Camogie looks set for an historic week as shorts could become part of the official kit for the first time ever when a vote is taken on Thursday, but there have been a lot of twists and turns along the way.
What's happening?
The Camogie Association has called a Special Congress for Thursday at Croke Park for members to vote on whether or not players will have the option of wearing shorts or skorts when playing the sport.
What is a skort?
Section Part 2 6.b of the Camogie Association rulebook states that playing gear must consist of a 'skirt/skort/divided skirt’ with shorts not mentioned.
A skort is essentially a skirt and shorts combined, hence the name, with built-in shorts covered by a skirt.
Skorts have been the go-to choice for 22 years now and were first worn on 21 September 2003 – the Clare and Galway second string sides with that honour in their drawn All-Ireland Junior final at Croke Park (the Tribe County won the replay).
So where has the drive for shorts come from?
The issue has always festered in the background, especially with women's' football growing rapidly and shorts not an issue there. For many camogie players, it felt like inequality while there have been complaints of discomfort with the skort.
In 2023 though, it began to gain traction thanks to a media drive by the Thomas McCurtains club in London who launched a ‘Shorts not Skorts’ campaign.
The club aimed to raise awareness and force change and the camogie board of Britain, on behalf of the club and co-sponsored by Kerry and Meath, brought a motion to 2024 Camogie Congress in Kildare.
It was an important moment for inter-county players too with a Gaelic Players Association annual survey of 650 camogie players reporting that 70% had reported discomfort wearing a skort with a massive 83% believing players should have a choice.
And that failed, obviously?
The motion required two-thirds support to pass but only 45% voted in favour.
A Tipperary motion calling for the removal of skorts/skirts/divided skirts for shorts entirely fared even worse with just 36% support.
Tradition and a preference for skorts are some of the reasons counties voted against the motion and camogie rules decreed that it couldn’t be discussed for another three years.
DOWN WITH THIS SKORT OF THING: WOMEN'S FASHION IN SPORT
This Special Congress, however, bypasses that and if approved this time, players will have the option to wear shorts for Saturday’s All-Ireland senior, premier junior and Under-23 championship matches.
What about the player protests?
The issue appeared dead until 2027, but high-profile incidents in recent weeks have led to the association calling this Special Congress as their fixture calendar faced the possibility of turning into a farce.
Camogie players are no strangers to making a statement on gameday having been involved in the 2023 ‘#UnitedForEquality' protests where they, and female footballers, left the field after the national anthem to wear t-shirts with the slogan in order to raise awareness for better conditions in the standard charter for female players. Those protests came to an end in July 2023 after constructive conversations with the relevant governing bodies.
This time, camogie teams have conducted a similar protest in a number of big games, coming on to the field in shorts before typically being told by the match official that game would not start until they changed into skorts, which usually happened.
Kilkenny were crowned Leinster camogie champions after getting the better of Wexford at Netwatch Dr Cullen Park in a game that saw a protest by the players from both teams over the ongoing skorts controversy. @MartyMofficial reports from Carlow #RTEgaa pic.twitter.com/ignvRjSnZV
— RTÉ GAA (@RTEgaa) May 17, 2025
The Leinster semi-final between Kilkenny and Dublin sparked the protest, as they first came out in shorts before changing into skorts after being told the game would not be played.
There would be further controversy in Munster though as the provincial final was deferred a day before the game as Cork and Waterford had indicated that they would be wearing shorts. The counties issued a joint statement through the GPA saying they felt "let down" by the decision.
Are all players behind the protests?
As the GPA survey showed, not every player feels the same way and it’s clear that some counties are not prepared to join the picket line.
Ahead of last weekend’s Ulster final win over Derry, the Antrim players took a vote at their final training session before the game and decided to wear skorts. Half the Derry team wore skorts and half shorts in protest before having to change pre-match.
Offaly’s Mairéad Teehan also said that they were informed that Wexford were happy to wear skorts for their Leinster semi-final with the Faithful County deciding to do likewise. The Model County joined the protest for their Leinster final with Kilkenny.
Who can vote?
When all is said and done, the motion is going to require in the region of 100 votes in favour to reach that crucial two-thirds majority.
Camogie's Ard Chomhairle currently has 16 members but two of those, Ard Stiúrthóir Sinéad McNulty and GAA representative Tracey Kennedy do not have voting rights.
County delegates, who must all be aged over 18, will see their party numbers decided by how many clubs are in their county, as set out by 12.3d of the association’s official rules.
A county with three to 14 clubs will have two delegates present, a county with 15-30 clubs will have four delegates and there will be six delegates in Croke Park for counties with more than 30 clubs.
There will be two votes on offer for units from Cumann na mBunscol (primary schools), Comhairle Chamógaíochta um Ard-Oideachas (higher education) and Comhairle Chamógaíochta na nIarbhunscoileanna (post primary).
Affiliated international units will also have two votes each.
All living past Presidents are also entitled to a vote.
Voting rights for employees of the Camogie Association are confined to the club of which they are a member.
Is the motion still likely to pass?
Nothing is guaranteed, but there does seem to be a fair bit of momentum behind it now, especially with Camogie president Brian Molloy stating his personal preference for choice.
Before the Special Congress was called, and with the belief of a two-year wait for another motion vote, it was reported by RTÉ Sport that a number of counties had called for an informal relaxation of the rule.
The Dublin camogie county board also told its referees to allow games to proceed if players choose to wear shorts instead of skorts.
Like the 2024 Congress, a two-thirds majority is required.
Why has the Republic of Ireland WNT manager been commenting?
Carla Ward’s comments on the issue gained plenty of traction last week as she described the situation as "absolutely ludicrous".
She was asked for her opinion at a media conference given her next set of games - Nations League clashes away to Turkey and at home to Slovenia – have a GAA tint as the latter is being played at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh, the home of Cork GAA.
Still, it is an issue that transcends camogie with other women’s sports facing similar issues in the past.
Four years ago, Norway's beach handball team was fined €1500 for wearing shorts instead of bikini bottoms at a European championship match.
The fallout led to a rule change where women can now wear short tight pants, with music superstar Pink offering to pay the fine.
Two years ago, England Hockey also changed its rules to give players the choice after one of their players, Tess Howard, produced research that showed that sports kits can play a major role in young girls dropping out with shorts deemed more practical, especially when players are on their period. The rules were changed to allow a mix whereas previously teams had to wear the same uniform.
Howard, who has 27 caps for England, has been following the camogie story closely and writing in The Telegraph on Saturday, said that the twists and turns gave her "goosebumps" before adding that she felt "immense solidarity with the bravery of the camogie players, and a disbelief that it came to this".
What if the motion fails?
If the motion fails, it seems inevitable that protests will be ramped up potentially throwing the summer camogie schedule into disarray.
Inevitably, the 'S' word will enter the conversation.
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