Skorts: what are they and why are camogie players not being given a choice on wearing them?

Who likes sport skorts? Not camogie players, by the looks of it

Camán lads: A camogie player wears a skort. Photo: Sportsfile

Laura Lynott

A skort is essentially a half-way house between shorts and a skirt – a divided skirt, a pair of shorts with a skirt over the top or, if you like, a skirt with a pair of shorts underneath, which some sportswomen wear instead of either a skirt or shorts.

The skort is part of the required GAA camogie uniform, and the item of clothing has hit the news because the sport’s annual congress decided the skorts must stay, despite the objections of many players.

Dublin camogie player Niamh Gannon has gone so far as to say, this decision could cause some players to quit.

Many sportspeople say the skorts are uncomfortable and impractical and would prefer the option to wear shorts instead.

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Rule 6(b) of the GAA camogie code states that players must wear a skirt/skort/divided skirt to play.

But most players prefer good old-fashioned shorts – which are worn by women Gaelic footballers.

Last June, the International Hockey Federation amended its rules to allow players more of a choice on their kit.

Previously skorts and shorts were allowed by the federation but not a combination in one team.

Great Britain’s captain Hollie Pearne-Webb stated at the time that the change was a “big milestone for female sport,” given that players were given kit choices.

In April last year England hockey player Tess Howard conducted research that found gendered sports kits, like skirts, were a major reason for teenage girls dropping out of sport.

Today's Sport News in 90 Seconds - 17th April

The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal - Sport, Education and Society - found 70pc of sportswomen had witnessed girls leave playing due to gendered kits or because of body image concerns.

Last year, a report was also carried out by Thomas MacCurtains GAA Club, founded in east London in 1920.

The study - ‘The Long and Skort of it’ - highlighted that out of 240 women surveyed, 82pc said they wanted to wear shorts. While 74pc said they did not feel skorts reflected the current society.

Shauna Connolly said that players were “disgruntled” and that skorts had become a “conversation inside and outside of the dressing rooms,” due to their “impracticability, discomfort and distraction.”

Following that report, hundreds signed a petition calling for a change in the camogie dress code but to no avail.

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