The chairman of Conahy Shamrocks camogie Paddy Delaney says they’ve been working tirelessly with the Camogie Association this week to try and find a solution to the All Ireland club championship debacle.
Conahy, Thomastown, and clubs across the country have appealed to the association to allow the 2020 all Ireland competition to go ahead and have proposed a three-week time scale for this to happen.
It was to go ahead, however, with the season structure changing after a vote recently, the inter-county action was due to go ahead in that space.
At the weekend, Thomastown senior camogie manager Ger Walsh said he feels that the Camogie Association’s inability to listen to the clubs is detrimental to the players involved.
The proposed plan is as follows:
- Monday 7th June (Bank Holiday)– Leinster semi-final
- Sunday 13th June– Munster, Leinster & Ulster finals
- Sunday 20th June– All Ireland semi-finals
- Sunday 27th June– All Ireland club final (Same day as League Final)
Thomastown Camogie wrote the following letter to the Camogie Association.
A Chara,
I am writing to you on behalf of Thomastown Camogie Club.
As you can appreciate we are bitterly disappointed at the decision to cancel the completion of the 2020 All Ireland camogie club championship. However, the decision is unsurprising given the two unsatisfactory choices presented to clubs for voting.
We are at a loss to understand the rationale for Cumann Camogaiochta na nGael to cancel its recently published fixture list. It appears that this seems to be wholly motivated by the online pressure exerted on social media. This wholly undermines and calls the integrity of Cumann Camogaiochta na NGael into question.
The decision to complete the 2020 All Ireland camogie Championship was clearly the subject of detailed consideration and taking all material factors into place including the prevailing health guidelines. This last minute u-turn appears to be a knee jerk reaction and fails to take into account the importance of this Championship for the players, their management and their family.
We find it very hard to accept the cancellation of last years AIB Club Championship when clearly this is unnecessary and alternative dates have not been given due consideration. We have been fortunate enough to have represented our county in the AIB Club Championship series before but unfortunately we never made it to an All Ireland Final. We have lost 2 semi finals and one Leinster Final and one of the reasons we manage to continue motivate ourselves is the goal to reach and win an All Ireland Final.
It has been a goal of ours to reach an All Ireland and stand in Croke Park with our club mates who we have trained with our whole life. It was our hard work and sheer determination to be in a Club Championship series again that got us over the finish line in a very tough county final last September. We were ecstatic to have won the county final as it was one step closer to fulfiling our dream.
Throughout the winter with the hope and dreams of a club championship being played, we trained solo through the depths of winter, then we were allowed to train together again and our very last group training session was on St.Stephen’s Day where girls travelled from Down and left other family commitments to be at training, that is how determined and committed our girls are. Again Covid 19 hit us hard and we were back in lockdown which again prevented us training together, so once again our dedicated trainer sent us plans and again we trained hard on our own with one thing keeping us going and motivated and that wzas the AIB Club Championship.
Then on May 1st we were overjoyed when our dream was becoming a possibility again. The Camogie Association release a statement that all our hard word and commitment wasn’t in vain, the AIB club championship was going ahead. Our dream was alive again!
Only a few days later, Intercounty managers/teams complains about the calender proposed and through nothing short of media hype overturned the fixtures set out by the camogie association.
In a time when mental health is fragile as it is, getting people’s hopes up and dashing them in such a short space of time is wholly inconsiderate and fails to appreciate the actual impact this is having. We are real people, with real feelings. Some of us our nearing the end of our camogie careers and may never have a chance like this again, and to have our hard work, determination and commitment disregarded and disrespected is disgraceful. It might be the only chance the girls in these clubs get to play in the AIB club championship, as you well know winning is not easy.
Please put yourself in all of the camogie players’ shoes who have dreamt of representing their county and be in the AIB club championship. Think of player welfare and show young girls that commitment, determination and hard work pays off. The fixtures can be played and should be played. There is no reason these games can’t be played when the willingness is there. Show club players that they are valued and recognised as a vital part of our association and give them the opportunity they deserve to play the AIB club championship.
We would ask you to consider the following format to complete the senior club championship:
• Monday 7th June (Bank Holiday)- Leinster semi- final
• Sunday 13th June- Munster, Leinster & Ulster finals
• Sunday 20th June- All Ireland semi- finals
• Sunday 27th June- All Ireland club final (Same day as League Final)
Mise le meas,
