Gaelic Athletic Association
Cumann Lúthchleas Gael
Formation1 November 1884 (1884-11-01) in Thurles, Tipperary, Ireland
TypeSports association
PurposeThe management and promotion of Gaelic games, and promotion of Irish culture and language
HeadquartersCroke Park, Dublin, Ireland
Region served
Worldwide
Membership (2014)
500,000+[1]
Official language
Irish
Larry McCarthy
Staff
Limited full-time staff
Websitegaa.ie

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; Irish: Cumann Lúthchleas Gael [ˈkʊmˠən̪ˠ ˈl̪ˠuːˌçlʲasˠ ˈɡeːlˠ]; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes,[2] which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball and rounders. The association also promotes Irish music and dance, as well as the Irish language and it also promotes environmental stewardship through its Green Clubs initiative.

As of 2014, the organisation had over 500,000 members worldwide,[1] and declared total revenues of €96.1 million in 2022.[3] The Competitions Control Committee (CCC) of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) governing bodies organise the fixture list of Gaelic games within a GAA county or provincial councils.

Gaelic football and hurling are the most popular activities promoted by the organisation, and the most popular sports in the Republic of Ireland in terms of attendances.[4] Gaelic football is also the second most popular participation sport in Northern Ireland.[5] The women's version of these games, ladies' Gaelic football and camogie, are organised by the independent but closely linked Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association of Ireland respectively. GAA Handball is the governing body for the sport of handball, while the other Gaelic sport, rounders, is managed by the GAA Rounders National Council (Irish: Comhairle Cluiche Corr na hÉireann).

Since its foundation in 1884, the association has grown to become a major influence in Irish sporting and cultural life, with considerable reach into communities throughout Ireland and among the Irish diaspora.[6]

Foundation and history

Hayes' Hotel in Thurles, foundation site of the organization

On 1 November 1884, a group of Irishmen gathered in the Hayes' Hotel billiard room to formulate a plan and establish an organisation to foster and preserve Ireland's unique games and athletic pastimes. Arising out of the meeting, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was founded. The architects and founding members were Michael Cusack of County Clare, Maurice Davin, Joseph K. Bracken, Thomas St George McCarthy, a District Inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary, P. J. Ryan of Tipperary, John Wyse Power, and John McKay.[7] Maurice Davin was elected president, Cusack, Wyse-Power and McKay were elected Secretaries and it was agreed that Archbishop Croke, Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt would be asked to become Patrons.

In 1922 it turned over the job of promoting athletics to the National Athletic and Cycling Association.[8]

Competitions

The GAA organises a number of competitions at divisional, county, inter-county, provincial, inter-provincial and national (All-Ireland) levels. A number of competitions follow a progressive format in which, for example, the winners of a club county football competition progress to a competition involving the top clubs from each county in the province, with the champions from each province progressing through a series of national finals.

Cultural activities

The association has had a long history of promoting Irish culture.[9] Through a division of the association known as Scór (Irish for "score"), the association promotes Irish cultural activities, running competitions in music, singing, dancing and storytelling.

Rule 4 of the GAA's official guide states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.[10]

The group was formally founded in 1969, and is promoted through various Association clubs throughout Ireland (as well as some clubs outside Ireland).

Grounds

Áras Mhic Eiteagáin clubhouse in Gweedore, County Donegal. These grounds resemble the typical clubhouses to be found in rural areas all over Ireland.

The association has many stadiums scattered throughout Ireland and beyond. Every county, and nearly all clubs, have grounds on which to play their home games, with varying capacities and utilities.

The hierarchical structure of the GAA is applied to the use of grounds. Clubs play at their own grounds for the early rounds of the club championship, while the latter rounds from quarter-finals to finals are usually held at a county ground, i.e. the ground where inter-county games take place or where the county board is based.

The provincial championship finals are usually played at the same venue every year. However, there have been exceptions, such as in Ulster, where in 2004 and 2005 the Ulster Football Finals were played in Croke Park, as the anticipated attendance was likely to far exceed the capacity of the traditional venue of St Tiernach's Park, Clones.

Croke Park

Croke Park sports stadium in Dublin, Ireland. The pitch is used for Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie, and has also been used in the past for association football and rugby. It has a capacity of 82,300 people, making it the third largest stadium in Europe.

Croke Park is the association's flagship venue and is known colloquially as Croker or Headquarters, since the venue doubles as the association's base. With a capacity of 82,300, it ranks among the top five stadiums in Europe by capacity, having undergone extensive renovations for most of the 1990s and early 21st century. Every September, Croke Park hosts the All-Ireland inter-county Hurling and Football Finals as the conclusion to the summer championships. Croke Park holds the All-Ireland club football and hurling finals. Croke Park is named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, who was elected as a patron of the GAA during the formation of the GAA in 1884.

The Croke Park campus is also home to the National Handball Centre, which replaced the old Croke Park Handball Centre built in the 1970s. The centre is due to be the home of GAA Handball and to play host to All-Ireland Gaelic Handball finals.[11]

Other grounds

The next three biggest grounds are all in Munster: Semple Stadium in Thurles, County Tipperary, with a capacity of 53,000, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick, which holds 50,000, and Páirc Uí Chaoimh, County Cork, which can accommodate 45,000.

Other grounds with capacities above 25,000 include:

Research by former Fermanagh county footballer Niall Cunningham led to the publication in 2016 by his website, gaapitchlocator.net, of a map of 1,748 GAA grounds in Ireland, ranging from 24 grounds in his own county to 171 in Cork.[12][13]

Nationalism and community relations

The association has, since its inception, been closely associated with Irish nationalism,[14][15] and this has continued to the present, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland,[16] where the sports are played predominantly by members of the mainly Catholic nationalist community, and many in the Protestant unionist population consider themselves excluded by a perceived political ethos.[17][18] According to one sports historian, the GAA "is arguably the most striking example of politics shaping sport in modern history".[19]

A perception within Northern Ireland unionist circles that the GAA is a nationalist organisation[20][21] is reinforced by the naming of some GAA grounds, clubs, competitions and trophies after prominent nationalists or republicans.[22][23][24][25]

Other critics point to protectionist rules such as Rule 42 which prohibits competing, chiefly British, sports (referred to by some as "garrison games"[26][27][28] or foreign sports) from GAA grounds. As a result, the GAA became a target for loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles when a number of GAA supporters were killed and clubhouses damaged.[29][30] As the profile of Gaelic football has been raised in Ulster so too has there been an increase in the number of sectarian attacks on Gaelic clubs in Northern Ireland.[31]

Some of the protectionist rules are as follows:

Rule 42 and other sports in GAA grounds

Rule 42 (Rule 5.1 in the 2009 rulebook)[32] prohibits the use of GAA property for games with interests in conflict with the interests of the GAA referred to by some as "garrison games"[26][27][28] or foreign sports. Current rules state that GAA property may only be used for the purpose or in connection with the playing of games controlled by the association. Sports not considered 'in conflict' with the GAA have been permitted.

On 16 April 2005 the GAA's congress voted to temporarily relax Rule 42 and allow international soccer and rugby to be played in the stadium while Lansdowne Road Football Ground was closed for redevelopment.[33] The first soccer and rugby union games permitted in Croke Park took place in early 2007, the first such fixture being Ireland's home match in the Six Nations Rugby Union Championship against France.

In addition to the opening of Croke Park to competing sports, local GAA units have sought to rent their facilities out to other sports organisations for financial reasons in violation of Rule 42.[34][35] The continued existence of Rule 42 has proven to be controversial since the management of Croke Park has been allowed to earn revenue by renting the facility out to competing sports organisations, but local GAA units which own smaller facilities cannot.[34][36] It is also said that it is questionable as to whether or not such rental deals would be damaging to the GAA's interests.[34]

Defunct rules

The GAA has had some notable rules in the past which have since been abolished. Rule 21, instituted in 1897 when it was suspected that Royal Irish Constabulary spies were trying to infiltrate the organization, prohibited members of the British forces from membership of the GAA.[37] The rule was abolished after an overwhelming majority voted for its removal at a special congress convened in November 2001.[38][39] Rule 27, sometimes referred to as The Ban, dated from 1901 and banned GAA members from taking part in or watching non Gaelic games. During that time people such as Douglas Hyde, GAA patron and then President of Ireland, was expelled for attending a soccer international.[40][41] Rule 27 was abolished in 1971.[42]

Cross-community outreach in Northern Ireland

The association points out the role of members of minority religions in the membership throughout its history. For example, the Protestant Jack Boothman was president of the organisation from 1993 to 1997, while Sam Maguire was a Church of Ireland member. Nonetheless, to address concerns of unionists, the association's Ulster Council has embarked on a number of initiatives aimed at making the association and Gaelic games more accessible to northern Protestants. In November 2008, the council launched a Community Development Unit, which is responsible for "Diversity and Community Outreach initiatives".[43] The Cúchulainn Initiative is a cross-community program aimed at establishing teams consisting of Catholic and Protestant schoolchildren with no prior playing experience.[44] Cross-community teams such as the Belfast Cuchulainn under-16 hurling team have been established and gone on to compete at the Continental Youth Championship in the USA.[44] Similar hurling and Gaelic football teams have since emerged in Armagh, Fermanagh, Limavady.[45] David Hassan, from the University of Ulster, has written about the cross community work of the association and other sporting bodies in Ulster.

The 'Game of three-halves' cross-community coaching initiative was established in predominantly Protestant east Belfast in 2006. Organised through Knock Presbyterian Church, this scheme brings Association coaches to work alongside their soccer and rugby counterparts to involve primary school children at summer coaching camps.[46][47] The Ulster Council is also establishing cross-community football and hurling teams in schools and is developing links with the Ulster-Scots Agency and the Church of Ireland.[47] The council has also undertaken a series of meetings with political parties and community groups who would have traditionally have had no involvement in the association.[47]

Other community outreach

In January 2011, the then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, announced the launch of an island-wide project called the "GAA Social Initiative". This aims to address the problem of isolation in rural areas where older people have limited engagement with the community.[48] The initiative was later expanded by teaming up with the Irish Farmers Association to integrate that organisation's volunteers into the initiative.[49]

Participation outside Ireland

Clubs outside Ireland

Members of the Irish diaspora have set-up clubs in a number of regions and countries outside of Ireland, and there are GAA clubs in the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, continental Europe, and elsewhere outside of Ireland.[50]

The GAA World Games were first played in Abu Dhabi in 2015.[51] The next edition was played in Dublin in 2016 with subsequent editions to be played in Ireland every three years. The 2019 games were awarded to Waterford,[52] but the next edition in Derry[53] was deferred to 2023 due to the Covid pandemic.

Internationals

While some units of the association outside Ireland participate in Irish competitions, the association itself does not organise regular international games played according to the rules of either Gaelic football or hurling. However, the first international match between France and Italy was played in 2014.[54]

Compromise rules have been reached with two "related sports".

Hurlers play an annual fixture against a national shinty team from Scotland.

International Rules Football matches have taken place between an Irish national team drawn from the ranks of Gaelic footballers, against an Australian national team drawn from the Australian Football League. The venue alternates between Ireland and Australia. In December 2006, the International series between Australia and Ireland was called off due to excessive violence in the matches,[55] but resumed in October 2008 when Ireland won a two test series in Australia.[56] The Irish welcomed the All Australian team at the headquarters of the GAA (Croke Park) on 21 November 2015. It was single one-off test match, which led the Irish to reclaim the Cormac McAnallen Cup by a score of 56–52.

Handball

The international dimension of Gaelic handball includes a World Championship tournament,[57][58] alongside a European Tour and US Semi-Professional Tour.[59][60] The 4-Wall and 1-Wall codes of the game are played around the world [with slightly different rules depending on which country one is playing in] and the World Handball Championships are organised by the World Handball Council.[61] A European Tour has been set up with players from across Europe participating.[59] 4-Wall Handball is played primarily in Ireland, the US and Canada while the 1-Wall code is played (in addition to the three mentioned) in Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Spain and the UK.[59]

Winter training ban

To address concerns about player burnout, the association adopted a rule in 2007 that prohibited collective training for inter-county players for a period of two months every winter.[62] This has proven to be controversial in that it is difficult to enforce, and in the drive to stay competitive, managers have found ways to avoid it, such as organising informal 'athletic clubs' and other activities that they can use to work on the physical fitness of players without overtly appearing to be training specifically at Gaelic games.[63]

See also

Television

References

  1. 1 2 "Membership". Gaelic Athletic Association. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 22 September 2015. Over 500,000 people were registered on the [membership] system in 2014
  2. ↑ "About the GAA". www.gaa.ie.
  3. ↑ Keys, Colm (2 February 2023). "GAA earn record revenue of €96.1m as gate receipts return to normal". independent.ie (Newspaper). Dublin, Ireland: Irish Independent. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  4. ↑ "The Social Significance of Sport" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 October 2008. Retrieved 27 November 2006.
  5. ↑ "Attendance at Live Sports Events by Adults in Northern Ireland: Findings from the Continuous Household Survey 2011/12" (PDF). Belfast: DCAL, [n.d.] DCAL. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
  6. ↑ "ESRI Report: Social and Economic Value of Sport in Ireland". Archived from the original on 16 September 2007. Retrieved 22 December 2006.
  7. ↑ "GAA mark 125th anniversary". RTÉ Sport. 1 November 2009. Retrieved 22 September 2009.
  8. ↑ "Athletic Ireland". Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  9. ↑ "The New Year's Day Issue of the Irish Fireside contents". Freeman's Journal. 1 January 1886. col.3, pg 2. Retrieved 22 September 2015 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  10. ↑ "GAAs Official Guide" (PDF). Gaelic Athletic Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  11. ↑ "National Handball Centre". GAA Handball. Retrieved 14 October 2021.
  12. ↑ GAA Pitch Locator
  13. ↑ Hughes, Brendan (12 February 2016). "The land of saints and scholars and GAA pitches". The Irish News. Retrieved 12 February 2016.(subscription required)
  14. ↑ English, Richard (2007). Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland. Pan Books. pp. 227–231. ISBN 9780330427593.
  15. ↑ Connolly, S. J. (2007). Oxford Companion to Irish History (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 222–226. ISBN 9780199234837.
  16. ↑ "Sport and Community Relations in Northern Ireland". Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  17. ↑ Cronin, M. (2000), "Catholics and Sport in Northern Ireland: Exclusiveness or Inclusiveness?", International Sports Studies, Volume 22, Number 1, 2000, p.33-34. Available at .
  18. ↑ Cronin, M. (2000), "Catholics and Sport in Northern Ireland: Exclusiveness or Inclusiveness?", International Sports Studies, Volume 22, Number 1, 2000, p.26. Available at . Viewed 18-09-2009.
  19. ↑ R. Holt (1992), Sport and the British: a modern history, p. 240, Oxford. Cited in Garnham, N: Association Football and society in pre-partition Ireland, page 135. Ulster Historical Foundation, 2004
  20. ↑ John Sugden and Scott Harvie (1995). "Sport and Community Relations in Northern Ireland". Centre for the Study of Conflict. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  21. ↑ "The GAA is perceived by the Unionist community as a sectarian organisation ...", Sugden, J. (1995) "Sport, Community Relations and Community Conflict in Northern Ireland", p.203, in Seamus Dunn (ed) Facets of the Conflict in Northern Ireland. London: MacMillan Press Ltd. Cited in Northern Ireland Assembly Research Paper 26/01 (2001), Sectarianism and Sport in Northern Ireland. Available at http://archive.niassembly.gov.uk/research_papers/research/2601.pdf. Retrieved 18-09-2009.
  22. ↑ Sugden, 1995, p.203
  23. ↑ "A History Of Sam Maguire". Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  24. ↑ "Rebel GAA, Sam Maguire". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 30 April 2007.
  25. ↑ "Instant Expert... Sam Maguire". Sunday Tribune. 20 September 2009. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011.
  26. 1 2 "A long way from Dublin's bloody past". BBC News. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
  27. 1 2 Paul Ward (2004), Britishness since 1870. p. 79, London: Routledge
  28. 1 2 Tim Pat Coogan (2000), Wherever the Green Is Worn, p.179. New York:Palgrave.
  29. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1991". Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  30. ↑ "CAIN: Chronology of the Conflict 1997". Retrieved 3 March 2008.
  31. ↑ Martin Melaugh. "Sugden Harvie report, section 1.5.2". Cain.ulst.ac.uk. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  32. ↑ "2009 official guide part1" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
  33. ↑ "Ireland must wait to enjoy Croke craic". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 February 2007.
  34. 1 2 3 Martin Breheny (5 March 2011). "State of the Game". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  35. ↑ Donnchadh Boyle (9 December 2010). "Facilities for GAA use only: Cooney". Irish Independent. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  36. ↑ O'Rourke, Colm (13 March 2011). "There is no more room for vanity projects in the GAA". Sunday Independent. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  37. ↑ "GAA delegates vote to allow cops, soldiers". Irish Echo. 15 August 2001. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  38. ↑ "Rule 21 is 'history' says GAA president – Northern Ireland News". 4ni.co.uk. 19 November 2001. Archived from the original on 12 April 2011. Retrieved 18 January 2011.
  39. ↑ "GAA sanctions Rule 21 abolition". rte.ie. RTÉ. 24 September 2005. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012.
  40. ↑ "The Magic of Gaelic Games: Uniting a Nation through Passion and Tradition". gaaonrte.com. GAAonRTÉ. 23 May 2023. Archived from the original on 24 May 2023.
  41. ↑ "How President's soccer 'insult' led to war with GAA". independent.ie. Independent News & Media. 25 September 2012. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  42. ↑ "Archives - The Ban Removed - 1971". rte.ie. RTÉ. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  43. ↑ "Ulster Council to launch new strategic unit". The Irish News. 11 November 2008. p. 42. Archived from the original on 16 January 2016. Retrieved 11 November 2008.
  44. 1 2 "Ulster GAA annual report published". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  45. ↑ "McAleese honours GAA team". UTV. 25 October 2010. Archived from the original on 29 March 2012. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  46. ↑ "Ulster GAA Club & Community Development Conference – 15 November 2008". 15 November 2008. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  47. 1 2 3 "Council making plans". The Irish News. 21 October 2008. p. 44. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2008.
  48. ↑ John O'Brien (20 February 2011). "No more hiding places in the battle against rural isolation". Irish Independent. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  49. ↑ "GAA Social Initiative to Expand with Stronger Links Between IFA and GAA". Irish Farmers Association. 2 March 2011. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
  50. ↑ "About the GAA". gaa.ie. Gaelic Athletic Association. Archived from the original on 18 December 2018. Retrieved 21 January 2019. The GAA has developed abroad amongst the Irish Diaspora [..] and club units are now well established in the United States of America, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, mainland Europe and many other parts of the world
  51. ↑ McAuley, John (1 March 2015). "Abu Dhabi to host inaugural GAA World Games to celebrate Irish sport". thenationalnews.com. Abu Dhabi, UAE. Retrieved 6 January 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  52. ↑ Doxey, Randle (2 August 2019). "The 2019 Renault GAA World Games at the WIT Arena, Waterford". Munster Express. Retrieved 6 January 2024.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  53. ↑ O'Connell, Cian (18 August 2023). "Successful FRS Recruitment GAA World Games staged last month". gaa.ie. Dublin. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  54. ↑ Gallagher, Mark (16 November 2014). "Get set for a Franco-italian battle ...GAA style!". Irish Mail on Sunday. Retrieved 6 January 2024 – via PressReader.
  55. ↑ "International Rules Series games confirmed". RTÉ Sport. 29 May 2008. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2008.
  56. ↑ "Ireland clinch series win at MCG". BBC Sport. 31 October 2008. Retrieved 5 November 2008.
  57. ↑ O'Brien, Brendan (21 September 2011). "Handballers could strike Olympic gold". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  58. ↑ "The Worlds Explained". GAA Handball. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  59. 1 2 3 "European 1-Wall". European 1-Wall. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  60. ↑ "The 2019/20 Race 4 Eight IX Tour Schedule is Set!". WPHLiveTV. World Players of Handball (Organisers of the American "Race 4 Eight" Pro handball tour. 11 January 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  61. ↑ "Home". World Handball Council official website. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  62. ↑ William Nestor (3 December 2010). "The winter training ban, player expenses and burn-out". JOE.ie. Archived from the original on 13 December 2010. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
  63. ↑ Eugene McGee (3 January 2011). "Eugene McGee: Stop driving players away – scrap winter training ban". Irish Independent. Retrieved 10 March 2011.
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