Camogie

The field is not of a fixed size, but must be between 130m long by 80m wide, and 145m long by 90m wide.

H-shaped goals are used. A team achieves a score by making the ball go between the posts. If the ball goes over the bar for a "point", the team earns one point. If the ball goes under the bar for a "goal", the team earns three points.[12]

The name was invented by Tadhg Ua Donnchadha (Tórna) at meetings in 1903 in advance of the first matches in 1904. [13] It is derived from stick used in the game. Men play hurling using a curved stick called a camán in Irish. Women in the early camogie games used a shorter stick described by the diminutive form camóg. The suffix -aíocht (originally "uidheacht") 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.[1]

The experimental rules were drawn up for the female game by Máire Ní Chinnéide, Seán (Sceilg) Ó Ceallaigh, Tadhg Ó Donnchadha and Séamus Ó Braonáin. 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 17 July 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.

Máire Ní Chinnéide and Cáit Ní Dhonnchadha, two prominent Irish-language enthusiasts and cultural nationalists, were credited with having created the sport, with the assistance of Ní Dhonnchadha's scholarly brother Tadhg Ó Donnchadha, who drew up its rules. Thus, although camogie was founded by women, and independently run (although closely linked to the GAA), there was, from the outset, a small yet powerful male presence within its administrative ranks. It was no surprise that camogie emanated from the Gaelic League, nor that it would be dependent upon the structures and networks provided by that organisation during the initial expansion of the sport. Of all the cultural nationalist organisations for adults that emerged during the fin de siècle, the Gaelic League was the only one to accept female and male members on an equal footing.[14]

A camogie team pictured in Waterford in October 1915

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 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.

There are 537 camogie clubs, of which 513 (95.5%) are based on the island of Ireland, 47 in Connacht (8.8%), 195 in Leinster (36.4%), 160 in Munster (29.8%), and 110 in Ulster (20.5%).

The county is the unit of structure in elite competition, responsible for organising club competitions within the county unit and for fielding inter-county teams in the various grades of the All-Ireland championships and National Camogie League.

• Eleven counties competed for the elite All-Ireland Senior Camogie Championship in 2018 for which the O'Duffy Cup is awarded: Clare, Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick, Meath, Offaly, Tipperary, Waterford, and Wexford. 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 33,000.[6] The senior camogie championship finals tends to be less eventful than their counterparts in the men's sport of hurling. There are lower score tallies and seldom is there a goal.[15] Only fourteen points were scored by the winning team in the 2018 senior final, and most points in the game followed the awarding of frees.[15] Ten points was sufficient to determine the winner of the 2017 senior final.[15]
• The All Ireland Club Championship is staged at Senior, Intermediate and Junior level, usually reaching the final stages in November–December or the following March.
• Eleven teams will contest the second-tier Jack McGrath Cup in 2018 (All Ireland intermediate championship): Antrim, Carlow, Derry, Down, Kildare, Laois, and Westmeath, and the second teams of Cork, Galway, Kilkenny, and Tipperary.
• Seven teams contested the third-tier Kay Mills Cup (All Ireland junior or 'Premier Junior" championship) in 2018: Armagh, Kerry, Roscommon, and the second teams of Clare, Dublin, Limerick, and Offaly.
• Six teams contest the fourth-tier Nancy Murray Cup (or Junior A championship), Carlow, Cavan, Monaghan, Tyrone, Westmeath, and the second team of Offaly.
• Three teams contest the fifth-tier Máire Ní Chinnéide Cup, (or Junior B championship), Wicklow, and the second teams of Kildare and Meath.
• London competed in the ((National Camogie League)) in The 2010 season although not in 2011.
• Although six counties do not compete at adult level: Donegal, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Longford, Mayo and Sligo do not compete at adult level, clubs from Fermanagh, Kerry and Mayo have won honours and Donegal have contested divisional finals at under-14 Feile na nGael level. Both Louth (in 1934 and 1936) and Mayo (in 1959) have contested the All Ireland senior final in the past.
• There are age-graded All Ireland championships at Minor A, Minor B, and Minor C, and Under-16 A, B and C level.

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

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

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.

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

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.

Camogie competitions for club teams featuring under-14 players are played in four divisions as part of the annual Féile na nGael festival. The county that is selected for a particular year, all their clubs host teams from all around the country representing their county. Host clubs get families to take in two or three children for a couple of days.

Picked in 2004[16]