Ladies footballers and camogie will play 'under protest' over lack of progress on welfare

The organisation they play for makes enough yoyos to cover the likes off them.

You talk about inability, but quite frankly, the entire integration process is being held up by the inability or else stark refusal of people like yourself to accept certain facts or considerations, and bring proposals on how to address them.

All three Associations support the principle of integration, but there are many sticking points to be overcome before it can happen, and chief amongst them are financial ones.

Put simply, integration won't happen until both the Camogie Association and LFGA take far greater financial responsibility than they currently do.

There's a framework being developed all right, but as it stands, Camogie and LGFA between them haven't brought a single proposal as to how to add more money to the pot. Not one. They continue simply to live in hope of getting a share of what's currently the GAA income.

So as already stated, if more funding is to be provided to women's inter-county teams, this means the GAA either having to slash the funding available to men's teams, or else taking the money from somewhere else, such as the budget for the sort of coaching and facilities that benefit all players rather than just the elite inter-county ones.

Neither of those are particularly palatable, for obvious reasons.

Are you starting to understand now, and if you really do want full integration sooner rather than later, what do you think the Camogie Association and LGFA can do to help bring it about?

By the way, still curious about the real situation with your local hurling/camogie clubs, but you seem to have chosen to ignore those questions completely.

If the GAA start subsidising the ladies inter county teams before integration happens then I suspect the motivation to integrate may be somewhat reduced in the LGFA and Camogie Association.

Lots of strong opinions here but I’m not sure they are all so accurate.

My local club clearly treat boys and girls so differently. They also treat the camogie/hurling teams inferior to the football. So a young girls camogie team hasn’t a chance of a good pitch/time slot. In fact the slots and times are being enforced by the Football heads, refusing to allow camogie on certain days. Including walking down the pitches to argue when they seen young girls dual training on a Saturday as this is only a football day….

it doesn’t seem to matter about the success of our county team, I’ve spoke to county players and they don’t even have a set place to train, sometimes no access to showers. But the local football men’s team are guaranteed their pitch, showers and a warm meal after training on a weekly basis.

It should be remembered that local clubs earn a lot of money from membership that is from female players along with male so the attitude needs to change from the top to filter down.

I dont think any of the girls are looking for the same money the Dublin men get, or the same guaranteed jobs. But a little bit of equality….. it’s 2023, change needs to come from the top. And they’ve already agreed to integrate, so whether they want to or not changes need to be implemented asap.

On the local club points, the senior football men’s team get a delivery of a hot meal once a week. And ask parents/club volunteers to dish up and clean up for them. This is true and it’s certainly not a rich club.

The senior hurling manager resigned as the senior football manager was allowed to give his players an ultimatum of not playing anymore if they committed to any other team whether it be hurling or swimming. So a large number of the hurling players dropped out not wanting the conflict.

In terms of membership I mean I pay family membership of 300 a year and have 2 young girls playing at underage. My club gets their membership and uses it as it sees fit. And clearly to everyone involved they prioritise the men’s/boys teams. Insurance etc is the same for everyone but the rest ?

my issue is more with the LGFA than the GAA as they are useless and are not strong enough at defending their own members interests. The LGFA are the ones in our club arguing and fighting whereas camogie are willing to work together to find solutions.

I hope that explains my opinions better.

Aside from the rights or wrongs of the whole issue, what does "playing under protest" actually mean ?

The caption is a bit misleading/incorrect.

the full press conference.

From the weekend just gone.

And in Cork - AGAIN !!! Another episode of having both codes on the same day !!!! Wtf ???!!? 😣

Is it a case of the 2 Associations saying "we're not changing the fixture, they can" ?

The LGFA have had their say , but the Camogie Assoc say nothing ??

Nothing about Devil’s advocate at all, don’t worry. There is no place for Dual players anymore.

Frankly, I’d also question really if some of the dual county players are genuinely in the top 20/25 of both sports in their county. For me it would be considered an absolute freak occurrence. Two completely separate sports and the dual players are in the very top bracket in both in the county?

It's hard/rare enough to be a dual player in the GAA.

It must be almost impossible to be a dual player in two different organizations.

Similar to playing soccer and rugby in parallel

LGFA have there tickets prices at €20 for Adults and €5 for kids over 12 for these group games that are going on at the moment. €10 for students.

For a organisation that should be trying to promote their games these prices to me are to high to try and get causal fans in the gate. They were up against the Galway/Mayo game and Tailteann semi finals last Sunday and three other games on Saturday. This weekends games have the All Ireland Quarter finals competing with them for viewers over the weekend.

They are never going to succeed in getting decent crowds to there games the way they are going with the timing of games and ticket prices.

I feel they should only be starting there championship now.

No need to dress it up, you are insinuating thats women dont deserve it then?

Use 'devils advocate' as a mask if you like, but thats what you are saying.

"they argue along the lines of "we put in the same time and effort as the men, so we should be treated the same"

Not in their released statement do they.

Full statement from the Senior Inter-County Camogie And Football Panels

Today, representatives of the senior inter-county camogie and football panels are here before you, representing our respective teams, as well as our fellow players from the intermediate and junior grades, with their full support.

We find ourselves in a situation we never wished to be in, echoing the experiences of our soccer and rugby counterparts in recent years. Regrettably, we feel, that our National Governing Bodies do not want to hear our real concerns, so we're speaking directly to you.

We will play the remainder of the 2023 championship under protest.

Our representative body, the Gaelic Players Association, released the State of Play Report two months ago, which shed light on significant issues within our training and playing environments.

The main request has been well-documented; we asked the LGFA, the Camogie Association, and the GAA to engage in discussions with the GPA to develop a charter designed for female players to be implemented in the 2024 season. This charter would establish minimum standards for our collective welfare.

Upon the report's publication, the GPA privately contacted the three National Governing Bodies, seeking collaboration to achieve an agreed-upon charter. Our aim was to work together towards a positive outcome that would make us all proud.

Despite initial positive indications, the GAA has since declined our proposal. The Camogie Association, however, did request a presentation to be made to their Ard Chomhairle, which took place last week. Regrettably, the LGFA has not deemed it appropriate to respond.

Their primary rationale is that they prefer to complete the integration process before initiating a charter for female players. Despite the evidence presented, they expect us to patiently endure the treatment of second-class citizens.

We are no longer willing to wait. It has been over 18 months since integration was declared a priority and voted in by the membership of the three Associations. While the National Governing Bodies claim to be listening, it is evident that they are not truly hearing us. Urgent issues affecting player welfare have been brought to their attention, yet they refuse to even engage collectively to discuss solutions.

We as players are not receiving the respect we deserve. Therefore, do not expect business as usual in the upcoming weeks and months.

In recent months Cavan's footballers and Kildare's camogie players have shown us what potentially lies in store for all of us if nothing changes.

We are not willing to wait for 56 more individual battles to arise.

We stand here together, unified. And together, we will remain resolute in our pursuit of a better future.

Maybe read through it fully before paraphrasing things, and playing 'devils advocate' .......................................... 🙄

Relevant because each time the female players make a claim for equality in facilities and entitlements to playing gear/meals/travel expenses etc.

But they haven't asked for equality in facilities and "entitlements". They have asked for consistent access to facilities and a minimum standard of "entitlements".

Also, maybe they would train more often if the received adequate expenses and could get access to training facilities consistently.

but all three organisations are planning to merge.

They will still need to learn how to generate funds though they can't expect the GAA to be their cash cow.

The orgniasations have zero interest in merging. They only say they want it for the possible positive PR from it.

GAA do not want to start leaking money for a non-revenue generator. Only way they'd make something off Ladies' Football/Camogie is by absolutely ploughing into Marketing for both.

They may not have used that particular argument in that particular statement, but are you really saying you've never heard a female player make a case along the lines of "we put in the same effort as the men, so ......" ?

Furthermore, whether they're asking for actual equality with the men in terms of facilities and entitlements, or just improvements on what they currently have, fact of the matter is that it still can't happen without finding extra money somewhere. And between them, they still don't have one proposal about where this extra money is to come from, other than hoping it might seep down from a different Association altogether.

And now we're back at the very nub of the problem again.

TBH - i cant remember many of them saying that. We have quite a few intercounty players from our club, and they do put in a lot of effort - county training/matches , training in gym and running alone, so while they do put in the time and effort , i cant compare with how much a mens intercounty player would.

Our Club players, do the same training as any of the (junior) mens teams , but the club senior panel would train more than the mens teams.

GFootball - not worth mentioning really, as once you get out of minor you are finished - - they do a bit a junior , but are whipping girls (boys) for other counties at that level.

As i said before, there was 44players on an U14 panel this year here representing the county at a 'blitz' 🙄 - travel there and get hammered by anyone they play - Pointless.

But obviously , thats not the case in most other counties.

tbh I wouldnt even pay €10. Maybe €5 at a push.

for a comparison on ticket prices, Ive been to a few Bayern Munich womens professional soccer matches and for the Bundesliga its €9 for adults, €3 for kids.

Even for the champions league knock out game in the allianz arena it was €10 or €15 and for members/ kids/ pensioners/ mens season ticket holders you got a fiver knocked off that.

I presume thats cross subdisied by the men to an extent but indeed, to increase the poularity you need to keep the ticket prices very reasonable.

A bit like Sean Quinn throwing money into Quinn Direct from his other business's.

With all due respect, the inability of the Camogie Association and the LGFA to better coordinate their fixtures is a completely separate issue from CEO of the GPA, Tom Parsons, suggesting publicly that the GAA should use some of its income to increase the travelling expenses and other benefits for members of other organisations.

Furthermore, the Camogie Association and LGFA don't need to integrate with the GAA in order to better organise their fixtures. All they need to do is talk to each other more often.

Thats my point! It might be seperate, but it shows that they arent very well run, or can work WITH each other....

Why would the GAA jump at the prospect of bringing them into their organization?

They cant arrange fixtures/all star holidays/grounds without messing it up.....

I've made a similar point here before, and heard something relevant to it this week. I was at a meeting of Wexford County Board, where some of our senior hurlers spoke as part of a review of the 2023 season. One of them said that being an inter-county player involves a commitment of probably 30 to 35 hours a week, between training, group gym work, personal fitness routines, travelling, etc.

Being a dual player would then surely involve at least 50 hours a week (you wouldn't need to double up on the gym work and personal training). Put that on top of a 35 to 40 hour work week, and let's say 50 hours of sleep (just over seven hours per night), and a bit for everything else, and you really wouldn't have enough hours in the week.

It's no wonder that the days of dual inter-county GAA players are gone. Maybe it's time for female players to face up to this as well, instead of a small number of dual players expecting things to be worked around them, and affecting a much larger number of other players.

That'd be one box ticked along the way to equality!

...and to be brutal about it, I'd take burn out of the body into the equation too for what it's worth.

I know of girls that are involved in the following all at once: Minor Intercounty Camogie, Minor Intercounty LGFA, Junior Intercounty Camogie, Intermediate Intercounty LGFA. All of that while doing the Leaving Cert.

At what point is enough enough. Can't be berating organisations for that (other than Managers not taking a step back and consdering the girls' well-being).

Okay, thanks for clarifying. And I'll agree wholeheartedly with your final statement there anyway. The GAA have a lot to lose and little or nothing to gain from integration, while it's the exact opposite for the other two Associations.