The clashing of Camogie and Gaelic games for ladies has become notorious across the country. It has happened a handful of times in the past, and unfortunately will continue in the future. More often than not, the dual players of Camogie and Ladies Gaelic are expected to play a Gaelic football match one night, followed by a Camogie match the following night, with little to no recovery time. Teams have also experienced their dual players playing half a game of football, and half a game of Camogie in one night. When you let that sink in, it is completely and utterly ludicrous.
Dual player fixture clashes continue to impact players in both codes, and nothing has been rectified to solve this problem. There appears to be no working relationship between the LGFA and the Camogie Association. In 2020, Cork senior camogie and football teams made the headlines when both teams had their All-Ireland championship games fixtures for the same day. You don’t see this happening in the men’s championship draws, even though the women are playing at just as high a level.
Most recently, on Thursday 2nd June Trim Camogie and Ladies Football teams were fixed to play league finals, in different venues, at the exact same time. Understandably, there was huge uproar about this as it keeps happening, time after time. But, unfortunately their efforts as a club and community were let down by the county board.
“We contacted the county board once we were aware of the clash, to try and get the football final moved. The county board refused to change the day, or time of the football final. We then emailed them again after the final, and we recently attended the LGFA County Board Meeting to highlight the issue again.”
This was very stressful for the players and managers involved, as all they want to do is train hard, play sport, and win a title as a team, with the utmost potential.
“We decided as a team that the 6 dual players would play the Camogie final. This decision was made only because the football team were promoted to the next division regardless of the outcome of the final. The Camogie team however, had to win their final to be promoted to the next division up. But this decision was not easy, obviously because no player should ever have to decide like that.
The final was not called off, the final went ahead, and we played without our 6 dual players. We lost the game”.
How can this be prevented from happening again? As there seems to still be no solution in 2022. Something’s got to give.
“If the Meath LGFA and the Meath Camogie boards are not going to join and become one organisation (like the men’s side) then they need to at least communicate. At the Meath LGFA County Board meeting, the County Board took no ownership over the issue and blamed the Camogie County Board. It was not the players fault that they were made to choose between the two sports, yet they were the ones that suffered’.
Emma Connolly
