‘Everyone bar one player voted for shorts’ – Camogie skort rule angers Dublin skipper Niamh Gannon

Dublin camogie player Niamh Gannon has said she was “hugely disappointed” by the Congress decision not to allow players wear shorts as an alternative to skorts and warned that it could persuade some to quit the game.

The rule remains in place for at least another three years.

“It’s hard to believe that people who aren’t playing or are not involved on the pitch are making these decisions,” she said. “Personally, I would much prefer to wear shorts. I don’t mind the skorts but I think everyone should have a choice.

“From our own team, as many other players have said, if you showed up to training, not one girl would be in a skort. So, we only wear them because we have to wear them. We would much prefer to wear the shorts.

“But also the bigger issue, I think, is that I’ve heard people say that for younger girls playing, that play football and camogie, they’re deciding to play football because they can wear shorts. So we could actually be losing younger girls just over the fact that they don’t have the choice to wear shorts.

“So I think that’s why this debate has to be spoken about because we can’t let that continue especially with the fact that this decision is there for another three years. It’s very frustrating when that motion wasn’t passed. I can’t think of a reason why you wouldn’t allow people have a choice.”

The St Jude’s player said Dublin squad members, who celebrated a Division 1B league final win over Wexford on Saturday, had voted strongly for reform.

“Everyone bar one player voted for shorts. The other player, she just voted that there should be a choice. Our (Congress) delegate would have been taking that on board.

“So I am not sure what happened with the other counties. Definitely from our point of view it was very clear that a choice should at least be given.”

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