Ratoath LGFA/Camogie/GAA have hit out at what they claim to be “a complete disregard for our female dual players” as a string of their club players prepare to play two key championship games within 15 hours.
Ratoath ladies are scheduled to play their Meath IFC quarter-final under lights tonight at 8.00pm while the final round of the Meath camogie championship throws-in at 11.45am tomorrow morning.
Officials at the Meath club are furious with the fixture logjam having revealed that that their knock-out football tie was only fixed last week having been “omitted from the masterplan” of fixtures prior to that.
That leaves Ratoath, who have a number of dual players, in a situation which they feel is simply unacceptable.
“The expectation that dual players should have to play two crucial fixtures of this nature within 15 hours of each other shows a complete disregard for player welfare and also the amount of time, energy and commitment that dual players put into representing their club in both codes,” a joint statement read.
“We would like to acknowledge the volunteered efforts made by both the LGFA/Camogie county boards to avoid fixture congestion in 2023. However, the above clash completely contravenes the joint statement released by the county boards on August 2nd that clashes of this nature would no longer occur.
“In the interest of player welfare and supporting women in sports, we call on both the LGFA/Camogie county boards to continue their collaborative efforts to ensure these conflicts do not occur into the future to the detriment of both codes.”
