‘Why is it happening in my sport?’ – Skorts row a ‘career low’

The Kilkenny and Dublin teams were forced to switch into skorts on Saturday, ending a longstanding conflict between camogie players over the right to wear shorts before their Leinster Championship semi-final could begin.

The rules for camogie, the women’s equivalent of hurling, require a skirt, skort, a pair of shorts with an overlapping fabric panel that resembles a front-to-back skirt, or a divided skirt.

This is in contrast to the prohibition of shorts in women’s gaelic football.

Aisling Maher, the captain of Dublin, posted on social media that “Career low for me today when 60 plus players who are ready to play a championship game in shorts are told their match will be abandoned.”

Following two motions that were defeated at the sport’s annual congress last year, the Camogie Association of Ireland is in close contact with the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA). A second challenge to the rule won’t be brought up until 2027.

Both teams had agreed to wear shorts to the Blanchardstown field as a form of protest against the rule, but the referee informed them that the game would be abandoned if the players did not change.

After the game, which Kilkenny won 4-11 to 2-22, Maher said, “I love this game, but I’m sick of being forced to wear a skort that’s uncomfortable and unfit for purpose.”

How are female athletes still required to request that they don shorts while competing at the highest level possible?

Norway’s beach handball team was fined in 2021 for playing in a European championship match while wearing shorts rather than bikini bottoms. A rule was changed to allow women to wear short, tight pants.

Because I’m a girl, no one in my life has ever told me to wear something similar to a skirt. Why is this taking place in my sport? added Maher.