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What is the GAA?
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The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is an amateur sporting organisation founded by Michael Cusack and Maurice Davin to preserve and cultivate the Irish national games. It was founded in 1884 in Hayes Hotel, Thurles. Maurce Davin was elected its first president. Dr. T. W. Croke, (Archbishop of Cashel) became the first patron of the Association, and Croke Park in Dublin (the Association Headquarters) is named in his honour.
The GAA is the largest sporting organisation in Ireland, boasting 2,800 clubs comprising of 182,000 footballers and 97,000 hurlers.
For more information on any of these topics click on the red link.
For the Rules of the Games click here.
- Hurling
- Hurling is the traditional Irish field sport in which a ball, called a sliotar, is caught on a hurley, and carried or hurled to the goal.
Hurling is a centuries old sport and has been played since Celtic times. The rules of play were standardized in 1884.
Teams are 15 a side. Both Hurling and Football are played on a grass pitch . The goals are H shaped.The sliotar may be
picked off the ground only with the hurley.
Three points are scored when the sliotar is hurled under the crossbar and one point when the sliotar is hurled over the crossbar between the goal posts.
Although hurling, the fastest of all team sports, is a rough game, serious injuries are rare.
- Gaelic Football
- Gaelic football is a type of football played principally in Ireland, where it originated and where it became popular in the 16th century. The first record of Gaelic football is in the Statutes of Galway (1527) which allowed the playing of football but banned hurling. The earliest reported match took place at Slane, Co. Meath in 1712 when Meath played their neighbours, Louth.
The rules of the modern game were promulgated in 1884 by the Gaelic Athletic Association; that body still controls and regulates the sport.
Fifteen players constitute a team. The players may kick, punt, or punch the ball. Throwing or carrying the ball is not allowed.
At each end of the field is a H shaped goal.
Kicking or punching the ball over the crossbar counts one point; punching or kicking it into the net counts three points.
Every year the counties of Ireland compete
for the Sam Maguire Cup (Football) and the Liam
Mc Carthy Cup (Hurling).
