TREACY: TIME TO CHANGE

LAURA TREACY is confident the right rule changes are coming to Camogie.

Cork’s four-time All-ireland winning full-back knows there are problems with her sport and last year’s All-ireland final win over Kilkenny reinforced the experienced defender’s standpoint.

“We won the All-ireland final, but the main talk was about the referee – ‘was it a controversial free at the end?’ – and all the stopstarts,” said Treacy (above).

“He reffed to the rules of the game but when people are watching it, they’re viewing it as hurling.

“They’re watching a camogie game as if it’s hurling and that’s how the whole, ‘Why is he blowing for that?’ and, ‘Would he not let that go?’ came up.

“I think the rules have to change with us.”

A prominent WGPA member, Treacy believes camogie chiefs can be persuaded the time is right for change, possibly with a view to next year’s League.

“I think they do want change,” she said. “I think they’ll be open to it.

“We’re not looking for anything drastic, just a few changes, then possibly hurling referees could referee camogie games if the rules were similar.

“Keep the ‘45, maybe, for camogie. There are only a few little things that are keeping them apart.

“If we lean towards the hurling rules; get rid of the hand-pass goal and the playing of the hurley, the advantage rule.

“Little tweaks of the camogie rules could really make it a much more freeflowing game and then players would get to express themselves that little bit more – and show what we’ve been training for over how many years.

“The issue is at club level. At county level, girls are trained and they’d be able to take the shouldering – so maybe keep the shouldering out of clubs, you’d have to weigh up the scenarios there.

“The physicality is there anyway, there’s just a few tweaks to the rules that have to be made.”