Gaelic games
Learning the role of Gaelic games in Irish society is a
good place to start in trying to understand Ireland. They are tied to our
history in complex ways and today are a source of huge interest and passion particularly
in the summer months during the All-Ireland competitions.
While
there are four official Gaelic games, football,
hurling, handball and rounders it is hurling and football that are most
played.
These, along with soccer, yes we call it that in Ireland to distinguish
it from Gaelic football, basketball and rugby,
are the most popular team sports played. It is a huge distinguishing
feature of team sports played in Ireland compared to other countries
that soccer is not the primary game. Soccer in Ireland has to compete
with four other disciplines for players! Of course many young people
play more than one team sport.
Another
distinguishing feature of Gaelic sports is that they are also played by
women with parallel competitions that are also hugely popular. Comogie
is the women's equivalent of hurling and is nearly identical.
Hurling is recognised as being over 3000 years old and there
are ancient accounts of hurling matches being used as proxies for battles! It
is also said to be the fastest field game. There are variations of the game
played in Scotland called shinty and in Cornwall called Cornish Hurling. Right
now Kilkenny and Tipperary are the dominate counties.
Gaelic football, while based on an ancient game called Caid, was formalised as the modern game in the late 19th
century. Gaelic football is a robust game requiring strength, skill and
fitness. My father, who was a top class player and played for Mayo,
suggested that "rugby is a game for hooligans played by gentlemen,
soccer is a game for gentlemen played by hooligans and Gaelic football
is a game for hooligans played by hooligans!"
To get a flavour of the games there are many Youtube clips but I would recommend these particularly.
for an introduction to the basics of the main two games
And for some great footage......
To
really experience the fever that is hurling and football
you need to be in Ireland between the months of May and September when
the All-Ireland, inter-county series are played. Each county has a
football and a
hurling team and complex series of games are played throughout the
summer
months leading to the football and hurling finals in September.
While there are wonderful, fiercely competitive community
based, club competitions played during the year it is the county team that has
the greatest following and is most visible to the outsider. The two most
successful teams in the football competition are Kerry, with 37 titles and
Dublin with 26.
In hurling the most
successful counties are Kilkenny, 36 titles, Cork 30 titles and Tipperary,
27 titles. During the All-Ireland series, you will see people wearing their county
colours proudly and loyalty is to the place where you were born! Although some people like myself have
sometimes divided loyalties. My parents and almost all my family are from
County Mayo, who haven’t won since 1951 and I was born in Dublin - so I support both teams equally.
The jewel in the crown of Gaelic games is the main stadium
at Croke Park which has a capacity of 82,300 making it the third largest in
Europe – and the sports are entirely amateur! There are many other large
stadiums around Ireland also.
The Gaelic Athletic Association or GAA is the organisation
that runs Gaelic Games and was responsible for the establishment of the sports
on a formal basis. When the GAA was founded it was part of a general revival
interest in old Irish culture in the late 19th century and
was a major
influence in the movement for freedom from Britain.The role of the GAA
and Gaelic Games in Northern Ireland is complex and tied closely to the
story of "The Troubles". Too big a story to cover here.