As the debate and fallout over the Camogie Association's rules on skorts escalates, the under-fire organisation's president Brian Molloy has indicated a personal preference to afford the players the option of wearing shorts, without being in a position to unilaterally alter the existing rules.
Camogie players are not permitted to wear shorts in matches, to the chagrin of many players, who have become increasingly vocal, visible and defiant in their protests against officialdom.
On Wednesday, Munster finalists Cork and Waterford indicated their intention to don sports in the provincial decider, which was slated to take place on Saturday at The Ragg in Tipperary.
That prompted the association to call a Special Congress for 22 May, where a motion to resolve the controversy surrounding players being forced to wear skorts would be put to a vote.
However, that development was too late for Saturday's encounter, which the Munster Council opted to defer, with players and the powers that be on a high-profile collision course.
"There's a process that I've got to go through. It's bottom up, not top down, I don't make these decisions, I have to go through a process."
Speaking to RTÉ's This Week, Molloy reminded listeners that rules are set by the Camogie Association members in congress and not by the president, with his role ensuring that the decisions taken in congress are honoured.
He said he has had "a lot of contact" this week from girls and women who want to keep wearing skorts and volunteers have been "working hard to try and get this resolved".
"We proposed, first of all, that what we would do is bring forward the decision to Congress 26 rather than Congress 27. I had a very detailed conversation with the chief executive of the GPA and he welcomed that proposal and said he'd champion it," he said.
"We had a good conversation about how the two of us would then go around over the next six or seven month to the various counties to make sure the delegates understood the proposal and it would be an evidence-based process that we'd put in front of people.
"And then 24 hours later - and I've no issue with this whatsoever - the players indicated that wasn't enough, they wanted it faster than that. So I went back to Ard Comhairle again. There's a process that I've got to go through. It's bottom up, not top down, I don't make these decisions, I have to go through a process."
Molloy said the decision to postpone Saturday's Munster final came from the Munster Council, adding that he "100%" supported the decision.
He said they received "unanimous agreement" that the issue would go to a special congress in two weeks and it was his belief and hope that that would be "sufficient to get things over the line".
"I don't have the authority to tell a referee to put a rule to one side... as the president I absolutely have no choice but to operate within the actual rules," he said.
"If someone else decides to do something different, there isn't a huge amount that I can do about that. I couldn't tell the referee to ignore a rule, and if I did, he would have to ignore me."
Molloy said they had been working "right up to the wire" to try and resolve the issue and he believed it had been resolved.
When it became clear it had not been resolved, volunteers had to "pull together the council" to make a formal decision.
"I can't tell a delegate how to vote. I can and have told delegates that they are to ask their players."
"There's a process they have to go through. They made it as quickly as they possibly could and then communicated it to the county board that they had made that decision," he said.
"Could it have been done faster? Possibly, but you have to remember, this landed on my desk less than two weeks ago, and in less than two weeks, I will have a special congress - which is the only way I can have the rule changed.
"So in total elapsed time, less than one month after it landed on my desk, I will have a special congress fixing this issue for good in accordance with rules, without any sidestepping of rules, doing it properly in line with our association and the democratic views of our association. I can't overrule the democratic processes in our association."
Molloy said he cannot tell anybody how to vote because it is a democratic process, but it is his personal view that he "wants to see choice".
"I can't tell a delegate how to vote. I can and have told delegates that they are to ask their players," he added.
