Camogie records strong growth in attendance, participation
March 24, 2016
Loreto College players celebrate winning the All Ireland Post Primary Junior A Final
The Camogie Association's 2015 Ard Stiúrthóir's Report contains good news for Ireland's popular female team sport, with more people playing and watching camogie over the past 12 months as well as a significant growth in national media coverage of the game.
The report, which was launched today ahead of the Camogie Association's National Congress in Limerick next week, found that:
- There was a 30% increase in attendance at the 2015 All-Ireland Camogie Final last September, making it the best-attended final in more than five years;
- Active participation in the sport continues to grow, with a 5% increase in registered personal camogie membership compared with 2014;
- 2015 saw a 47% increase in camogie coverage in national newspapers, a 41% increase in online coverage of the sport and a 19% increase in broadcast coverage during the 2015 All-Ireland Championship season.
Grassroots growth
The report detailed performance and participation data and also underlined the Camogie Association's commitment to - and investment in - grassroots development, with no fewer than five first-time winners of All-Ireland championships at various levels in 2015.
Camogie growth a boost for women's sport in general
The report findings also outlined that the benefits associated with playing sport are being felt by Camogie with positive indications showing that the growth of women playing sport has had a knock on effect with more girls getting involved in Camogie, through playing, coaching, refereeing or volunteering.
New fixtures protocols
The report highlighted a number of initiatives on fixtures administration for 2016.
These include a new initiative so that when teams finish on equal points in national competitions, overall score difference determines which team progresses to the knock out stages of the competition.
There is a new approach to fixture scheduling designed to ensure that player welfare remains the top priority. This came about through the initiation of discussions with the LGFA which resulted in Camogie Association/LGFA agreed fixtures protocol for dual players at national level.
The 2015 decision that All Ireland or national finals are the only games that automatically go to a replay remains in place for 2016.
The 2015 Annual Report was developed in advance of the 'Our Sport, Our Future' National Development Plan which the Camogie Association launched recently.
