The Waterford Intermediate Camogie final did not go ahead on Sunday morning as originally planned.
Modeligo and Butlerstown were set to decide the title at the SETU Arena at 2pm, but prior to throw-in, without any Modeligo players or backroom team present, the referee was forced to call off the contest.
The Rules
Part 1 of the Camogie Association Official Guide Section E, Competitions Management and Administration, Control of Matches and Penalties Point 41.4, states that "The Referee must, in the event of one team failing to field, count the players of the team present and obtain a Team List for submission with her/his report. In the event of both teams failing to field, the Referee should record this fact on his/her report for submission to the Unit in charge of the competition."
WLR Sport understands that the referee was handed the team sheets today, the players present were counted with the appropriate notes made by the match official and then the game was called off to the dismay of the some 300 people in attendance.
It remains to be seen whether or not Butlerstown will be awarded the title on a walkover, or if the game will be refixed. More here.
It is important to note here that Modeligo may well have given up their chance at playing senior camogie next year by refusing to turn up. Should the title be awarded to Butlerstown that is.
The majority of those Modeligo players lined out for Na Déise on Saturday for the Munster Junior Club football semi-final with Clounmacon/Moyvane, a game they lost 3.14 to 2.12. Mairead O'Brien and Mary Kate Curran raised the green flags, but the Kerry side marched on.
The camogie final would have clashed directly with that Munster football game if it hadn't been pushed back by a day (from Saturday to Sunday) to accommodate the players, as decided by Waterford Camogie.
The Modeligo/Na Déise argument is that on grounds of player welfare, they couldn't play the two games over two days and that an alternative arrangement should have been found.
A forward and back of requests between clubs and boards yielded no change to the Sunday throw-in and ultimately, the Modeligo/Na Déise players chose not to play the camogie final.
Waterford LGFA Response
In response to today's abandoned game, Waterford LGFA have released the following statement to WLR Sport.
"The Munster LGFA Junior semi-final fixture was provided to Waterford LGFA in June. The WLGFA had no input in setting this date, it was set by the MLGFA [Munster LGFA]. This date was communicated to Waterford Camogie at that time to avoid the possibility of a direct clash with any Camogie fixture. In recent years we have had a good relationship with Waterford Camogie and both sides communicate their fixtures once they are known."
"The Waterford Camogie Intermediate Final was originally fixed for October 8th/9th, the same weekend as the Waterford Camogie Senior Final and Junior Finals. On September 2nd Waterford Camogie informed the WLGFA they were changing the dates of their Intermediate Final to October 21st to ease their fixture congestion. Waterford Camogie were aware of a potential clash when they rescheduled their Intermediate Final."
"Na Deise LGFC emailed our Secretary on the 14th of October enquiring what their options were. The Waterford LGFA Secretary informally contacted Munster LGFA and was informed while there was some flexibility as to the throw-in time 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."
"If Waterford Camogie played the Intermediate Camogie fixture on the original agreed date we would not be in this regrettable situation. The WLGFA has every sympathy for the clubs and players involved but we would like to clarify that we had no part in creating this situation."
Solidarity
While the game at the SETU Arena had never gotten started, Ballymacarbry were lining out in Ardmore for their Munster senior club ladies' football quarter-final with Fethard. They got the defence of their title off to a flying start as they smashed the Tipp champions 6.11 to 0.13.
Following the full-time whistle, the Ballymacarbry team were photographed with several of the Modeligo players, many of whom were playing for Na Déise on Saturday in Munster.
The below image was posted on the Ballymacarbry Club Facebook page.
