Camogie Congress 2024
Camogie players will continue to wear skorts after motions to change the piece of kit were rejected at the annual congress on Saturday.
The Camogie Association’s annual event took place at the Westgrove Hotel in Clane, Co. Kildare, with 150 representatives from counties, provincial councils and delegates from international units in attendance.
Great Britain proposed the inclusion of shorts as part of the playing uniform within Rule 6, which states that “players must wear a “skirt/skort/divided skirt”. The motion resulted in 45% of the delegates voting in favour and 55% against.
Motion 56 was proposed by Tipperary to replace the ‘skirt/skort/divided skirt’ entirely with ‘shorts’ as part of the playing uniform. The motion did not pass with a 64% vote against. The next time delegates can vote on the playing uniform will be at congress in 2027.
In another development, Brian Molloy, was ratified as the Camogie Association’s first male president, replacing the outgoing Hilda Breslin.
“This is a very special moment and indeed an historic moment for our Association, as I am the first male to be elected president of the Association in its 120 year history,” Molloy told those in attendance.
“I am very proud to take on this role and very grateful to have been given this opportunity to lead the Camogie Association. We have a fantastic game that is a fundamental part of Irish culture.
“Integration with the GAA and the LGFA has long been on the agenda within the Camogie Association. We have been consistently in favour of integration and steadfast in our belief that the new combined and fully integrated singular Gaelic Games Association will be a stronger, more balanced Association.
“There are some steps towards integration that we can start to take right now. It starts with all three associations adopting an integrated mindset and reflecting that in their decisions and engagements now. We still tackle our day to day challenges but we tackle the challenges through the prism of how we would operate if we were already integrated”.
Five motions on potential new playing rules were presented to congress by former GAA president Liam O’Neill, with three being adopted into rule.
Playing Rule 5.2 relating to the temporary substitution/blood substitution was passed, which means sets out in rule the manner in which potential concussion is dealt with during a game.
Rule 10.2 was also passed, which means a player must not deliberately shoulder and opponent other than shoulder to shoulder or charge directly into an opponent’s body, with or without the sliotar.
New Rule 12.1 was defeated, which means sideline pucks from the hand are not permitted.
The motion which considered allowing a quick puckout was also narrowly defeated.