Camogie to trial rule changes in 2020 National Leagues

Following a meeting of the Camogie Association's Ard Chomhairle it has been decided that several Trial Playing Rules will be introduced in the 2020 National League competition ahead of potential proposals for permanent playing rule changes at the Association’s Annual Congress in 2021.

The process to establish these trial playing rule changes began back in April when delegates at the Association’s Annual Congress voted to permit trial playing rules to be introduced within the rules of the Association. In April a ‘Feedback Forum’ was held involving players and managers before the Rules Revision Working Group was established, chaired by former GAA President Liam O'Neill.

The Rules Revision Working Group consulted with key stakeholders via an extensive process including a survey which received over 1,500 responses, and produced a report and recommendations to the Association’s Ard Chomhairle in October. 

Subsequently a working group of Ard Chomhairle met to refine the proposed Trial Playing Rules which have now been ratified for implementation in 2020.

The six areas that these Trial Playing Rules will cover are:

1.    Contact
A player may now use minimal contact on an opponent’s body from side-on, once they are making a reasonable effort to gain possession of the ball.

2.    Persistent Fouling
A player who is now deemed to be persistently fouling another player (two deliberate fouls) will be given a “tick” by the referee. If that player commits one more foul, it will merit a yellow card.

3.    Quick Puck-out
The referee will now blow the whistle once only, to signal a wide/score and from that moment the sliotar is back in play and the goalkeeper is free to restart the game via a puck-out from the correct position.

4.    Free from the hand
A player will now have the option to take a free from their hand if they are fouled inside her own 45-metre line. Only the player that is fouled can take the free from the hand and it is an indirect free.

5.    Dropping the Hurley and Hand-pass Goal (Rules 9.6.i. and 9.6.f)
Players will now no longer be permitted to drop the hurley intentionally.

In addition, players may no longer score a goal by hand-passing the sliotar into the net. Players may still score a point by hand-passing the ball over the bar.

6.    Penalty and 20-metre free (Rules 11.2 and 11.3)
A penalty must be struck from on or outside the 20-metre line but not inside it. In addition, only one defending player may stand on the goal-line during a penalty and shall not move towards the 20m-metre line before the ball has been struck.

Speaking about the Trial Playing Rules, Uachtarán an Cumann Camógaíochta Kathleen Woods said: “These Trial Playing Rules are an important step for the Association to ensure that our game remains fit for purpose for many years to come. We have listened to a range of key stakeholders involved in our game and I hope that this process will be of benefit in order for us to tweak our playing rules in the future to allow our wonderful game to continue to grow and flourish as it has done in recent years.”

A training process will take place in the coming weeks involving the Association’s National Referee Panel as well as workshops which will be held in early 2020 for players and managers who will participate in the 2020 National League as well as a series of Trial Matches which will be organised across other grades of the game as part of this process.

The Trial Playing Rules initiative will be supported by a body of work to monitor, track and analyse their implementation, with a view to providing objective feedback from which final decisions regarding motions to the Association’s Annual Congress regarding permanent rule changes can be made.