Foreign appreciation of GAA?

[Eamonnca1]

Meet new GAA referees Andrea, Lorenzo and Alessandro & see how these fully trained up Italians got on at reffing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwRehSpIdfE

Great stuff. Is Italy becoming another hotbed of GAA activity like Galicia and Brittany then?

[Eamonnca1]

Re-posting here in case anyone missed it in all the excitement of the All-Ireland:

2013 North American GAA finals in Cleveland - Not available on mobile platforms, working on a version that is.

2013 North American senior football final, full match - Boston Connemara Gaels v San Francisco Ulster.

[armaghniac]

Meet new GAA referees Andrea, Lorenzo and Alessandro & see how these fully trained up Italians got on at reffing:

Apparently they get most of the calls right!
Andrea, Lorenzo e Alessandro, abbiamo bisogno di te qui in Irlanda!

[ballinaman]

[muppet]

Italian Job - here's what happens when you mix the tune of the Summer with a great GAA story from Rovigo in northern Italy. Click on the main video box on the home page to view - http://www.jeromequinnmedia.com

I enjoyed watching that. Keep it up Any craic.

[Look-Up!]

And unbelievably GAA is still strictly amateur!  Long may it continue.  Manchester United, Chelsea et al aren't sports clubs anymore!  And it isn't just soccer that has sold it's soul.  That said.  I bet top GAA players cash in from an endorsement or personal appearance here and there. 

For trips over to Ireland.  I would rather pick out opportunities that get me over for the whole weekend.  Prefer 2 or 3 of them a year to 7 or 8 day trips.  Exceptional exceptions are possible though.  From where I live, there are 4 airports within 90 minutes with flights to Ireland.  As long as you have a few weeks notice, you can normally get a good deal.  Even if it is the airline that charge you to use the loo.  Little or no luggage, boarding passes printed at home etc..  Before now I have been unlocking my front door less than 100 minutes after the engines firing up for take off at Dublin.

Before anymore of that.  I do indeed want to learn the whole game from club to county to NFl/NHL ahead of next years All-Ireland Championship.  And it is fair to say looking in on London GAA will satisfy some of the agenda.  Then again, if someone can tell me the nearest club to Dublin Airport I might give it a whirl.  As sometimes I can get to Dublin cheaper than London.

Hi 30mog , saw your post and thought I'd reply . I would say to you that the All-Ireland Club finals on St. Patricks Day are an absolute must and tailor made for someone with your interest . They're on in Croke Park every year on this day - Hurling is on at 2pm , Football at 3:45pm . Expect around 25,000 - 30,000 people attending . Great and special atmosphere . You will see just what it means to the local communities involved . 4 parishes/clubs fighting it out for the honour of 2 best clubs in Ireland . It truly is the heart of the GAA . This year the hurling champions had 5 sets of brothers on the team - about as tribal as it gets! The standard is of a very high quality as well . No problem getting tickets . They cost 25 euro and you just show up and buy them there and then from the ticket offices/vans outside Croke Park . You could make a weekend of it or just make it a day trip (falls on Monday next year) , maybe catch some of the parade in Dublin as well (starts at 12 I think) . You'll be out of the stadium shortly after 5 , no reason why you couldn't catch a 7pm or later flight back home . Not sure what the flights will cost being Paddy's weekend and all but I'm sure you'll get a good deal if you book in plenty of time . As I said , they're on religiously every year on this day so you could book the flights today if you like!

P.S Hope you caught the hurling final replay over the weekend!

[Any craic]

There is a massive GAA event this weekend in Kuala Lumpur. Bernard Brogan will be there (not playing) and Donegal's Ryan Bradley (playing) and hundreds of others from the Middle East, Asia and northern Australia. Have a look at 10 photos here on their Facebook page to see the professional preparations and effort going into the event, and please 'Like' the page: https://www.facebook.com/AsianGAA?ref=ts&fref=ts

[Any craic]

Good Morning from Kuala Lumpur at the massive Asian Gaelic Games - 700 players, 58 teams, 120+ games being played today with more tomorrow. This is a short video of Donegal's Ryan Bradley scoring a goal today for Qatar against Abu Dhabi Na Fianna. It was set up by Armagh's Michael Stevenson.  https://vimeo.com/76744345 You can follow it all on the Fexco Asian Gaelic Games Facebook page.

[Jinxy]

http://travel.cnn.com/explorations/play/outdoor-adventures/10-sporting-events-you-have-see-live-281805

They could have picked a more recent photo though.

[Captain Obvious]

Nice piece of skill in the Oulu Irish Elks v Helsinki Harps game.



http://thescore.thejournal.ie/oulu-elks-gaa-1121480-Oct2013/

[Any craic]

Take 5 minutes and do your ole GAA heart some good. This is a video from a fantastic event in Asia, on the official GAA website:
http://www.gaa.ie/gaa-news-and-videos/daily-news/1/1410131324-fexco-asian-gaelic-games-review/

[North Longford]

Was at the games last weekend. Just incredible to see so many irish out here playing the game. Our 2 boys had a great time. Incredible the amount of non irish playing. One young lad from kl could kick frees as good as you'd ever see. Great to see bernard brogan, brian mullins and mark rohan out celebrity bainisteoring. Also martin skelly who gave a lot of time presenting medals and meeting people etc. The legend michael o'muircheartaigh is a patron of the asian gaa as well and did some commentating on jeromes videos and presenting medals and spoke to anyone that spoke to him. He's probably in about 5000 photos after the weeekend. A real legend. Oh malaysia is crazy spot though!!

[Eamonnca1]

Accept no imitations, this is the real thing!


2014 NCGAA National Championship to be Held in New York

The NCGAA has announced that the US national collegiate GAA championships for the 2013/2014 academic year will be hosted in New York. The tournament will take place over the Memorial Day weekend, May 24 and 25. This will be the fourth year's running of the national college hurling championship and its first appearance on the East coast. It will also be the first running of the national college Gaelic football championship.

"The NCGAA is committed to developing the collegiate GAA system on the East coast, particularly to bolster the Gaelic football movement that has been taking root there," said Eamonn Gormley, NCGAA Chairman. "The Northeast Collegiate GAA is a new regional committee under strong leadership, we have the utmost confidence in their ability to host this event, and our ambition to develop the northeast region is underlined by our hosting this event in New York."

Simon Gillespie, Chairman of the NECGAA, has welcomed the decision. "We are delighted to get to host this growing movement in New York," he said. "New York has a long and proud GAA tradition, but we also recognize the importance of the collegiate system in securing our future growth and keeping underage players engaged with the GAA as they get older. It protects our investment in youth."

A total of three bids were submitted from collegiate clubs eager to host the tournament, two of which came from the northeast. The bid to host it in New York came from the University of Connecticut Hurling Club. The NCGAA selected New York due to "a combination of the impressive facilities and the enthusiastic support for the bid that came from the local GAA community."

The hurling club at the University of California, Berkeley, (Cal) are the current holders of the national collegiate hurling championship title and will now face a challenging journey across the country to retain the title. Meanwhile the national title in Gaelic football is yet to be claimed.

[Maroon Manc]

I worry about the future of GAA in the UK especially in my own county Lancashire.

We have great games that could grow and grow all over the world but I'm not sure the powers that be fully understand how to do that.

Its great to see GAA been played in different countries all over Europe but i'm not sure how sustainable this is going forward. Can't rely on emigration for the future of our games.

Sometimes in life you have to take a step backwards to go 2 steps forwards. 

The UK is such a huge market, there are millions of second and third generation Irish. There are no language barriers, were only an hour away in the air at most and we already have a strong foothold.

There has been no real development in the sports in the last 25 years, in face we've regressed.

[Zulu]

I think there has been some progress to be fair and a few important steps have been taken, e.g. the All Britain Championships. I believe that the GAA has finally recognised that sustainable growth of the GAA has to be through British born kids and not with the transient Irish immigrant community. The problem is there is no overall plan or even regional development plans in place and inadequate funding which may even be reduced further. I would suggest the GAA should look to develop city by city in Britain and should start with smaller cities where there are already GAA clubs and look to develop new underage clubs with the necessary funding to allow this to happen.