A historic charter for female inter-county players, setting out minimum welfare standards and guaranteeing expense payments, will shortly be released.
Camogie Association President Hilda Breslin confirmed that after months of agitation, ‘the players charter will be out next week’.
Breslin said she was speaking only on behalf of the Camogie Association but noted that ‘ladies football, equally, have a players charter ready to go’.
Inter-county camogie players and ladies footballers played out a portion of last year’s championships under protest over the player welfare issue.
Backed by the Gaelic Players Association, they launched their Unite for Equality campaign which increased the pressure further.
Ladies players noted that a charter had been in place for male players for several years and, in a statement, claimed they were being treated like ‘second-class citizens’.
Breslin stopped short of stating exactly what female county players will be entitled to and who will fund it. The GPA had called on the GAA to provide finance.
“We’ve worked hard with the GPA and I think to be very fair to the GPA, they’re realistic as well, this is a starting point,” said Breslin.
Speaking at the announcement that integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association will occur by 2027, Breslin said all three associations will finance the new charter.
“It’s helped by support by the GAA but it’s also helped by healthy reserves from the Camogie Association and we’ll be investing in that,” she said. “As the GAA has always supported us, they will continue to support us. So it’s a two-prong thing and ladies football equally are going to be investing a huge amount of money.
“It’s a huge, huge breakthrough. When you think of where we’ve all come from, we are an amateur game to be very fair. I think the players just wanted recognition of the expense (they incur) and we all understand that, we’re all realistic.
“I think this is the first step in moving forward. These are our players and we’ve always said this, we met the GPA before this, we gave a commitment before anything last summer that we would work towards this and we have honoured that commitment.”
Meanwhile, Breslin confirmed that April’s Annual Camogie Congress will consider a motion to change the rule that skorts, as opposed to shorts, are mandatory for players in games.
“It’s quite divisive,” she said. “Hockey wear skorts and it doesn’t come up to the same extent but ultimately Congress will decide this year.”
