Postponed Munster final may have to be left in rear-view with skorts, says Déise captain

WATERFORD CAMOGIE CAPTAIN Lorraine Bray says a ripple of excitement reverberated around Thursday night’s training session when news filtered through from Croke Park that players would be permitted to wear shorts after an overwhelming majority voted to pass the motion at Special Congress.

Bray and her teammates, as well as their fellow Munster finalists Cork, were central to the groundswell that eventually yielded Thursday’s result.

Earlier this month, the Déise and Rebel panels jointly stated their intention to take a previous protest by Dublin and Kilkenny a step further and refuse to play their provincial decider in skorts, which were a previously mandatory piece of a player’s uniform under Camogie Association Rules.

That Munster final was consequently postponed at the 11th hour, with the Camogie Association stating that the game would be rescheduled for a date after Special Congress on 22 May.

And while both Waterford and Cork have effectively accepted that their Munster final is, in reality, unlikely to be played at all — the All-Ireland series begins this weekend, and there is simply scant room in the calendar to re-litigate a provincial game — Déise skipper Bray is glad that she and her peers have at least achieved the material change that they fought for off the field.

“Look, we’re delighted,” Bray told The 42. “We actually all got the news when we were training together last night and there’s a great buzz around the camp.

“Especially, I suppose, with the stance that Waterford and Cork made, it made it all the more impactful on us and we were just delighted with the outcome.”

Bray says that she and her teammates contended well with the last few weeks’ distractions, firstly zoning in on Munster final preparations for the most part and eventually, like Cork, pulling up the drawbridge on media interviews.

She acknowledges, however, that the skort issue was one which followed players out of camp, too, such was its prominence in the news cycle.

Bray says the controversy impacted her “on a personal level”, explaining that “anyone you meet was talking about it, so you were constantly hearing about it all right, but I suppose it’s just being able to manage that yourself.”

But with the skort issue consigned to the past at long last, what of the Munster final that was supposed to be played on 11 May?

Unfortunately, Bray admits, that particular fixture may also need to be left in the rear-view.

“Yeah, I suppose as a group, we’ve kind of… our main focus, now, has been the All-Ireland series,” says Bray, who will captain her side when they begin their campaign against Kilkenny next Saturday (Cork face Limerick this coming Saturday).

“And when that match (the Munster final) was cancelled, like… we find it very hard to see any window where they’re going to fit in a Munster final amongst the All-Ireland championship.

“So, I suppose we just had to move on and say, ‘Look, this is our focus.’ And we haven’t heard anything back yet of when it might be rescheduled for, so I suppose we have kind of moved on, in a sense, in relation to it, which is very disheartening, like — especially for Waterford when it was only our second ever Munster final.

“So, it is very disappointing if it doesn’t end up being played.”

Bray says that the Waterford panel were “shocked” when the game was called off by the Munster branch of the Camogie Association just 16 hours before it was due to throw-in at The Ragg in Tipperary.

Munster Camogie said that it had taken the decision “in the best interests of all players and officials involved” after both sets of players insisted that they would be unbending in their decision to wear shorts instead of skorts.

“We kind of had it in our heads that there’s a possibility that it might be canceled on the day, but it actually didn’t cross our minds that it might be canceled the night before and then when it was canceled at such short notice, I suppose that’s where we got the bigger shock.

“So yeah, it was a lot of phonecalls over and back on Friday night and wondering what was going on or what was happening,” Bray adds.

“And like, everyone had their gearbags packed and, y’know, you’re ready, you’re prepared for Munster final, and we just wanted to go out there and play camogie at the end of the day, but it’s just unfortunate the way it did end up.

“You have to kind of stand up for what’s right, and this was definitely just one of these situations that we all had to be united together. And it was brilliant to have the support from the Gaelic Players Association as well, and we were just all united and you could feel that throughout the last few weeks, which was brilliant.

“But look, yeah, I suppose they’re battles you don’t want to be fighting, but at the end of the day, we’ll stand up for what’s right and what’s right for players and getting players’ voices heard.”

Three-time All-Star Bray said that she was further inspired by the protests staged by minor sides and teams at younger age grades up and down the country.

Their contributions, she explained, heightened the extent to which the skort issue took on a generational significance.

And where the likes of the Waterford and Cork senior inter-county panels were equally fighting for future players, they were imbued in their cause by the support of those very teenagers and kids.

“I did realise that it would change, I suppose, the comfort levels and everything for the younger generation, but it was when they started making a stance as well that it really opened my eyes being like, ‘This is powerful’, and ‘a player’s voice is powerful’, and ‘if players’ voices aren’t being listened to, what are we at?’

“It definitely was impactful… When you see minor teams having that sense, standing up with senior players, saying, ‘Look, we’re not comfortable in this either, we’re standing with these girls’, it just shows how powerful the player’s voice is.”

As for the future of that most contentious garment, the skort, Bray doesn’t anticipate that many inter-county players around the country will wear them anymore.

But the players’ protest was never about eradicating them from the camogie uniform, either, and Bray will take no issue with any player who sticks with tradition in the years to come.

“It’s just pure down to choice and if players still want to wear skorts, I’ve no problem with it, and I’m sure other players don’t have a problem with it.

“If you feel more comfortable in a skort, go for that.

“But the majority of players feel more comfortable in the shorts and I think that’s just the way forward: just having that choice. And that’s all we were fighting for all along, is just being able to have that choice.”

- With reporting by Sinead Farrell

• Check out the latest episode of The42′s GAA Weekly podcast here