Camogie is a modified form of hurling with 12 players
per team and is Ireland’s national field sport for
women. The game resembles hurling (an exclusively
male sport), although physical contact is more restricted. Players score points by successfully hurling a
ball between crossbars on goal posts.
History
Camogie was first played in 1904, when Irish women
had limited opportunities to participate in sport. Female members of the Gaelic League, the national language movement, decided to found a game that was
both distinctly Gaelic and strictly female. In developing
camogie in and around Dublin, they modified the Irish
national field game of hurling but maintained use of
the stick, which symbolized Irish nationalism and
Gaelic culture. The Camogie Association of Ireland,
founded in 1904, still governs the sport.
The game did not spread much beyond Dublin until the development of competition in the universities,
with women from Dublin, Belfast, Cork, and Galway
competing in the annual intervarsity competition, the
Ashbourne Cup, first held in 1915. However, while subscribing to the ideals of the Gaelic Athletic Association
(GAA), the Camogie Association remained distinct,
giving Irish women a voice in the fostering of nationalism, feminism, and Gaelic sport.
In the 1930s, the Camogie Association tried to increase its sphere of influence beyond the major Irish
cities. It reorganized on a national basis and founded
an All-Ireland championship for county teams, mirroring the organization of hurling. The game has continued to spread. Now its areas of strength, like its rules
and style of play, parallel even more closely those of its
brother game, hurling.
Rules and Play
The camogie field is a maximum of 110 meters (120
yards) long and 68 meters (75 yards) wide. The stick
(camog) is shorter and lighter than hurling’s “hurley”
(caman) and the ball is also lighter than the “slitter”
(sliothar). The rules of camogie closely resemble those
of hurling, although the “H”-shaped goal posts of hurling have been modified by the addition of a second
crossbar. One point is scored when the ball passes between the crossbars, and three points are scored when
the ball is driven below the lower crossbar and into the
goal.
Camogie has shown few signs of catching on outside of Ireland, and its proponents seem not to aspire to
international status. However, within Ireland, the sport
continues to be enjoyed in its own right and to express
both nationalist and feminist sentiments.
—TIMOTHY J. L. CHANDLER