Gaelic Games starting to go global

Gaelic football and to a lesser extent Hurling are starting to go global. Still mainly Irish expats, but in places there are sure signs of locals getting involved.

If the GAA had been a more outward looking organisation then it could be bigger than rugby and approaching even soccer today, given that the Irish diaspora is so vast. But GAA games in most new countries remained the province of the recent Irish immigrants, lack of youth competitions and spread to the general community meant the games have essentially marked time in London and New York for a century and in Australia for half a century.

However that is all starting to change. The lack of new immigrants and "visa players" has led GAA clubs in Nth America, England and Australia to start to look to home-grown talent. In Adelaide, South Australia, 50 years of GAA had dwindled from 10 football teams and 4 hurling teams in the 1960s to close up shop by the late 1990's. A switch to summer nights, initially with 7's, attracted local Aussie rules and soccer players, now there is 9 men's and 6 women's teams and 21 9-a-side teams - 95% of players being born and bred Aussies. Similar in other states of Australia - especially Queensland. Whereas strong Irish visitor numbers to Sydney have kept the local GAA strong but at the same time little growth comparitively to non-Irish participants compared with states like SA and Qld. check out gaelicfootball.com.au

In North America there has been a real push for junior development in recent years and each year the continental youth GAA championships grow impressively in numbers and standard. check out Nth American GAA and New York minor board .

In mainland Britain there is also a lot of recent youth development and GAA sports are now on the school curricula. Birmingham is becoming something of a mini-Croke Park for Feile Peile.

London's website reflects new growth in the old GAA county.

And beyond the traditional Irish emigrant countries, more recent expats in the new global village are taking GAA to continental Europe and Asia . In Spain and Belgium the games are getting into school curricula.

But all this could be better coordinated. Aussie rules is in fact doing better as a look at Aussie footy international news site shows. Interestingly there is a bit of International rules played by GAA and Aussie rules clubs in USA, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore - all on an increasingly regular basis.

It is all small stuff compared to world soccer - but at current trends Gaelic football or even the hybrid with Aussie rules could be major world sports by the end of the century. Imagine Germany or the USA bringing a Hurling side to play Ireland at Croke Pk one day. Or a Gaelic football world cup for that matter. There is already a Finnish Hurling club

I'm not taking the pi$$ but if eggball can call itself pan-European with only six out of 50+ European countries taking part in the Heinekin Cup then the GAA have just as much right to call the All-Ireland the GAA World Cup because New York, London, Irish counties and I believe, from this year, Warwickshire, take part. Why not.

Well in fairness there are also teams from Romania and Spain playing in the Shield and Challenge Cup. They generally get hammered badly, but Steaua Bucharest (who I assume are linked to the football team) beat Connacht about five years ago.

theres actually a european league running everyyear - tournament every month during season in a different european city.

very enjoyable and this year in Rennes the local side made it to the final with half the team being french! A lot of these people have really taken to the sport and they had a big crowd (french) cheering them on.

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Originally Posted by Aberdonian Stu

Well in fairness there are also teams from Romania and Spain playing in the Shield and Challenge Cup. They generally get hammered badly, but Steaua Bucharest (who I assume are linked to the football team) beat Connacht about five years ago.

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True, also Portugal and Spain. But I meant at the top level ie. the Heinekin Cup. That's where it really counts. Look at the way the UEFA Cup has been devalued - poor crowds even at the semi-final stages. The Parker Pen tournaments are non events really and below the media radar outside the six nations. I don't think even the 6 nations and Heinekin get any or little attention outside the 6 countries involved. Certainly the German channels I have never mention them and until recently Italian TV showed Italy's 6 Nations at 12.45am on Monday mornings.

Actually, that gave me an idea = probably daft. To raise the rugby profile and since the Heinekin is a mix-mash of provinces, clubs, regions, cities etc why not let Rumania, Spain, Russia, Germany and Portugal enter national sides in this tournament.. They'd all probably get the $hite beaten out of them anyway but if that group formed a second tier with promotion and relegation w'd be spared the sight of poor Italy and Scotland sides getting crapped on every year. A relegation battle would add spice both to the Heinekin and 6 nations. Just a thought.

I think theres a 2nd division to the 6 Nations with a lot of countries across Europe playing in it including Romania, Germany, Russia, Spain, Portugal etc...

Yeh, Pete, but NO promotion. I recall an interview on some satellite channel with the manager of the Czech Rep, rugby team and he was horrified that his team, on a bit of a roll, might be moved up with the big boys. He felt that they would get such a hammering that it would undo any good work done.
Can you imagine the managers of 1960s Holland, Denmark, Norway etc saying that - I recall being disgusted that Athlone only drew 1-1 away to Valerenga in 1975 in the UEFA = how could such a crap club from such a crap footballing country draw with us.
Rugby will forever be on the periphery of all Europe if that above situation continues.
Lie the footballing egs above - it's an attitude of mind too.

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Originally Posted by ruckrover

There is already a Finnish Hurling club

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How fantastic. And tell me, who does this Finnish hurling club play against? Themselves?

Soccer is the only true world game, and will be for eternity by the looks of things. Even the Rugby World Cup is a joke of a competition, no matter how hard they try to dress it up.

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Originally Posted by 4tothefloor

How fantastic. And tell me, who does this Finnish hurling club play against? Themselves?

Soccer is the only true world game, and will be for eternity by the looks of things. Even the Rugby World Cup is a joke of a competition, no matter how hard they try to dress it up.

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Bang on the button :D

f off its the third biggest event in the world.

So the rugby shower say. Many of the crowds in Australia were in the rent a crowd category - some games as cheap as 1 euro 50 to get into. A game involving the Irish side I watched had acres of empty seats. Immediately after the game BBC text had crowd of 35,000. Fifteen minutes later crowd was 48,000. ?????
Wimbletown, major golf tournaments, Euro finals, various horse racing get vastly bigger worldwide TV audiences. In places like Germany, India, China etc people are hardly aware it's on.

Funny how this thread veered off to be a critique of Rugby. It was about Gaelic Football which is much easier to play than Rugby, being essentially a mixture of the world games of soccer and basketball. A look at the links in my post above or at www.gaa.ie and then to the "GAA abroad" icon on the menu on the right and slow but steady growth will be seen across Europe, East asia and Nth America. Sure it is unlikely to rival Soccer this side of 2100, but in the long run....maybe.

Its great to see GAA being played around the world. Its a great game for the ordinary joe. I can see irish people playing it through out the world but i cant really see other people playing it. But they should.

Apparently they play Gaelic Football in New Zealand schools. Couldn't believe it myself when heard it but maybe theres a reason why rugby so similar...

Something in a Sunday paper yesterday about Gaelic football replacing football in Toronto schools.

I wouldn't mind seeing a real game of skill - hurling- making inroads,

Chance of ANY sport replacing football/soccer in world terms is never ever gonna happen.

The game is so big worldwide it staggers me sometimes. :ball:

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Originally Posted by paul_oshea

f off its the third biggest event in the world.

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What is, the rugger "World" cup?

Don't make me laugh, I doubt if it's even in the top twenty.

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Originally Posted by patsh

What is, the rugger "World" cup?

Don't make me laugh, I doubt if it's even in the top twenty.

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Sad thing is, Patsh, these guys really believe this $h!te - same way Fox News believe their "fair and balanced" nonsense.. LOL :D
The only way an international competition can be in the top echelon of ANYTHING is when nearly all of the world is aware of it - a look at say German, Chinese TV, ATN Bangla, Spanish TV, Portuguese/Brazilian TV, Abo Dhabi TV, the various and many Vectone channels, Al Jazeera Sports, the various Star channels, Sony TV Asia, CNN, MSNBC, Fox Sports (all which I have) - usual sports are football, tennis, golf, racing (bikes, cars etc), skiiing, swimming and a few of the usual other suspects like cricket, athletics etc.

That covers most of the world's population. Egggball just doesn't make it on to those channels - kinda sad in a way as I'm sure that they work hard to promote it. But, third biggest international competition? Total cowpat.

Here's a similar example. Big crowds in a few venues proves nothing. I went to a Bob Seger concert in Wembley Arena in 1980 - 10,000 at it. Demand for tickets was so big that he played the following night - another 10,000. That's 20,000 over two nights. Seger has never threatened the top of the charts in the UK. Except for France, Germany and a few others - he is/was mostly a US star. So he's a regional biggie - same as eggball. But "world" - NO.

TBH - I'd love to see eggball and Hurling getting big crowds everywhere - I feel football is too dominant everywhere and that really isn't healthy for the game - it needs competition.

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Something in a Sunday paper yesterday about Gaelic football replacing football in Toronto schools.

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Football as in the Associated variety or the American one?

Hamish Fox News is fair and unbiased. They wouldn't say it so much if they weren't would they? :D

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Originally Posted by sirhamish

Something in a Sunday paper yesterday about Gaelic football replacing football in Toronto schools.

I wouldn't mind seeing a real game of skill - hurling- making inroads

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Sure hurling is dying in Ireland, never mind abroad.