'Landmark Moment' For Female GAA Players With Player Charter Promised For 2024

There was a major breakthrough today for camogie and ladies footballers in their battle to achieve equality with their male peers. This evening, the GPA issued a statement saying a framework was agreed between the players, the LGFA and the Camogie Association "to deliver a standardised charter for female inter-county players" for next season.

As such, match day protests which have been taking place since early June have been stood down with immediate effect.

Last week, players announced a boycott of media activity as both codes reach the business end of the 2023 Championship.

The timing here cannot be ignored - on Thursday, the Irish women's football team will play their first-ever World Cup game. Their journey to Australia began with the proposed strike in 2017.

While there are still many miles to go before female GAA players achieve anything close to equality, today's announcement is a vital first step.

'A Landmark moment'

Hilda Breslin of the Camogie Association welcomed the news:

"We welcome this breakthrough. It will enable the unhindered progression of the Glen Dimplex All Ireland Championships.  Our semi-finals this weekend and our finals on 6^th August will be the centre of attention and we look forward to wonderful games. We are committed to working with players and other stakeholders to continue to improve and expand the player welfare supports currently in place in a very fair and evidenced based manner.”

Here's the GPA statement in full.

“Following constructive meetings between the Gaelic Players Association (GPA) and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) and separately between the GPA and the Camogie Association over the course of the last week, a framework has been agreed to deliver a standardised charter for female inter-county players for 2024.

“Therefore, we the players, have decided to suspend our protest actions ahead of this weekend’s matches.

“Commitments are now in place from the two National Governing Bodies (NGBs) as follows:

• Agreement by the NGBs to collaborate with the GPA on the development of a Player Charter for 2024.
• Agreement from the NGBs to request funding support from the GAA for the charter implementation, independent of the GPA.
• Agreement that any approach (should it be necessary) to government for funding will be undertaken jointly with the GPA.

“All protest actions on match days are now suspended with immediate effect. Players will also return to taking part in media events organised by the Camogie Association and LGFA.

“We thank the Camogie Association and LGFA for their commitment to implementing a standardised player charter for 2024.

“We also thank the GAA for their commitment to support the initiative.

“This is a landmark moment in our games and for women’s sport in Ireland.”

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