At a Special Congress on Thursday evening, May 22, the Camogie Association voted overwhelmingly in favor of allowing players to wear shorts instead of skorts during matches.

The vote followed nearly a month of protests staged by players who opposed the rule that skorts must be worn during matches - instead, they sought the option to wear skorts or shorts.

On Thursday night, the ballot of the 133 delegates saw 98% vote in favor of change, RTÉ News reported on Thursday evening.

As a result, effective from midnight, camogie players will now have the option to wear skorts or shorts during their matches.

“We are pleased to announce that delegates have voted by an overwhelming majority in favour of giving players greater choice in their playing attire," Brian Molloy, President of the Camogie Association, said on Thursday evening.

"From midnight tonight, each individual player will have the option to wear skorts or shorts - adding choice while maintaining the professionalism and uniformity of our team kits in both colour and design.

"I want to sincerely thank our incredible volunteers for their ongoing support over the last few weeks, and to our delegates for voting on behalf of over 120,000 members, including 94,000 playing members.

"As the All-Ireland Championships begin this weekend, we ask everyone to support their teams, drive higher attendances at all upcoming games, and help us fill Croke Park for the finals on August 10th.”

The Gaelic Players Association, the player representative body for inter-county Gaelic games that had been advocating for choice in camogie, also welcomed Thursday's decision. 

"The GPA would like to put on the record our admiration for camogie players across Ireland and beyond, both at inter-county and club level, who made their voices heard to ensure this outcome," the Association said.

"To our own membership who have led the campaign for choice, we salute your willingness to stand up for both yourselves, and future generations of camogie players.

"We thank the delegates who listened to players' call for choice.

"The last few weeks have once again shown the necessity of putting players at the heart of decision-making within Gaelic games."

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Prior to Thursday night's vote at Croke Park, the Camogie Association's official playing rules said players must wear a "skirt / skort / divided skirt" during matches. 

If the rule was not complied with, a referee would first caution the player(s) for dissent. If the player(s) continued to not comply, the referee of the match could dismiss them from play.

At the annual Camogie Association Congress in April 2024, a motion on players being able to wear shorts failed to pass.

Despite changes not being approved at last year's Congress, the skort rule was deeply unpopular with players.

On May 1, the GPA published the findings of its Annual Player Survey, which recorded responses from 650 inter-county camogie players. 

83% of players surveyed would prefer to wear shorts, or believe that players should have the option to choose, the GPA found. 70% reported discomfort while wearing shorts. 65% expressed concern about exposure in media content, affecting their mental state. 49% said they had experienced anxiety around period leaks. 

Two days after the GPA published its findings, the Dublin and Kilkenny senior camogie teams coordinated a skort protest for their Leinster semi-final.

When the two teams took the pitch wearing shorts instead of skorts, they were cautioned by referee Ray Kelly. Faced with the possibility of the match being abandoned, the two teams ultimately decided to both change into skorts, and the match went ahead.

The protest made headlines and gave way to similar protests - putting considerable pressure on the Camogie Association.

While the Association initially said it was standing by the decisions made at its Congress last year, the body confirmed on May 8 that it would hold a Special Congress to "consider motion(s) to provide all players with the choice to wear skorts or shorts while playing camogie."

Despite the Special Congress being announced, the protests continued.

The Cork and Waterford senior camogie panels said they would be staging their own skort protest at the Munster final on Saturday, May 10.

However, the night before the match, Munster Camogie announced that it was deferring the final after 'reviewing the situation.'

According to RTÉ News, a statement issued by The Communications Clinic on behalf of Munster Council chairperson Christine Ryan said: "As the current camogie rules of play are still in place and the players have indicated they would not be prepared to play the game in skorts, the decision has been made to defer the game in the best interests of all players and officials involved.

"The details of the rescheduled fixture will be released in due course."

In a joint statement issued via the GPA on the day when their match was scheduled to be played, the Cork and Waterford senior camogie panels said they were "bitterly disappointed" with the deferral.

Last week, the senior and intermediate Leinster camogie finalists said they would be staging their own protest in Co Carlow, but would wear shorts "under protest."