The Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) has said they felt they were “doing something brilliant” by getting yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final to Croke Park amid stinging criticism over the circumstances of the late venue switch.
Cork booked their place in the 2020 decider, where they will now face Dublin, after overcoming the Tribeswomen 2-17 to 0-13 in a fixture that was mired in controversy.
The venue for the fixture was changed on three occasions, before a late call was made on Sunday morning to move the game to Croke Park due to icy conditions at Parnell Park.
The LGFA contacted both teams at 11am and received co-operation from both Galway and Cork upon reassurances that there would be enough time for a full warm-up.
Originally scheduled to throw in at 1.30pm, the start time was brought forward half an hour as Croke Park was hosting the All-Ireland men’s semi-final between Tipperary and Mayo later in the afternoon.
The late change meant that TG4 could not show live coverage of the game, while Galway only arrived at Croke Park 30 minutes before throw-in.
Galway manager Tim Rabbitt said the situation that unfolded was “a joke” and regrets not walking off the pitch with his team in protest.
“We didn’t agree to a 1pm [throw-in],” Tim Rabbitt told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
“We agreed that we would play it, that we would get there as early as we could, once we were given assurances that we were given sufficient time. Whether the game threw in at 1pm or 1.10pm, we weren’t concerned about that once we were given assurances that we could do a proper warm-up and we were properly prepared.
Galway manager Tim Rabbitt
“But the minute we took the pitch, LGFA officials, referee, straight away in our ear. ‘Six minutes, you’ve got six minutes to warm up.’
“I don’t want it to sound like sour grapes but that’s the time we should have taken a stand. We should have just walked off the field. We shouldn’t have continued on until we had a sufficient warm-up in place.
“The disrespect that was shown once we hit Croke Park was completely unacceptable.”
Cork made all the running in the opening half and enjoyed a healthy 2-05 to 0-04 lead at the interval, and by the time referee Seamus Mulvihill blew the full-time whistle, the margin between the sides was 10 points.
Responding to the criticism, LGFA president Marie Hickey rejected the suggestion that women’s game isn’t being taken seriously as the men’s and said the association was simply happy to get the game into Croke Park.
“It was a very difficult situation we found ourselves in yesterday. The bottom line was, do we cancel the game completely, or do we try and re-fix it for another venue?” she said.
“Obviously, the time frame was very short to make that decision. When the two managers were contacted at around 11am in the morning, they were both happy to play in Croke Park.”
LGFA president Marie Hickey
Responding to Rabbitt’s objection that the issue was the lack of preparation time, rather than the venue change itself, Hickey said: “They [Galway] spent quite a bit of time in the dressing room and then emerged out onto the pitch. They would have had the opportunity to get out onto the pitch earlier had they not spent so much time in the dressing room.
“They could have been out on the pitch earlier.
“Our priority was player welfare, to get the game played. We actually thought we were doing something brilliant by getting the game into Croke Park.”
Hickey said the match was moved to an earlier throw-in to avoid a potential clash with the men’s semi-final if extra-time or a points shootout was required between Cork and Galway.
Asked whether the LGFA requested a delay to the men’s throw-in time, Hickey said: “No, to be honest we didn’t. We were so delighted to be getting in there in the first place, we just went with it.”
Suggestions that poor co-operation between the GAA and LGFA is at the heart of this latest debacle is wide of the mark according to the president.
“I would argue the integration has never been closer than it has been in the last couple of years. We have secured county grounds for all our county games [2020] which wouldn’t have been the case a number of years ago.
When we talk about 20/20, when we talk about equality in the game, these kinds of incidents should not be happening
“There is a huge amount of cooperation between the two bodies, but it is when a glitch like this happens, people start pointing fingers and you don’t see the full picture that goes on for the rest of the year.”
Rabbitt conceded that Cork were the better team on the day, but has called on the LGFA to ensure there is no repeat of what happened yesterday.
“This shouldn’t be happening. When we talk about 20/20, when we talk about equality in the game, these kinds of incidents should not be happening and the LGFA has to make sure this doesn’t happen again.”
Cork manager Ephie Fitzgerald said it was the latest example of the female sport failing to get the respect it deserves
“All I want for them is that they get the same treatment as the guys,” he said.
“My argument was and has been from the start, why are we making things difficult for us? We talk about lifting the spirit of a nation. There was nobody that saw that today. I would have just thought that if we could have got a pitch where we could have travelled in the one day, then that would have made it a lot simpler. “
The Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA) has said they felt they were “doing something brilliant” by getting yesterday’s All-Ireland semi-final to Croke Park amid stinging criticism over the circumstances of the late venue switch.
