Following on from Sunday's called-off intermediate camogie final where Modeligo were due to face Butlerstown, Waterford LGFA have released another statement saying their hands were tied in relation to changing fixtures this past weekend.
The camogie final was not played with Modeligo not fielding a team on grounds of player welfare. The title - and the chance to play senior camogie in 2024 - may well have been given up by Modeligo in deciding to not attend the game.
On Sunday night, Waterford LGFA released a statement saying that they "had no part in creating this situation."
Speaking to WLR Sport on Sunday, Waterford Camogie were unable to comment owing to the ongoing appeal with Munster Camogie which had been filed prior to throw-in, an appeal which remains active.
What Happened?
In summary, the intermediate camogie final was originally slated for Saturday, October 21st, which would have clashed with Na Déíse's Munster Junior Club football semi-final.
Na Déise needed to beat Galtee Games of Limerick in the provincial quarter-final in order to make it to the semi, and when they won that game a request was filed with Munster LGFA to have the fixture changed.
Last night's statement from Waterford LGFA details that "the Munster LGFA Club Fixtures were ratified for over four months and couldn’t be moved at this late stage without impacting teams from other counties."
With Na Déise failing in their attempt to have their game moved back, Modeligo - who share the majority of their players with Na Déíse, splitting football and camogie duties, decided to try and have their game moved instead, appealing to Waterford Camogie.
The intermediate final was pushed back to Sunday, October 22nd, a day removed from the Munster club football semi.
Modeligo did not find this as an acceptable solution - on grounds of player welfare - and ultimately decided not to field a team for the camogie final.
Waterford LGFA Response
Waterford LGFA's latest statement reads, "The earliest documented date we can find as to when the Munster semi-final was indicated to Waterford Camogie is the 23rd of July. The WLGFA were not in charge of running either competition last weekend. That this incident should occur in a year when we suspended our competitions for two weeks to assist both our Minor Footballers (week 1) the Camogie All-Ireland challenge (week 2) makes this whole argument even more dissapointing."
The below image is from Waterford LGFA's Facebook, in a post on July 25th.
Waterford LGFA's stance is that the game their team was involved in (Na Déise v Clounmacon/Moyvane, Munster Junior Football SF) was a Munster LGFA event and therefore Waterford LGFA had no control over changing this fixture as it would fall solely to Munster LGFA who could not change fixtures without impacting other counties.
An appeal is still active with Munster Camogie as to whether the game will be awarded to Butlerstown - who did field a team on Sunday - or whether it will be refixed for a later date.
The Munster Intermediate Club camogie championship starts on November 18th, leaving three weekends for the county final to be refixed should that be a solution Munster Camogie comes to.
