Camogie

Camogie (Irish: camógaíocht) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women; it is almost identical to the game of hurling played by men. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and world wide, largely among Irish communities. Matches are contested by two teams of 15 a side, using a field 130m to 145m long and 80m to 90m wide. H-shape goals are used, a goal (scored when the ball goes between the posts and under the bar) is equal to three points and a point (scored when the ball goes over the bar) is equal to one point. It is organised by the Dublin-based Camogie Association or An Cumann Camógaíochta. The annual All Ireland Camogie Championship attracts attendances of up to 33,154 and is televised live, attracting a TV audience of over 300,000, or 7% of the Irish population.

Rules

The rules are almost identical to hurling, with a few exceptions.

• Goalkeepers wear the same colours as outfield players. This is because no special rules apply to the goalkeeper and so there is no need for officials to differentiate between goalkeeper and outfielders.
• A camogie player can handpass a score (forbidden in hurling since 1980)
• Camogie games last 60 minutes (senior inter-county hurling games last 70)
• Dropping the camogie stick to handpass the ball is permitted.
• A smaller sliotar (ball) is used in camogie - commonly known as a size 4 sliotar - whereas hurlers play with a size 5 sliotar.
• If a defending player hits the sliotar wide, a 45-metre puck is awarded to the opposition (in hurling, it is a 65-metre puck)
• After a score, the goalkeeper pucks out from the 13-metre line. (in hurling, he must puck from the end line)
• The metal band on the camogie stick must be covered with tape. (not necessary in hurling)
• Side–to-side charges are forbidden. (permitted in hurling)

Camogie players generally wear skirts or skorts rather than shorts.

Nomenclature

The name was invented by Tadhg Ua Donnchadha (Torna) at meetings in 1903 in advance of the first matches in 1904. Men play using a curved stick called in Irish a camán. Women would use a shorter stick, at one stage described by the diminutive form camóg. The suffix -aíocht (originally “uídheacht”) was added to both words to give names for the sports: camánaíocht (which became iománaíocht) and camógaíocht. When the Gaelic Athletic Association was founded in 1884 the English-origin name "hurling" was given to the men's game. When an organisation for women was set up in 1904, it was decided to Anglicise the Irish name camógaíocht to camogie.

Foundation

The Official Launch of Camogie took place with the first public match between Craobh an Chéitinnigh (Keatings branch of the Gaelic League) and Cúchulainns on July 17 at a Feis in Navan. The sport's governing body, the Camogie Association or An Cumann Camógaíochta was founded in 1905 and re-constituted in 1911, 1923 and 1939. Until June 2010 it was known as Cumann Camógaíochta na nGael.

Competitions

All Ireland Championship

Counties compete to win the O'Duffy Cup, awarded to the team that wins the All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship. The All-Ireland Final is held every year in Croke Park during September, usually on the week between the hurling final and Gaelic football final, and attracts attendances of up to 33,154. The champions for 2010 are Wexford. The All Ireland Club Championship is staged at Senior, Intermediate and Junior level, usually reaching the final stages in November–December. There are graded All Ireland championships at Intermediate for the Jack McGrath Cup, "Premier Junior" for the Kay Mills Cup, Junior A for the Nancy Murray Cup, Junior B for the Máire Ní Chinnéide Cup, Minor A, Minor B, and Minor C, and Under-16 A, B and C level.

National League

The National League is staged during the winter-spring months, with four divisions of team graded by ability.

Provincial Championships

Provincial championships take place at all levels, independent of the All Ireland series which has been run on an open draw basis since 1973.

International and Inter-provincial

Ireland plays a camogie-shinty international against Scotland each year. The Gael Linn Cup is an inter-provincial competition played at senior and junior level. The sport is closely associated with the Celtic Congress. Two former Camogie Association presidents Máire Ní Chinnéide and Agnes O’Farrelly were also presidents of Celtic Congress and exhibition matches have been held at the Celtic Congress since 1938. The first such exhibition match, on the Isle of Man in 1938, marked the first appearance of Kathleen Cody, who became one of the stars of the 1940s.

Inter-collegiate

The Ashbourne and Purcell Cups and Father Meachair seven-a-side are the principle inter-collegiate competitions.

Schools

There is also a programme of provincial and All Ireland championships at secondary schools senior and junior levels, differentiated by the years of secondary school cycle, with years 4-6 competing in the senior competition, and years 1-3 competing at junior level. Cumann na mBunscoil organises competitions at primary school level.

Féile na nGael

Camogie competitions for club teams featuring under-14 players are played in four divisions as part of the annual Féile na nGael festival.

Structure

An Cumann Camógaíochta has a similar structure to the Gaelic Athletic Association, with an Annual Congress every spring which decides on policy and major issues such as rule changes, and an executive council, the Árd Chómhairle which deals with short-term issues and governance. The game is administered from a headquarters in Croke Park in Dublin. Each of 28 county boards takes control of its own affairs (all of the Irish counties except Fermanagh, Leitrim, Longford and Sligo), with the number of clubs ranging from 58 in Cork to one in Leitrim. There are four provincial councils and affiliates in Asia, Australia, Britain, Europe, New York, New Zealand and North America.

Literary References

A reference to camogie features in one of Lucky's speeches in Waiting for Godot by Irish playwright Samuel Beckett.

Roll Of Honour

Dublin have won the most Camogie All-Ireland titles with 26, the last being in 1984. See All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship.

Cork have won the most National Camogie League titles with 14. See National Camogie League

Awards

Camogie All Stars Awards are awarded annually to the elite players who have performed best in each of the 15 positions on a traditional camogie team. Player of the year and other achievement awards have also been awarded to leading players for several decades.

Team of the Century

Picked in 2004

1. Eileen Duffy-O'Mahony (Dublin)
2. Liz Neary (Kilkenny)
3. Marie Costine-O'Donovan (Cork)
4. Mary Sinnott-Dinan (Wexford)
5. Bridie Martin-McGarry (Kilkenny)
6. Sandie Fitzgibbon (Cork)
7. Margaret O'Leary-Leacy (Wexford)
8. Mairéad McAtamney-Magill (Antrim)
9. Linda Mellerick (Cork)
10. Sophie Brack (Dublin)
11. Kathleen Mills-Hill (Dublin)
12. Úna O'Connor (Dublin)
13. Pat Moloney-Lenihan (Cork)
14. Deirdre Hughes (Tipperary)
15. Angela Downey-Browne (Kilkenny)

See also

• Hurling
• Women's shinty
• Wikipedia List of Camogie players
• All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship
• National Camogie League
• Camogie All Stars Awards
• Ashbourne Cup
• Camogie Tournament London

External links

• Camogie.ie Official Camogie Association Website
• On The Ball Official Camogie Magazine Issue 1 and issue 2
• History of Camogie slideshow. presented by Cumann Camógaíochta Communications Committee at GAA Museum January 25, 2010 part one, part two, part three and part four
• Sliotar Magazine
• Fixtures 2010.xls 2010 Fixture list download
• Camogie on official GAA website
• Timeline: History of Camogie
• London Camogie Club
• Video highlights of 2009 championship Part One and Part Two
• Video Highlghts of 2009 All Ireland Senior Final
• Video highlights of 2009 All Ireland junior final
• Camogie on GAA Oral History Project
• County and provincial websites: Antrim Armagh Clare Connacht Cork Derry Down Dublin Galway Kerry Kildare Kilkenny Leinster Limerick London Louth Meath Munster North America Offaly Tipperary Ulster Waterford Wexford Wicklow