St. Patrick's Day and Gaelic Sports!

By Old Cityzen, Sean Leahy:

In Greg Glassman’s article “What is Fitness?” he encourages us to “Learn and Play new Sports” as a part of achieving world class fitness. Sport is the culmination and application of our efforts in the gym to improve our ten aspects of fitness.

I was never much into sports growing up and usually bad at it when I tried. But after a couple of years of doing Crossfit, I knew I had the fitness to keep up with any other adult playing sports, even if I didn’t have the skills quite down.

I got involved with the local GAA club in DC which plays the Irish sports of Gaelic Football and Hurling. I figured I was just as good as any other American trying these new sports. Turns out there are many Irish in DC who have played these sports since they were kids and they are all pretty good. But, hey, I do Crossfit, right!?

Since it’s St Patrick’s Day, a day when everyone is Irish, I wanted to share with all of you Old Cityzens these new sports…

The Gaelic Athletic Association

The games of Gaelic Football and Hurling are promoted by the Gaelic Athletic Association. The GAA was formed in 1884 in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland by Michael Cusack…

…to preserve indigenous Irish sports. Maurice Davin codified the rules of Hurling and Gaelic Football. The rules of football were created from the football rules in England and the traditional Irish recreational sports. The GAA organization is based on the club. The club was generally created around the parish and formed a center of social as well as athletic activity in the community in Ireland.

Not many tourists in Ireland know who Michael Cusack is, so when Carlin and I went to his childhood home in Carron, Co Clare, we were the only ones there.

The Games

Gaelic Football and Hurling are different sports but share many similarities. The games are played on a field roughly 145m by 90m, larger than a football or soccer field. The game is played in two 35 minute halves. At each end is a goal with large uprights on each side. There are 15 players on the field from each team. The ball can be hit or kicked but cannot be thrown. The ball must be lifted off the ground and cannot be picked up. You can carry the ball in your hand for up to four steps. After that you must do something with it. Points are scored two ways. One point is scored by hitting or kicking the ball over the crossbar and between the uprights and is called a “point”. Three points are scored by hitting or kicking the ball into the goal. So the score for each team is shown as goals and points, like 1-5 or 0-12.

Gaelic Football

Gaelic Football is played with a round ball about the size of a soccer ball. All the rules above apply. In addition, you can pass the ball by kicking it or hitting it with your hand like an under-hand volley ball serve. After carrying the ball for four steps you can bounce the ball on the ground or kick it off your toe back to yourself, and then you get four more steps.

Hurling

Hurling is played with a stick and round ball about the size of a baseball called a sliotar. All the general rules above apply. You can pass the sliotar by hitting it with the hurley or your hand. You can hit the sliotar on the ground. You just can’t throw the sliotar. After carrying the sliotar for four steps you can bounce the sliotar off the hurley, then you get four more steps. You can carry the ball by balancing it on the hurley as long as you want before you return it to your hand. Hurling takes a lot of skill.

Ladies Gaelic Football and Camogie

These sports are played by women too. Ladies Gaelic football rules are much the same as for the men. The biggest exception is that ladies are allowed to pick up the ball from the ground. Camogie is the women’s version of hurling and the rules are basically the same for both sports. The Ladies Gaelic Football Association, founded in 1974, and the Camogie Association, founded in 1904, work very closely with the Gaelic Athletic Association to promote these sports for men and women.

Croke Park

Today, the GAA is made up of hundreds of clubs throughout the 32 counties of Ireland and countries around the world. The GAA is headquartered in Croke Park stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Croke Park is the fourth largest stadium in Europe with a capacity of 82,300.

Carlin and I were lucky enough to attend the All Ireland Hurling final with Clare playing Cork this past September. Her smile and jersey were a premonition that Clare would eventually win.

This is my fourth year playing with the Washington, DC Gaels on the Gaelic Football and Hurling teams. My fitness has helped me keep up with the other players on the team as I have learned about the sports. Hopefully, you might get a chance to kick around a (Gaelic) football or puck around a sliotar.

Slán go foil.

Videos

To really understand how these sports are played, it is much better to just watch them, so I have included a couple of videos of both games. There is also a video about the Portumna GAA club with Joe Canning, one of the best hurlers in Ireland today.

Gaelic Football

Gaelic Football – The Original Beautiful Game. This is a nice short video that shows how the game is played and explains the basic rules.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEAbWrdB9XU

This is the Donegal vs Mayo 2012 All Ireland Football Final. It is the full match so you can see how the game is played.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEWo-JKgqWs

Hurling

Hurling – The Fastest Game on Grass. Another short video showing the rules of the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgEMvRrOCRI

All Ireland Hurling Final 2012 (Full Match) – Galway and Kilkenny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBx7ZsjziHQ

GAA

Pride of the Parish : Portumna with Joe Canning (2009) – Focuses on the GAA in the community