The sport’s rules were written more than a century ago, when the mere playing of Gaelic games was a political act in British-occupied Ireland. Much has changed for the island and its athletes since then, but one thing has not: Women on Gaelic Camogie teams are forbidden from wearing shorts during official play and are required to wear a skort.
On Thursday, 121 years since the first rules ensconced the gendered uniform requirements, the Camogie Athletic Association voted to allow players to choose to wear either shorts or a skort.
“We welcome the result of this evening’s vote for choice,” the Gaelic Player’s Association, which includes Ireland’s Camogie players, said in a statement posted on X. “The GPA would like to put on the record our admiration for Camogie players across Ireland and beyond, both at inter-county and club level, who made their voices heard to ensure this outcome.”
In a country that prides itself on contemporary, progressive policies, the exhaustive debate over Camogie apparel has needled some of Ireland’s most entrenched underbellies. For years, athletes have said they would prefer to play in shorts. Young girls have said the same, and studies have shown that attire concerns are one of the main reasons girls quit athletics at a young age.
Still, the sport’s global governing body, the Camogie Association, had repeatedly voted to keep the skort rule in place, endorsing tradition and history — and, players said, gender bias.
The rule “screams sexism,” Jane Adams, a former Camogie All-Star from County Antrim, in Northern Ireland, told the BBC.
Camogie is a brutal game, known for its physical demands and high-stakes contact, played with paddle-shaped wooden sticks and a small, hard ball. A uniquely Irish sport with few comparisons, at least in the American sporting landscape, Camogie is something like a cross between field hockey, baseball and lacrosse. A similar sport played by men is known as “hurling.”
Camogie was also one of the last major sports in the Western world to force its athletes to abide by a gendered dress code. Those regulations were written in the early 20th century while Ireland was still occupied by the British crown, which would declare Gaelic sports “dangerous” and ban them from being played without permits.
Many women’s sports have faced similar reckonings in recent years, and there is growing consensus within the athletic community that concessions ought to be made for the differing needs of female athletes.
In 2023, the International Hockey Federation voted to allow players the choice on what sort of kit — shorts, skirts or skorts — they would wear for official play. Manchester City Women and the England Women’s Football Team have adopted darker uniform options, to address concerns over athletes’ periods. Even Wimbledon has reconsidered its stringent dress codes; its all-white undershorts requirement now has an exception that likewise allows for darker garments.
Despite a long-running debate among players over the skorts requirement, the Camogie Association voted as recently as last year to keep the measure in place. But recent weeks have seen the skorts question explode into the public forum after widespread protests by players disrupted several league semifinals and championships.
Earlier this month, players in Derry arrived on the field in shorts and were sent back to the locker room to change. In Dublin, players from the city’s squad and Kilkenny staged a protest, wearing shorts as they appeared for a semifinal; both teams were sent back to the locker room after officials threatened to cancel the match, leading to a forfeit if the women didn’t change.
The images of female athletes being directed off the pitch by male officials have become emblematic of the debate.
“Career low for me today when 60 plus players ready to play a championship game in shorts are told their match will be abandoned if every player doesn’t change into skorts,” Aisling Maher, the captain of the Dublin Camogie team, said on social media after the protest.
Days after the Dublin match, Camogie officials were made aware of a planned protest by the Cork and Waterford teams, who were due to face each other in a provincial final. The game was postponed, and players doubted it would be rescheduled.
“We were willing to take that stance. We knew we’d have to drive this forward,” said Lorraine Bray, 28, the captain of the Waterford team. It was only the second time the county had appeared in the provincial final, she said, so the postponement stung.
But, she said, it had led to something: “I suppose that’s what made it go to congress,” she said of the vote.
“I think the message that goes out to players is, we will react. We will engage. We will work. If you talk to us, we will work with you. But we will do it within our rules,” Brian Molloy, the president of the Camogie Association, said in a statement after the vote. “We cannot set aside rules just because people want us to.”
The vote, held by a Special Congress in Dublin’s Croke Park, was approved by 98 percent of delegates. From midnight Thursday, players will be permitted to choose between shorts or skorts during official play. The move comes just in time for the beginning of the busy All-Ireland tournament season that is a touchstone of the summer and Gaelic sport calendar.
Ali Watkins covers international news and is based in London.
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