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Irish Independent
12-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Kerry's Munster Intermediate camogie final against Cork deferred until after Special Congress
A short statement from the Munster Camogie Council on Sunday evening said: 'After much deliberation the executive of the Munster Camogie Council have decided to defer the Intermediate final between Kerry and Cork due to take place on May 18 until after Special Congress on May 22. We apologise if this decision is inconveniencing any of our members.' The Special Congress has been convened to address the ongoing controversy regarding wearing of skorts by the players, and their wish to have the skorts replaced by shorts, or at least for the players to have the choice of playing in shorts or skorts. The Munster Senior camogie championship final between Cork and Waterford, scheduled to take place this weekend, was called off at short notice by the Munster Council because the Cork and Waterford players had said they would show up for the final all togged out in shorts and they would not back down. By rule, the match referee would have to request the players to change into skorts, and if they refused to do so then the game would have to be abandoned before the throw-in. While there was no official word from the Kerry and Cork teams ahead of the Intermediate final, The Kerryman understands that the players of both teams were expected to line out in next Sunday's final all wearing shorts. Speaking to The Kerryman last week, Kerry player Niamh Leen said herself and her team mates have 'wanted to get rid of the skorts for years'. While the issue of skorts has been raised occasionally over the last few years, the matter came to a head last week when the Dublin and Kilkenny players came out for their Leinster Senior Camogie semi-final all wearing shorts. With the threat of the game being abandoned and both teams forfeiting their place in the championship, the players returned to the dressing-rooms, changed into skorts and played the game. But the fuse had been lit. Cork and Waterford escalated the protest by stressing they wouldn't be for turning in the Munster Senior final, and it is believed Kerry and Cork were going to follow suit in the Intermediate final. Sunday's Ulster Senior camogie final between Antrim and Derry went ahead as scheduled, but only after some Derry players changed out of the shorts they wore before the start of the game. Some, though not all, Derry players emerged for the final wearing shorts. When the referee enforced the rule on skorts, those Derry players in question changed into skorts and the game was played. The two Munster finals have now been deferred until after Special Congress when delegates will be asked to vote on the introduction of a rule to allow players the option to wear skorts or shorts. If passed, it will go into effect almost immediately.
Irish Daily Mirror
10-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
'The skorts controversy is being blown up into the feminist issue of our time'
It's the feminist issue of our time: camogie players' fight for their right to wear shorts. The skorts controversy took off last weekend after the Dublin and Kilkenny teams protested the mandatory kit of skirt/shorts hybrid, by turning up on the pitch in shorts instead. The match was abandoned and the regulatory skort took its place in the history of Irish women's lib, alongside the ranks of the civil service marriage bar. Forget the burn the bra movement, these crusading ladies want to ban the 'skort'. Kerry's Niamh Leen told how she finds them 'embarrassing', saying: 'They're constantly rising up the minute you start running. There's photos after online and the cheeks of your arse are basically on display. I know there's an element of tradition, but.. At this stage they just need to get rid of them. I wouldn't go out at night wearing something as short as the skort.' I would have thought that's the whole point. The shorts part is added to protect your modesty, so you're free to run around and can wear it as short as you like. Lots of us see that as freedom. Look at the Met Gala red carpet this week, they're not even wearing pants at all anymore. Dublin captain Niamh Gannon said having to wear a shorts/skirt hybrid was having an effect on players' mental health, and young girls were dropping out due to the injustice of being forced into a pair of shorts with a skirt flap over it. If that's the case, the sport has bigger problems to deal with. Cork's Ashling Thompson made the straightforward point: "We're not asking to get rid of skorts completely; it's to have a choice in what we wear. " Can't argue with that. I'm a zealous defender of the right for women to wear whatever they like, whether it be a bikini or a burka. But it should be acknowledged that this issue is less about sexism and more about sports policy. I believe it's being conflated into a feminist issue, when it's actually about a uniform that blends function with tradition. So it's now a culture war battle, with the expected skort resolution being elevated to Ireland's Seneca Falls moment. The Camogie Association were threatened with an Oireachtas committee grilling. The view of it as a form of female oppression is evident in Gannon fuming about how 'in no other facet of my life does someone dictate that I have to wear something resembling a skirt because I am a girl.' Is it just me who finds it depressing that all the biggest feminist battles lately tend to be about girly things? Ideally with an added dash of titillation. The previous headline-grabbing female sport controversy was a hissy-fit over a kiss after a team victory; this one is a row over a dress code. But I'm also a fashion fan, so it got me wondering: Is the stuffy old Camogie Association more stylish than its protesting players? Because the offending clothing item may be cumbersome on the pitch but it's hardly the red cloaks of Gilead handmaids. In fact, it's one of the biggest moments in fashion this year, kicked off by the 2024 tenniscore hit movie Challengers, starring Zendaya and our own Alison Oliver, resplendent in skorts. They look great. Fashionista magazine called it' this summer's most functional trend' and said its benefits are it has 'the look of a skirt with the comfort of shorts and no chance of a wardrobe malfunction. Vox heralded 'the glorious return of the skort' this year and Vogue's headline ran: 'The skort obsession is going nowhere in 2025.' If I was a young camogie player, I'd be campaigning to be allowed to wear these, not seeking a ban on them.
Irish Examiner
07-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
'We're so sick of it at this stage' - Kerry All-Ireland winner Niamh Leen on skorts debate
Kerry camogie stalwart Niamh Leen fully supports the action taken by the Dublin and Kilkenny players last weekend on the wearing of skorts and is behind the drive by the GPA and the players to get rid of them. 'We've wanted to get rid of the skorts for years," she insists. "They're so uncomfortable. The fit of them, the design of them, everything about them. I don't understand why players aren't being listened to.' All-Ireland winner Leen is centre-back on the intermediate team that will face Cork in the Munster Final on Sunday week. She led her club Clanmaurice to back-to-back All-Ireland Intermediate titles in 2023 and 2024. Her sister Anne Marie also plays with Kerry and Clanmaurice, while father John is a former treasurer of Kerry Camogie County Board. But Niamh believes strongly that county boards are just not listening to their players. "It goes to Congress to change every year and you've delegates of county boards going up, and they're clearly not listening to players, because 83% of players voted to get rid of the skorts (or allow choice), yet it didn't show that at Congress. "The players are talking to their county boards and they're going against them. It's really maddening. The people who are having a say and having a vote on this don't have to go out and put on the skort and go and play. We're so sick of it at this stage. "I feel like we're constantly fighting a losing battle. Fair play to Kilkenny and Dublin, we were kind of waiting to see what they would do, because I feel it's the senior teams that really need to push this. "It has gained serious media traction and I think the only way forward now to create change is pushing it.' Read More Camogie Association propose 2026 solution to skorts protest Leen explains that playing camogie in a short skort poses problems for girls and says photos taken are often unflattering. "I'm a tall girl and I spend the majority of the game pulling the skort down,' she explains. 'They're really uncomfortable. They're constantly rising up the minute you start running. And like that you're bent over, you're falling over, and you're sometimes on display and that's really embarrassing. "There's photos after online and the cheeks of your arse are basically on display. If that was in anything else there would be war." The sterling defender believes it is essential to move with the times. "I know the president of the Camogie Association wrote to us and said they're looking into alternative skorts from across the globe, but at this stage they just need to get rid of them. I know there's the element of tradition and all that, but things change, move on, move with the times. "I wouldn't go on a night out wearing something as short as the skort. It's as simple as that, yet I'm being asked to go and run around a field in it for 60 minutes. "We went to a challenge game there on Sunday and not one girl wore a skort for the challenge game. No girl ever comes to training in a skort, and I know that's not just us. Our club or our county or whatever. it would be unanimous across the country.' Leen believes that skorts are turning young girls away from the game. 'We are losing girls playing between the ages of 12 and 16, because girls are uncomfortable, they're new to getting periods. There is that embarrassment element. "The LGFA are moving with the times, they made sure that every team is wearing either black or navy shorts. The rugby has moved with it, but camogie is still here. "We're green skorts. There's teams that wear white skorts, that's really difficult for girls. It's just so infuriating, because it feels like nobody is listening." Leen praises the GPA's efforts. 'Because of all the media coverage now I do think they have to look and be like, 'look, the girls clearly aren't happy'.' 'I just don't even understand why they're trying to fight this. Will they not just let us wear shorts? A lot of us play football as well, so literally the only time we have to wear skorts is when we're going out playing official camogie games. "It's just so maddening.'
