Camogie players willing to sacrifice title dreams as shorts ban protest escalates

By Trevor Stynes

(Reuters) - Protests by camogie players will ramp up this weekend with Irish women willing to sacrifice their chance of silverware in a fight for the right to wear shorts.

The rules governing camogie state that playing gear must include skirt, skort -- a pair of shorts with an overlapping panel resembling a skirt -- or divided skirt.

The protests follow a Gaelic Players Association (GPA) survey where 83% of players want the choice of wearing shorts.

Last weekend saw Dublin and Kilkenny forced to change into skorts or risk having their game abandoned, and Cork and Waterford will take the battle one step further in Saturday's Munster final.

"We are both not going to fulfil the fixture unless we are allowed to wear shorts," Waterford's Niamh Rockett told Reuters.

"It's a big commitment from us as we have never won a Munster final before and have only ever been in one but we're willing to abandon the game if needed."

Apart from an All-Ireland final, playing for your county on provincial final day is the pinnacle for any player in Gaelic games.

"We look forward to representing ourselves, our clubs, our counties and our supporters in Saturday's Munster final," a joint statement released by the GPA on behalf of the teams said.

"We will be togged out wearing shorts. That is our choice."

Club matches went ahead in Dublin on Tuesday, despite players wearing shorts.

"The Dublin Camogie County board have instructed that games go ahead, that referees inform the board if players are not wearing skorts but that the matches are played," a spokesperson for Na Fianna club told Reuters.

With the All-Ireland championship beginning on May 24, this weekend's Munster final may well be a taste of what lies ahead.

(Reporting by Trevor Stynes; Editing by Toby Davis)