‘I just don’t see myself wearing a skort again’

WHEN Niamh Gannon togged out with her teammates in shorts for that now fateful Leinster camogie semi-final against Kilkenny, she never expected the reaction.

“We never anticipated that the media and the public would pick up on it so much,” the senior Dublin captain and St Jude’s player said.

What started as a last-minute protest by the Dublin and Kilkenny players, following the release of a report by the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) on skorts, has snowballed into a national issue on everyone’s lips.

A Special Congress of the Camogie Association will now take place this Thursday, May 22, to vote specifically on the issue.

The GPA report, released on May 1, is only six pages long. But it neatly summarised the discomfort and dislike camogie players feel towards their mandated uniform, with 83% players surveyed saying they preferred “to wear shorts or believe that players should have the option to choose”.

With the semi-final taking place on May 3, there was a very short window for the senior players to decide on taking action. Niamh said they really didn’t have a plan for being told the game would be called off if they didn’t change.

“It was – not last minute – but the report came out, and we agreed with Kilkenny that this is something we wanted to make a stance on.”

“I don’t think any of us expected that we would be made to go back in and change.

“Aisling [Maher, Dublin vice-captain] and Kilkenny captain Katie Power had a split second nearly to decide together what are we going to do,” she continued.

Niamh Gannon of Dublin scores a goal against Kilkenny in the Glen Dimplex All Ireland Senior Camogie quarter final

“We never really had the discussions ‘will we just stay out in the shorts?’. Then obviously, it’s a Leinster semi, I think as soon as that happened it was like, okay well, we’re going to play this match.”

She called the Camogie Association’s decision to call off the Munster Senior Final after Cork and Waterford players indicated they’d insist on playing in shorts “disappointing”.

“I was shocked that they let it be cancelled. I know they said ‘postponed’ but that match is not going to get replayed, there’s no time for it.

“It was very powerful for both Cork and Waterford to make the stance, and I think that just showed how fed up as players we are that our voices aren’t being heard.”

Over 150 county delegates will vote at Croke Park today, with a two-thirds majority needed to pass the motion on allowing players to wear shorts.

For Niamh, a no vote will be “very hard to accept”.

“We’ve seen all the surveys. It’s not even close, in terms of what the players are saying that we want,” she said.

“For ourselves in Dublin, there’s a survey [of players] gone around, and the result was 98% for choice, and so we know that our delegates are going to vote the way we want.

“If the vote doesn’t go our way, personally, I just don’t see myself wearing a skort again, to be honest,” she stated.

“I don’t know what repercussions of that are going to be,” she continued.

“Clearly there’s a massive majority, so if the vote doesn’t go our way, you have to question, are they really listening to the players?”

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