‘Listen to the players’ Anna Geary wades into skort row

Anna Geary stepped into the Camogie skort row and urged policymakers to see the debate as an opportunity to change things for the better of the players.

The drama kicked off during a match over the bank holiday weekend during the Leinster Championship when Dublin and Kilkenny players took to the pitch in shorts instead of the typical skort.

They were subsequently ordered to change or the match would be called off, sparking a furious row about the players’ right to be comfortable.

Chatting to Sarah McInerney, Anna, who captained Cork to All Ireland glory in 2014, called for the GAA to listen to the players and change the rules as they have in other areas.

She touched on a report by the GPA on women’s attire that showed that 83 per cent of players wanted the right to wear shorts saying that skorts had been an issue since her own playing days.

Anna said: ‘I’ve been playing Camogie, a long time, over three decades, and when I was younger, the skort was still an issue. It was something that a lot of people myself included weren’t necessarily comfortable in.

‘And, I suppose you looked at other sport and you saw them being able to wear shorts and if you look at any training ground the length and breadth of the country, whether it’s under 12 or senior, and you walk in on a random evening, they’re not wearing skorts training they’re wearing shorts because that’s what they feel more comfortable in

‘So to me, it’s an obvious thing to listen to the players and say well those that want to wear shorts wear shorts, it’s not going to in any way inhibit Camoige as a spectacle, if anything it’ll probably be able to enhance it because they’ll be able to perform better.’

As well as strengthening players’ game, Anna believes that the right to wear shorts will also help to retain players and in particualr younger girls in the sport.

She described how while delving into the topic for her work, uniforms were the number one concern for female players leaving the sport.

‘We talk so much, Sarah, about retention rates in women’s sport. We talk so much about why girl’s quit sport. I did a documentary on it a few years ago and playing gear was the number one reason when they didn’t feel confident and comfortable, they walked out the gate.

‘We need to make sure that older players and younger players alike feel confident and comfortable and this is an opportunity now to make a change.’

Anna queried two defeated motions from 2024 calling in one for skorts to be abolished and for them to be optional in the other and wondered if the delagates representing the clubs and counties had consulted the players.

She felt there would likely have been a different outcome if they had and also pointed out other chnges that had been made in the sport ovewr the years.

‘Why can’t this be another choice we make to let the voices of players be heard and to make a change for the good of the game and the good of everyone involved?’

Anna was widely praised for her comments, with one person commenting: ‘Well said Anna. The voice of experience and reason.’

Another said she was a ‘great representative for women’s sports’ while a third person wrote: ‘Spot on anna. You’d never see them been worn in training.’