Shona Ennis is a two-time All-Ireland senior football-winning captain with Meath
Double Meath All-Ireland senior football winning captain Shona Ennis highlighted the scale of the problem facing dual players.
Speaking on the GAA Social podcast, Mr Ennis, who is also a camogie player, explained that the issue came to light in December when his club Na Fianna appeared in the All-Ireland semi-finals in both codes within 23 hours of each other.
The primary school teacher said she was “distraught and angry” at what she believed was an injustice caused by governance issues that led to clashes between the tournaments.
It is hoped that this announcement will herald a new era of close cooperation between the governing bodies as we move towards merger.
Ennis' club won the county senior camogie title and intermediate football title last year, as well as the Leinster crown in both codes.
The problem arose when the club's All-Ireland camogie semi-final was scheduled for Saturday at 14:00 GMT and the footballers' last four tie-up was scheduled for 1:00pm the following day.
“We're not a big club, so there's going to be a huge crossover of girls who play on both teams. We have nine outfield players who start on both teams,” the All-Star said. explained.
“Both associations [the LGFA and the Camogie Association] They had been warned in advance that if they won the two Leinster finals, an All-Ireland semi-final match would be scheduled for the same weekend.
“As soon as it happened, we started posting on social media and really trying to get as much attention as possible.
“Our argument was, if we had a free weekend before that and a free week after that, could we play one of the matches? We said, 'No, we can't move it,' we need two weeks to make it happen.'' Get your program up for an All-Ireland final or something like that. To be honest, my reaction was like nothing.
“Basically, we were told the best thing we could do was play one game on Saturday and one game on Sunday.”
“A fair shot after putting life on hold”
In the end Na Fianna defeated Tyrone club Eglish in Louth on Saturday before Ennis traveled some 300km by bus to Cork to face Glenmere, who won both the semi-final and final to become All-Ireland champions. It shone.
“After that football game, I was just distraught and angry. I told anyone who tried to approach me, 'This is not fair, this is a joke, this shouldn't have happened.' I continued.
“I've been training for 12 months, but you put your life on hold and all you ask is to give it a fair shot.
“Our club getting into an All-Ireland semi-final may never happen again, it's highly unlikely so you definitely couldn't talk to me for a week after that game.
“I wanted to have officials from both associations come to that game and see what it meant to people. There were emotions and this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.'' I don't think they really thought it through when they made that call.
“Then it disrupted my preparations for the All-Ireland camogie final and I was furious about football.
Shona Ennis celebrates after winning 2022 All-Ireland football title with Meath
“It seems like there are a lot more girls who want to play both and are talented at both and end up having to choose one or the other and you miss out on really good soccer players and really good hurlers. It's very unfortunate.”
“We don't want something like this to happen again at another club, which is why we are campaigning so strongly.”
Despite suffering badly at the hands of game schedulers at All-Ireland level, Ennis finds encouragement in the compromises agreed in his home county of Meath in recent years.
“For the past two years in County Meath, our county committee has [of football and camogie] “We've made a huge effort to meet up at the start of the year and played a wide range of soccer one weekend and camogie the next,” she explained.
“There was a time when you could have a championship football game on a Tuesday night and a championship camogie game on a Wednesday night. We were frustrated, but it was normal. Yes, and no one talked about it.
“For dual players, all they had to do was play two days in a row. But we made a lot of progress,” she revealed.
