LGFA votes in favour of integration with GAA and Camogie Association at congress
Sport

LGFA votes in favour of integration with GAA and Camogie Association at congress

DELEGATES AT the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) Congress have voted in favour of integrating with the GAA and Camogie Association.

It comes after the GPA last week voted in favour of integration, with the LGFA last night voting with 67 in support and 8 against the uniting of the bodies.

The GPA couldn't propose a direct motion of its own at this gathering, but had called for support for the Galway motion, which was the central item on the agenda for discussion.

The Galway motion proposes amending this rule to include a commitment to "unite with the GAA with the aim of becoming a partnership of equals".

Captains of the 31 ladies football squads represented by the GPA met on a video call earlier this week where it was agreed that players support the sentiment expressed in the Galway motion.

Also, last week all female captains penned a letter to their county boards and the leadership of LGFA and Camogie Association, seeking confirmation that they would support the GAA in prioritising integration.

GPA chief executive Tom Parsons last week said that the steps towards integration "was a commitment; over the past 20 years there has been understandings, language that has been used that has not been commitment," he said.

"Until we bridge that gap we will never be where the association wants to be so from the players’ perspective it was very positive. When it come to equality and inclusion, you want 100%, but we will take 90%; it is a very strong mandate and we will see what events come from that."

Gearóid Hegarty, Limerick Senior Hurler, similarly said that there is a massive chasm in the baseline in how women are treated compared to how men are treated.

"That’s from fixture clashes to access to facilities to female players being asked to pay to play.  They have to ask themselves; Can I afford it?

"I’m in a very privileged position. We are literally left wanting for nothing. We arrive to training and everything is laid out for us and all I have to do is turn up and get out on the field. Everything else looked after from basics like a nice hot shower to hot food to recovery shakes. There are physios there and a doctor.

"We’re in 2022 now, and there’s no reason for women to be treated differently to men in any walk of life including the games we all love."