Camogie anger over senior league and minor championship cancellations
By Shane Brophy
Tipperary Camogie are to seek reasons why this years National League and All Ireland Minor Championships have been cancelled.
Further to the announcement regarding the ‘Safe Return to Gaelic Games’ roadmap, issued by the Gaelic Games family, the Camogie Association produced a revised National Fixtures Schedule last week, accounting for the significantly reduced time available for competitive fixtures at club and County levels.
The 2020 Littlewoods Ireland Camogie Leagues which began in February have now been cancelled. Tipperary had qualified for the final for the first time in sixteen years to play either Cork or Clare.
Also, the Tesco All-Ireland Minor Championships which began in February have been cancelled. Minor competitions will take place however on a provincial basis in 2020.
In a statement, the Camogie Association said it: “wishes to acknowledge that the cancellation of many competitions is of great disappointment to those involved however due to these unprecedented times many such difficult decisions have had to be made.”
However, Tipperary senior manager Bill Mullaney said the Camogie Association have shown no creativity in terms of attempting to get the league final played.
“From a Tipp perspective, it’s the first time this group have got to a final and we have done everything we were asked to,” he began.
“The men (GAA) have shown some creativity. Limerick and Clare are drawn in the first round of the Munster Championship and they are calling that the league final.
“What I am saying, why cancel the league final for us. All you have to do is play one more match in the other group between Cork and Clare. Offaly are willing to give up their match with Cork so Cork and Clare can play, and the winners take us on in the final. Plus if we were to meet at some stage in the championship that Cork were due to meet Clare that would double-up as a league game and the winner would play Tipp in the final or if we were to meet in the championship.”
He confirmed that there has been no consultation with the counties over the decision to not complete the competition which he said could have been played after the All Ireland Final or into January.
A meeting between the Camogie Associations and board officials from all counties was due to take place last Tuesday night where the issue was expected to be raised again.
“We should push hard for it and get a real explanation for why it’s not going ahead,” Mullaney said.
“It is important for us to be seen to be bridging the gap to the Galway, Kilkenny’s and Cork’s who were a bit ahead of everyone and for teams to see that Tipp can do it and push on that other teams can do it.
“We have some fabulous players. Some of them having been playing for ten years and have gotten to no final. This is their goal to get to finals and compete at this level and they don’t come along that often for Tipperary camogie. We are nearly there. We are in the mix with the top 4 and have narrowed the gap. We are not guaranteed to win a final, but we deserve it to be played and the girls deserve their opportunity.
“The commitment out of these players is just as good as any other sport. We get compared to the GAA all the time, but they do train as hard as the lads. They train as often and mind themselves and they deserve their day out and deserve to play their final.
“We went to Galway and beat the All Ireland champions which is a big scalp and we deserved it on the day. Mentally there is a shift there which is probably the biggest barrier we had to get through to believe we can do it and now we have done it we can go into championship quarter finals, semi-finals and finals and deserve to be there and take out chance. It’s a credit to them that they have done it on the field.
Minor
“Disgust and devastation,” was how Tipperary minor manager Ger Browne described the news that their All Ireland Championship had been cancelled.
The championship began in February with Tipperary having gotten off to a winning start against Dublin. However, they had two other games postponed to due to the weather while Wexford had three games played.
“It’s a terrible decision on the girls,” Browne added.
“The Ard Stiuirthoir of the Camogie Association was on the Sunday Game last Sunday week and she told everyone that all camogie teams would be going back playing this year and on the Tuesday night there was a zoom meeting with Croke Park with all county chairpersons and secretaries and the first they knew about it was when a slide put up and the minor championship was cancelled. This was the first any county knew about it. There was no consultation on it.
“I don’t know how and why they came to the conclusion of cancelling it. The girls are devastated. A lot of these girls had the leaving cert this year and that was taken away from them as well. Then they put their energy into training away behind closed doors and they next thing this is pulled away from them.”
The Camogie Association have given the go ahead for a round-robin provincial competition at minor level but Ger Browne feels “it’s a cop out” as the time frame to play that would take around the same time to finish the existing All Ireland Championship.
“If there is time to run a provincial championship, there’s time to finish the All Ireland Championship which had already started,” said the Knockavilla clubman.
“Six weeks finishes this championship if it restarts. They are talking about a provincial championship where you’ll have five games in that but why not run an All-Ireland series and don’t mind the provincials. They are just passing the buck to the provincial councils to get them to run it.”
He added: “We are not going to take it lying down. The Camogie Association are saying us managers are only thinking of ourselves. I am not thinking of myself, I am over another club team anyway but these minors have been training for five months for this championship and it would be crazy to throw it away and every county is of the same feeling.
“I’ve never seen a championship abandoned in the middle of it. We have only one game played so far because we had two postponements due to the weather in February and March. Some counties have three games played. It’s not as if the championship hasn’t started, it is basically in the middle of it.”
Tipperary senior manager Bill Mullaney agrees with his minor counterpart.
“I feel sorry for some of those girls as some of them are seventeen or eighteen and they might never play for Tipperary again. It is important for them and it is important for us in terms of development and retention of ladies. There is a big drop-off after those ages it is statistically proven, so it is important to retain those girls as much as possible,” he said.
Some of the other decisions made by the Camogie Association last week include:
- The 2020 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Championships which will take place between October – December. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
The competitions will begin on a round-robin basis with increased groups before progressing to the knockout stages. There will be no automatic promotion/relegation in the 2020 All-Ireland Championships.
- The 2020 All-Ireland Under 16 Championships will take place between October – December. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
- The 2020/2021 AIB All-Ireland Club Championships will proceed as normal but with a revised calendar that will run into 2021. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
- The 2020 Liberty Insurance All-Ireland Championships which will take place between October – December. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
The competitions will begin on a round-robin basis with increased groups before progressing to the knockout stages. There will be no automatic promotion/relegation in the 2020 All-Ireland Championships.
- The 2020 All-Ireland Under 16 Championships will take place between October – December. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
- The 2020/2021 AIB All-Ireland Club Championships will proceed as normal but with a revised calendar that will run into 2021. The exact format and dates of these competitions will be finalised in the coming weeks.
All dates and details are subject to change based on the latest advice from the Government Health Authorities and the Camogie Association will update its plans accordingly should this arise.
The National Competitions Management Committee will confirm competition entries for all competitions in the coming weeks.
The Association is continuing to work through options regarding underage structures and initiatives in 2020 and will provide an update on this in the coming weeks.
The National Competitions Management Committee will confirm competition entries for all competitions in the coming weeks.
The Association is continuing to work through options regarding underage structures and initiatives in 2020 and will provide an update on this in the coming weeks.