The Ladies' Gaelic Football Association today expressed their "anger" with the GAA after last minute date changes to the International Rules series could lead to a potential clash with the inaugural ladies test series against Australia.
Ladies' GAA chief executive Helen O'Rourke said they consulted the official GAA fixture diary last Friday before agreeing dates with their Australian counterparts at the end of the recent All Stars tour to Singapore.
"We did that to ensure that we would avoid any clash with other major fixtures. All our plans were in place and announced and now we find ourselves in a very difficult position," said O'Rourke.
At the weekend dates for the two ladies tests were announced for Tuesday, October 31st in either Cork or Galway with the second test set for Parnell Park in Dublin on Saturday, November 4th.
The GAA had originally set dates for October 15th and 22nd for their two tests but these dates were changed yesterday to weekends of October 28/29 and November 4/5.
"It is extremely disappointing to discover that significant changes in dates have been made without any consultation," added O'Rourke. "We decided on our dates according to the official diary of the GAA.
"We were also in telephone contact with the stadium. It was common sense and courtesy to avoid any clash with other events on the GAA calendar and we wanted to have our own week of international football.
"Now we read in the newspapers that the GAA has changed the dates of their tests so that there is the possibility of a direct clash with ours."
"We are really angry about this. A lot of work has already gone into organising and planning for what is a major development in Ladies' Gaelic Football. It puts us in an impossible position and it is very unfair to our players and to our colleagues in Australia and to TG4. We have no choice but to stick with the dates despite the possibility of a clash."