie, and if not, why not? Cork are going for three-in-a-row. Everybody who went to the hurling final should be coming up and supporting these ladies.
'Galway and Armagh were in the All-Ireland football final last year, huge crowds came up. The same crowd needs to be coming up this Sunday to support the Galway and Armagh camogie teams. Offaly and Laois are huge GAA counties and there is huge focus when the men get into finals. It needs to be the exact same with the women.
'Anybody in those six counties who positions themselves as a supporter of Gaelic games, you need to go beyond positioning yourself as a supporter of Gaelic Games, you need to actually turn up on Sunday and support the women from your county.'
In their most recent Strategic Plan, the Camogie Association put in writing a 50,000-attendance target for the 2026 All-Ireland final.
The long-term plan is to someday fill Croke Park entirely, with Molloy wanting an end to the mindset where there is zero expectation of a camogie final full house.
'We have to break away from that and the only way we break away from that is everybody getting their head around the fact that there is absolutely no reason why we can't have 82,000 for a camogie final.
'You need to do more than just a TikTok video or a message somewhere to say, I support the camogie girls. Great, really appreciate that, but we actually need you to come in and support the camogie girls.'
Molloy said the 5.15pm senior final throw-in was not a Camogie Association call and was instead dictated by RTÉ's broadcast schedule.
'We will look at it and see can we get it brought forward an hour earlier [from next year] - that would make it easier. It means it's quite late when particularly younger ones are getting back home. It's not our decision to put it on that late.'
Adult tickets for the triple-header are priced at €30, €20 for OAPs, €15 for students, €10 for juveniles, while a four-person family deal is also available at €17.50 a ticket.