The untapped global potential of Gaelic games

[sligoman2]

Great stuff Jerome, i spent the day out there today and it was very enjoyable despite the heat

[ONeill]

The largest youth gathering of its kind outside of Ireland was tonight in New York. See 2000 kids parade in Yonkers - they are ALL on this video..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXG__zotCjs&feature=youtu.be

Great stuff

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

The largest youth gathering of its kind outside of Ireland was tonight in New York. See 2000 kids parade in Yonkers - they are ALL on this video..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXG__zotCjs&feature=youtu.be

Great stuff

Go h-iontach!

[Any craic]

Here's my video review of CYC with all the best bits and Liam O'Neill talking about a World Cup for GAA.. http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=221602

[johnneycool]

Here's my video review of CYC with all the best bits and Liam O'Neill talking about a World Cup for GAA.. http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=221602

Could you not get the auld bollox to smile for once?

[Eamonnca1]

And here's my book that argues why a GAA World Cup is not a good idea at this time.

[orangeman]

It's time to split Rockland. They've far too many players and $.

[Any craic]

Here's a report from the Canadian capital city where the Irish have a strong connection, going back to the Canals building and right up to the Ottawa Gaels today
http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/0608141034-video-the-gaa-in-ottawa/

[Eamonnca1]

2015 US College Hurling National Championships to be Held in Montana

The National Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association (NCGAA) has announced that the 2015 national collegiate hurling championship tournament will be hosted at the University of Montana.

The announcement comes three months after the hugely successful 2014 tournament that was hosted by the New York GAA at Woodlawn and Gaelic Park in May, an event that was contested by seven hurling teams and five football teams in the first appearance of Gaelic football at the now four year-old competition. Iona College made history by becoming the first national collegiate Gaelic football champions. Since all of the collegiate football clubs are still concentrated in the Northeast region, the NCGAA has opted to split the 2015 national tournament between hurling and football and host them in two separate locations on different weekends. The format of the football competition which will be hosted in the Northeast will be determined by the regional committee.

Brian Barry, spokesman for the Montana Grizzlies Hurling Club, the current NCGAA national hurling champions, welcomed the decision. "This is going to help us build even more on what we've started here," he said. "About six hundred people showed up to watch the first ever hurling match played in state history in Grizzlies Stadium earlier this year. Our story has been all over the local news and on television. We're confident that we can get thousands of people into this 25,000 capacity facility next year to witness our defense of our national championship title."

Eamonn Gormley, NCGAA Chairman, said that while other locations have their strengths, Montana is the right place to host the even in 2015. "This is new territory for the GAA in America," he said. "While it's important that we maintain our presence in existing locations, it's just as important that we break new ground. Kids in Montana have been inspired by what they have seen on the local TV news, and there are reports of children spontaneously playing hurling on the street with improvised hurleys fashioned from tennis racquets and hockey sticks. We have got to jump all over that and help the Grizzlies to get the sport established in the local area while the opportunity exists."

The Grizzlies have been getting calls from local schools asking how they can get hurling going. The local club has begun an outreach effort aimed at starting a youth program and getting startup spinoff clubs established in the region. There is no top flight professional sports franchise in the state of Montana, therefore the fortunes of the collegiate NCAA teams commands huge attention in the community.

Top level collegiate sports are a massive industry in the United States, their popularity on a par with that of professional leagues with attendances of 100,000 not unheard of and live television broadcasting rights sold for millions of dollars. The NCGAA, founded in 2009, aims to tap into the brand recognition of collegiate teams and to aid the process of getting hurling and Gaelic football further into the mainstream.

The 2015 NCGAA national hurling tournament will be hosted over the Memorial Day weekend, May 23 and 24.

See report on local TV on hearing the news that they would be hosting the event:
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10475894

[ONeill]

Here's a report from the Canadian capital city where the Irish have a strong connection, going back to the Canals building and right up to the Ottawa Gaels today
http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/0608141034-video-the-gaa-in-ottawa/

That's class.

[AZOffaly]

2015 US College Hurling National Championships to be Held in Montana

The National Collegiate Gaelic Athletic Association (NCGAA) has announced that the 2015 national collegiate hurling championship tournament will be hosted at the University of Montana.

The announcement comes three months after the hugely successful 2014 tournament that was hosted by the New York GAA at Woodlawn and Gaelic Park in May, an event that was contested by seven hurling teams and five football teams in the first appearance of Gaelic football at the now four year-old competition. Iona College made history by becoming the first national collegiate Gaelic football champions. Since all of the collegiate football clubs are still concentrated in the Northeast region, the NCGAA has opted to split the 2015 national tournament between hurling and football and host them in two separate locations on different weekends. The format of the football competition which will be hosted in the Northeast will be determined by the regional committee.

Brian Barry, spokesman for the Montana Grizzlies Hurling Club, the current NCGAA national hurling champions, welcomed the decision. "This is going to help us build even more on what we've started here," he said. "About six hundred people showed up to watch the first ever hurling match played in state history in Grizzlies Stadium earlier this year. Our story has been all over the local news and on television. We're confident that we can get thousands of people into this 25,000 capacity facility next year to witness our defense of our national championship title."

Eamonn Gormley, NCGAA Chairman, said that while other locations have their strengths, Montana is the right place to host the even in 2015. "This is new territory for the GAA in America," he said. "While it's important that we maintain our presence in existing locations, it's just as important that we break new ground. Kids in Montana have been inspired by what they have seen on the local TV news, and there are reports of children spontaneously playing hurling on the street with improvised hurleys fashioned from tennis racquets and hockey sticks. We have got to jump all over that and help the Grizzlies to get the sport established in the local area while the opportunity exists."

The Grizzlies have been getting calls from local schools asking how they can get hurling going. The local club has begun an outreach effort aimed at starting a youth program and getting startup spinoff clubs established in the region. There is no top flight professional sports franchise in the state of Montana, therefore the fortunes of the collegiate NCAA teams commands huge attention in the community.

Top level collegiate sports are a massive industry in the United States, their popularity on a par with that of professional leagues with attendances of 100,000 not unheard of and live television broadcasting rights sold for millions of dollars. The NCGAA, founded in 2009, aims to tap into the brand recognition of collegiate teams and to aid the process of getting hurling and Gaelic football further into the mainstream.

The 2015 NCGAA national hurling tournament will be hosted over the Memorial Day weekend, May 23 and 24.

See report on local TV on hearing the news that they would be hosting the event:
http://www.abcfoxmontana.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=10475894

Eamonn, not trying to tell you your business or anything, but would it not be better to try and host it on some of the bigger colleges? Where are Notre Dame, Boston College and all them lads?

[Eamonnca1]

It's a good question.

If there was a team at Notre Dame then they'd be in the running for it when that part of the country becomes eligible to host the competition again (it rotates geographically each year so that the same teams don't have to travel big distances all the time).

You have to strike a balance between building up your existing base and exploring new territory. Kinda like how FIFA alternates between hosting the World Cup in Euro/Latin American strongholds and new markets where there's potential for growth (USA, Japan, Korea, S. Africa*).  The Montana lads are really making a push to get new clubs started in their region and we have to help them build that. If we act quickly and give them the support they need then there could be a whole new nest of GAA clubs in that state in a few years, where only two years ago there was nothing.

*Qatar doesn't count, we all know why that came about.

[Zulu]

First ever U12 championship in Scotland throws in tonight......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rC4gAPL4rmQ&feature=youtu.be

[AZOffaly]

Typo alert in the video title Zulu. And that's very serious altogether for U12 Building for this moment? You remind me of timmy Ryan in D'Unbelievable's sketch. Wait till next year when ye're under 14!

[Zulu]

There'll be blood on the dressing room floor tonight AZ!!! The only problem with the pre-game team rant, I mean speech, is I can't really invoke the spirit of past generations of players since they are the first  Still, we've worked on the two sweeper system and we're not using black cards so they've been told to pull down any player within scoring distance. Ah I'm looking forward to it now