Ratoath Camogie, LGFA, and GAA club yesterday (Sept. 22) made a joint statement striking out against the scheduling of camogie championship and LGFA games less than 15 hours apart in what they described as "a complete disregard for player welfare for our female dual players."
Ratoath lost 0-4 to 2-09 to St Michaels in the Ladies Intermediate Football Championship Sept. 22 in a quarterfinal that started at 8 pm, but Ratoath was also set to face Kiltale in the Senior Camogie Championship at 11:45 am Sept. 23.
In a statement over Instagram, the club said:
"The expectation that dual female players should have to play two crucial fixtures of this nature within 15 hours of each other shows a complete disregard for player welfare and also the amount of time, energy, and commitment dual players put into representing their clubs in both codes."
"We would like to acknowledge the volunteered efforts made by both LGFA/Camogie county boards to avoid fixture congestion in 2023, however the above clash completely contravenes the joint statement released by the county boards on Aug. 2nd that clashes of this nature would no longer occur."
"In the interest of player welfare and supporting women in sports we call on both the LGFA/Camogie county boards to continue their collaborative efforts to ensure these conflicts do not occur into the future to the detriment of both codes."
The club also explained that though the camogie game had been scheduled for over a month, the LGFA quarterfinals were only fixed last week "after being omitted from the masterplan."
Moynalvey GFC made a similar statement in slightly stronger language over social media "in solidarity with other clubs in the county who are in a similar position as ourselves this weekend."
"While we accept we are all volunteers (including the players) and fully accept mistakes will be made, the insistence by Meath LGFA to complete these quarterfinals with no regard to player welfare is simply not acceptable."
"The lack of respect demonstrated by Meath LGFA in how this has been managed is unimaginable. While other sports are taking specific positive steps towards improving conditions for women to participate in sports, Meath LGFA stubbornly refuse to move forward. The joint statement issued by Meath LGFA and Meath Camogie in August has now proven to be a waste of time."
