Male inter-county players have rowed in behind the stance taken by their ladies football and camogie county counterparts in an open letter to the GAA.
Last month, female inter-county players voiced their frustration at the failure of the GAA, Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association to form a ‘Charter for Minimum Standards of Player Welfare’, and pledged that they would play under protest for the remainder of the 2023 Championship.
That has taken the form of players sitting down on the field ahead of the throw-in and leaving the field for a period after the national anthem, with the protests set to continue in some form in the coming weeks.
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There has been no protest among male players though in an open letter “to the leadership and management of the GAA”, issued through the Gaelic Players’ Association, team captains expressed support for female players’ stance.
The letter reads: “We, the 68 captains of the male senior inter-county teams, want to express our full support for our female colleagues and stand beside them #UnitedForEquality.
“As such, we are asking you to work with the Camogie Association, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the Gaelic Players Association to discuss the steps necessary towards providing the minimum standards of welfare and care for female players for 2024.
“They cannot be expected to wait any longer.
“We do not accept that this is a matter solely for the two female governing bodies which is the response you have given to date.
“Among the GAA’s values is that of community identity. Community is at the heart of our Association. We know from our own communities that if our neighbour is struggling or requires help, the local GAA club steps forward to provide it.
“We know our female inter-county colleagues in the Gaelic games community are in need of support. They need help to provide basics such as medical support, nutritional support, access to facilities and financial support to offset travel expenses.
“Are you going to live that value of community, or will you allow this opportunity for positive change to pass us by? In the GAA we know and love, there would only be one answer to that question.”
Galway footballer Nicola Ward, who was named as PwC Player of the Month for June, was asked if a form of protest by male players in support of their plight before the end of the inter-county season would be welcome.
“I don’t think it’s something that the GPA and the players that are making these decisions have thought of yet but we’ll see, maybe potentially it could be,” she said.
Strike action has been considered but is not on the table right now and Ward expressed hope that “it wouldn’t come to that”.
“I’d hope that the three governing bodies will come to some sort of solution. We want them to engage in talks together, along with the GPA, to come up with some standard.
“Like we’re all there as players, we love playing the game. It comes so natural to us that we wouldn’t like that ourselves, not to be playing and representing our counties so I hope that it wouldn’t come to that but the whole idea of this is to get the three governing bodies talking and coming to a solution.”
Ward is a nurse based in Dublin who now works part-time as a result of deciding to further her education in Limerick, and so playing for Galway comes at considerable expense.
The government grant has offset that somewhat over the past couple of years but it only scratches the surface.
“I would be coming down three times a week so it is about €40 and with tolls each way you could add a tenner onto that, so three times a week it is €150 and if you are doing that for nine months, I don’t know what that is but it is quite substantial.”
Talks, chaired by former President of Ireland Mary McAleese, are currently afoot around full integration of the GAA, LGFA and CA, though female players aren’t prepared to wait for a basic charter to be implemented while that process drags on.
Ward added: “It is a protest against all three governing bodies while we are waiting for integration to happen.
“It is a minimum charter for 2024, while we are waiting for integration to happen.
Counties don't have access to S&C, they don't have access to training grounds, they don't get food after training, sometimes they mightn't have a dressing-room to [change] in.
“The idea is equal treatment for all. It is not a protest against the county boards or volunteers or anything like that, it is against those associations.”
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