Camogie and ladies’ football panels unite against being treated as ‘second-class citizens’

It’s exactly two months since Kilkenny camogie player Grace Walsh spoke at the release of the GPA’s State of Play equality report of the frustrations of being a female intercounty player.

From having to work nights in a pub to afford the expenses of playing for Kilkenny, to seeing her male contemporaries at college getting ferried to and from training at no expense while she waited at bus stops and paid for taxis, it was a powerful testimony.

“It’s so frustrating because not one single person in this room would be here if it wasn’t for females and yet we’re still being treated second best when it comes to males and females,” said Walsh.

It seems that those words were not acted upon because two months later 24 intercounty female players, along with the leadership of the GPA, were back in the same hotel next to Dublin Airport pleading for help and declaring that their fingers are now hovering over the nuclear button. Strike action.

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Put simply, they feel they have been ignored by leadership and that a principal request which followed on from the State of Play report, that the LGFA, Camogie Association and GAA come together “to develop a charter designed for female players” has been given short shrift.

The provision of expense payments, similar to what male intercounty players receive, is a primary goal but with formal integration talks between the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association still at a relatively early stage, a logjam has been reached.

According to a statement signed off by all intercounty female players noted that they were expected to “patiently endure the treatment of second-class citizens”.

It added: “We are no longer willing to wait.”

For the remainder of the 2023 championships, they will play under protest. Exactly what this will look like in practice is unclear but the aim is crystal, to light the fire under those in power to improve the players’ lot.

“I think we have seen examples in the male game of things they have been pushed to, whether that is delaying start times to not speaking to media, whatever, the things we’ve seen in the GAA are all viable options to us if we get forced into that position,” said Dublin camogie captain Ashling Maher. “But definitely our priority is to try to get this issue solved and to find resolution without getting to that point.”

Player after player at the meeting outlined their own individual battles. Meath ladies football star Vikki Wall said access to both training facilities and physios, even for the back-to-back All-Ireland champions, has been troublesome.

Donegal’s Niamh McLaughlin told the story of a ladies team that trained on a pitch full of rabbit holes, resulting in a player tearing her ACL. A male team had refused to play on it.

The stories went on. On the expenses front, GPA chief Tom Parsons maintains the GAA has the resources to step in.

In response, the LGFA issued a statement reiterating its commitment to the integration process and saying that it “takes issue with the suggestion that intercounty players are treated like ‘second class’ citizens.”

The Camogie Association said that “as part of the ongoing integration process, a player charter for both male and female codes will be agreed upon in due course.”