Could ‘Skortgate' saga finally end in time for Munster final? We'll see
By Wednesday evening the folks at the Camogie Association were, you'd imagine, feeling a touch on the frazzled and besieged side as
skortgate
escalated at a rate of knots.
From making headlines left, right and centre, to a group of TDs and Senators pottering around Leinster House in their shorts, in solidarity with their camogie sisters, it might have had them ruing the day they ever went down the sports administration route.
The acts of defiance were mounting up, Dublin camogie instructing its referees to take no action against players if they refused to wear skorts and turned up for match duty in shorts instead.
The big one, though, was the joint statement from the Cork and Waterford panels which said that they would be 'togged out wearing shorts' for their Munster final on Saturday.
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That left the prospect of either the referee enforcing the skorts rule and abandoning the game, which would have been a truly mortifying spectacle, or it not being enforced and player power winning out. At which point the Camogie Association would have had the look of a body that had lost control of its sport.
Neither a good look, then.
So, after keeping shtum on Wednesday, out came its statement on Thursday morning. Instead of putting off another vote on the issue until 2027, it will be addressed, 'having listened to player feedback', at a special congress on May 22nd.
Last year, delegates rejected two skorts-related motions put to them: 64 per cent said no to a proposal that 'skirt/skort/divided skirt' be replaced by 'shorts' in the rule book, and 55 per cent rejected giving players the option to wear skorts or shorts.
And it was those 64 and 55 per cent cohorts who chose to ignore the wishes of the vast majority of players by upholding an archaic rule.
The association will, you'd imagine, be on bended knee praying for at least a six-point swing in that 55 per cent vote so that the issue can finally be put to bed, because there's a laughing-stock vibe to how it is being viewed this weather.
The association did, though, round off its statement by saying that while it wants to ensure that 'the game evolves in a way that reflects the needs and voices of its players', it remains committed to 'respecting the democratic process in all decisions that affect all of our members'.
If the 64 and 55 per cents dig their heels in, then, nothing will change. That, you'd have to assume, is unlikely, given the derision that would come pouring down all over them. But we'll see.
And what of Cork and Waterford on Saturday? Will they call off their protest, tog out in skorts, and wait for the outcome of the special congress vote? Or will they stand their ground, wear shorts, and give the referee the mother, auntie and granny of all headaches? We'll see.
Sport is no stranger to producing farcical sagas, but this interminable one might just take the biscuit.
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