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Gaelic Athletic Association
Cumann Lúthchleas Gael

Formation	1 November 1884; 140 years ago (1884-11-01)
Type	Sports Organization
Purpose	Primarily the managing and promotion of Gaelic Games also the promotion of Irish culture and language
Headquarters	Croke Park, Dublin
Region served	Worldwide
Membership	1,000,000
Official language	Irish language
President	Christy Cooney
Staff	Limited full time staff
Website	http://www.gaa.ie

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) (Template:Lang-ga, [ˈkʊmˠən̪ˠ ˈl̪ˠuh.xlʲæsˠ ɡeːl̪ˠ]) is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders. The GAA also promotes Irish music and dance, and the Irish language.

It has more than 1 million members worldwide. Gaelic football and hurling are the most popular activities promoted by the organisation, and the most popular sports in the Republic of Ireland in terms of attendances. Gaelic football is also the largest participation sport in Northern Ireland.

The women's version of these games, ladies' Gaelic football and camogie, are organised by the independent but closely-linked Ladies' Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association of Ireland respectively.

Since its foundation in the late 19th century, the association has grown to become a major influence in Irish sporting and cultural life with considerable reach into communities throughout Ireland and among the Irish diaspora.

History

Foundation and aims

The GAA had its genesis with Michael Cusack of County Clare. At the Civil Service Academy in Dublin, he established one of the first hurling clubs. Cusack, a native Irish speaker, was troubled by declining participation in traditional Irish sports.

To remedy this situation and to re-establish hurling as the national pastime, Cusack met with several other enthusiasts with similar concerns, most notably Maurice Davin. They established the Gaelic Athletic Association on Saturday, 1 November 1884 in the billiards room of Hayes' Hotel, Thurles, County Tipperary. The seven founder members were Michael Cusack, Maurice Davin (who presided), John Wyse Power, John McKay, J. K. Bracken, Joseph O'Ryan and Thomas St. George McCarthy. Frank Moloney of Nenagh was also later admitted to have been present by Cusack, while the following six names were published as having attended in press reports: William Foley, a Mr. Dwyer, a Mr. Culhane, William Delehunty, John Butler and William Cantwell. All these six were from Thurles except Foley, who like Davin was from Carrick-on-Suir. Given later controversies about playing and attending non Gaelic games and banning of playing non Gaelic games in Gaelic ground and the banning of members of the British armed forces and police from joining, it is notable that Thomas St. George McCarthy was a capped rugby international player (having played for Ireland against Wales in 1881-82 series of home nations matches) and was also a serving District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) at the time. J.K. Bracken was the father of Brendan Bracken, who was later a member of the UK cabinet during World War II. As early as 1886 the GAA executive had been taken over by Fenian Brotherhood supporters who ousted Cusack as secretary.

Aims

The initial plan was to resurrect the ancient Tailteann Games and establish an independent Irish organisation for promoting athletics, but hurling and Gaelic football eventually predominated. The following goals were set out:

1. To foster and promote native Irish pastimes
2. To open athletics to all social classes
3. To aid in the establishment of hurling and football clubs which would organise matches between counties

The association's basic aim today is stated as:

The Association is a National Organisation which has as its basic aim the strengthening of the National Identity in a 32 County Ireland through the preservation and promotion of Gaelic games and pastimes.

Additional aims of the association are stated as:

(a) The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

(b) The Association shall promote its aims amongst communities abroad through its overseas units.
(c) The Association shall support the promotion of Camogie and Ladies Gaelic Football.

(d) The Association shall support Irish Industry. All trophies and playing equipment shall be of Irish manufacture. Penalty for non-observance €200. Irish paper shall be used for all official documents and correspondence. Documents not complying shall be ruled out of order.

The Gaelic Athletic Association in the twentieth century

In 1918 the GAA was banned by the British government, but Gaelic games were still played. And it was very closely associated with the nationalist cause. In 1919, the association took a decision to expel any civil servants who had taken the Oath of Allegiance. In 1922 it gave up the task of promoting athletics to the National Athletic and Cycling Association.

In 1984 the GAA celebrated its hundredth year in existence. This anniversary was celebrated by the GAA with numerous events throughout the island. The All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship final was played in Semple Stadium in Thurles to honour the town in which the GAA was founded.

Modern challenges

Ireland has changed rapidly since the mid 1990s. EU enlargement, combined with the Celtic Tiger economy, has led to a large influx of foreign nationals from the EU's new member states in Eastern Europe. This means that a large proportion of the country's population is now outside the traditional native-born family structure through which the GAA tradition was passed from generation to generation. This presents a challenge to an organisation that was previously not geared towards marketing itself to people who have not heard of it or its games, and instead relied on people who had been reared watching and playing Gaelic games. The GAA has launched a number of projects to attract non-traditional members such as consulting with the Australian Football League and running leagues aimed at non-Irish nationals. The fact that increasing numbers of Irish people live in cities presents challenges to the GAA as well.

Maintaining the GAA's activities in the overseas units is also a challenge for the modern association with the number of Irish people emigrating overseas in decline. Despite the large Irish diaspora, Gaelic games remain fairly low-profile outside of the Irish expatriate community. Initiatives such as full-time development officers and high-profile competitions such as the Continental Youth Championship and a North American College Hurling Championship currently contested between UC Berkeley and Stanford are helping to bring the games to non-Irish people everywhere, while the British GAA is promoting Gaelic games to youth in Britain.

Structure

The GAA is a democratic association consisting of various boards, councils, and committees organised in a structured hierarchy, and the basic unit of the association is the club. Its world headquarters are at Croke Park. All of the association's activities are governed by the Official Guide. Each County Board may have its own by-laws, none of which may conflict with the Official Guide. Each Divisional Board may have its own regulations, none of which may duplicate or contradict the Official Guide or county by-laws.

• Annual Congress
• President
• Central Council
• Provincial councils
• County Board
  • Divisional Board (in larger counties)
  • Sport specific board (in some counties)
• Club Committee

All of these bodies are elected on a democratic basis and the members are volunteers. There is a small paid staff.

The organisation is overseen by the President, currently Christy Cooney. The President travels across Ireland and the world to promote the organisation and attend games; Cooney's predecessor Nickey Brennan travelled over 250,000 kilometres (160,000 miles) in Ireland alone during his three years as President, and visited Great Britain, Europe, North America, Asia, Australia and the Middle East on several occasions, meeting dignitaries such as New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg along the way.

The Director General (Template:Lang-ga) of the Association is the person who leads the executive work of the Association and oversees the work of the full-time staff, the current holder of the post is former Monaghan County Board Chairman Paraic Duffy who was appointed in 2008.

Cultural activities

Through a division of the association known as Scór (Irish for "score") the GAA promotes Irish cultural activities, running competitions in music, singing, dancing and storytelling.

Rule 4 of the Official Guide states:

The Association shall actively support the Irish language, traditional Irish dancing, music, song, and other aspects of Irish culture. It shall foster an awareness and love of the national ideals in the people of Ireland, and assist in promoting a community spirit through its clubs.

The group was formally founded in 1969, and is promoted through various GAA clubs throughout Ireland (as well as some clubs outside of Ireland).

Achievements

The Gaelic Athletic Association has grown to become the largest and most popular organisation in Ireland with over 1 million members including those at clubs beyond the island of Ireland (referred to overseas units) and more than 2600 member clubs of with 300 are outside Ireland, and runs about five hundred grounds throughout the country and overseas.

The Gaelic games of hurling and Gaelic football were saved from ultimate decline. Both hurling and football were standardised. This standardisation helped to spur the growth of the modern games since they were now being organised on a structured basis.

The Gaelic games of hurling and football are also the most popular spectator sports in Ireland; 1,962,769 attendances were recorded at senior inter-county hurling and football championship games in 2003 while 60% of all attendances to sports events in Ireland were to Gaelic games (34% of the total to football and 23% to hurling). Soccer is the closest rival with 16%.

Due to a policy of having at least one club in every parish, clubs are fairly evenly distributed throughout the country in both urban and rural areas and the organisation's reach is therefore considerable. This presence means that the GAA has become a major player in the sporting and cultural life of Ireland though its Scór section. The association is recognised as a major generator of social capital thanks to its promotion of healthy pastimes, volunteering, and community involvement.

Competitions

Domestic

The GAA organises competitive games in both codes and at all levels from youth all the way up to adult senior.

The highest level of competitions in the GAA are the inter-county All-Ireland Championships where the thirty-two counties of Ireland compete to win the Provincial championships, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Before 1892, the winning club in each county championship contested the All-Ireland championship representing their county. In 1892, Congress granted permission for the winning club in each county championship to use players from other clubs in the county. The Inter County scene of today was thus created.

Internationals

While some units of the GAA outside Ireland participate in Irish competitions, the GAA does not hold internationals played according to the rules of either Gaelic football or hurling. Compromise rules have been reached with two "related sports."

Hurlers play an annual fixture against a national shinty team from Scotland.

International Rules Football matches have taken place between an Irish national team drawn from the ranks of Gaelic footballers, against an Australian national team drawn from the Australian Football League. The venue alternates between Ireland and Australia. In December 2006 the International series between Australia and Ireland was called off due to excessive violence in the matches, but resumed in October 2008 when Ireland won a two test series in Australia.

Grounds

The GAA has many stadiums in Ireland and beyond. Every county, and nearly all clubs, haveground on which to play their home games, with varying capacities and utilities.

The hierarchical structure of the GAA is applied to the use of grounds. Clubs play at their own grounds for the early rounds of the club championship, while the latter rounds from quarter-finals to finals are usually held at the county ground. This is the ground where the Inter county games take place or the County Board are based. For example, a team like Gweedore GAA will play most of its games at Páirc Mhic Eiteagáin, if they reach the final of the club championship then the game will be played in MacCumhail Park, Ballybofey.

The provincial championship finals are usually played at the same venue every year. However, there have been exceptions such as in Ulster, where in 2004 and 2005, the Ulster Football Finals were played in Croke Park, due to the fact that the anticipated attendance was likely to far exceed the capacity of St Tiernach's Park, Clones.

Croke Park

Croke Park is the GAA's flagship venue, known colloquially as Croker or Headquarters, since the venue doubles as the GAA's base. With a capacity of 82,300, it ranks among the top five stadiums in Europe by capacity, having undergone extensive renovations for most of the 1990s and early 21st century. Every September, Croke Park hosts the All-Ireland inter-county Hurling and Football Finals, as the conclusion to the summer championships. On every St. Patrick's Day, Croke Park holds the All-Ireland club football and hurling finals.

Other grounds

The next three biggest grounds are all in Munster - Semple Stadium in Thurles, Co. Tipperary, with a capacity of 53,000, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick which holds 50,000 and Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Co. Cork, which can accommodate 43,500.

Other notable grounds include:

• McHale Park in Castlebar, the largest stadium in Connacht (and in the northern half of the country);
• Pearse Stadium in Galway, which has hosted International rules football series games;
• Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney: some Munster Finals are also held here;
• Páirc Uí Rinn, also in Cork, a former League of Ireland soccer ground.
• Semple Stadium in Thurles, Tipperary, the largest GAA ground outside of Croke Park.
• St. Jarlath's Park, (known as Tuam Stadium) in Galway host to the most Connacht Finals.

Community Outreach

At the 2009 National Congress Ulster Council Secretary Danny Murphy and Ulster Council Community Development Manager Ryan Feeney were appointed "Community Outreach Co-ordinators" on behalf of the entire Association. Reporting to the Director General and Central Council, both men have been tasked with co-ordinating the Association's unionist outreach and engagement work and are responsible for promoting dialogue and links with individuals and groups who traditionally would have no involvement in the Association.

The Cúchulainn Initiative, organised by Ulster GAA, is a cross-community program aimed at building teams consisting of Catholic and protestant children who go on to play Gaelic games internationally. This consists of schoolchildren in Year 11 who have no direct experience of playing competitive Gaelic games. A hurling team from Armagh and a Gaelic football team from Fermanagh are examples of these attempts to promote good relations at grassroots level. The Fermanagh Cúchulainn team was commended by Irish President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin in 2010. The Belfast Cuchulainn team was the first cross-community under-16 hurling team; it was established in 2008 and went on to compete at the Continental Youth Championship in America. It "encouraged collaboration through sport between 4 post-primary schools in Belfast bringing together young people from both Protestant and Catholic working class communities in a spirit of respect and diversity." In 2010 there was Cúchulainns Cup Hurling competition which saw school children from across Belfast, Armagh, Limavady and Fermanagh compete in a cross community Hurling tournament for the first time.

The ‘Game of three halves’ cross-community coaching initiative was established in east Belfast in 2006. This scheme is organised through Knock Presbyterian Church, bringing GAA coaches to work alongside their soccer and rugby counterparts to involve 150 primary school children at summer coaching camps.

In addition to cross community work in Northern Ireland, in January 2011 President Mary McAleese announced the launch of an island-wide project called the GAA Social Initiative. This aims to address the problem of isolation in rural areas where older people have limited engagement with the community. The initiative was later expanded by teaming up with the Irish Farmers Association to integrate that organisation's volunteers into the initiative.

Nationalism and claims of sectarianism

The Association has, since its inception, been closely associated with Irish nationalism, and this has continued to the present, particularly in relation to Northern Ireland, where the sports are played almost exclusively by members of the mainly Catholic nationalist community, and the Protestant unionist population largely considers itself excluded by the political ethos seen as associated with the GAA. According to one sports historian, the GAA "is arguably the most striking example of politics shaping sport in modern history". Another claimed that, upon its foundation, the GAA "relatively quickly succeeded in defining for itself and the games it controlled an identity that interwove the threads of nationalism, Catholicism and rurality".

Certain GAA practices and rules may reinforce a perception within Northern Ireland unionist circles that the GAA is a nationalist or sectarian organisation. For example, Rule 15 requires that the flag of the Republic of Ireland is flown and Amhrán na bhFiann, the national anthem of the Republic is played at all matches, even outside the Republic of Ireland.. The naming of GAA grounds and clubs after significant republican personalities has also alienated the Protestant community in Northern Ireland, where "suspected associations between members of the GAA and republican elements have led to individuals and clubs coming under scrutiny from the security forces and weapons finds at Gaelic sports grounds have deepened mistrust." This alleged association with Irish nationalism made the GAA a target for loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles. A number of GAA supporters were killed and clubhouses damaged. As the profile of Gaelic football has been raised in Ulster so too has there been an increase in the number of sectarian attacks on Gaelic clubs in Northern Ireland.

Rule 21 Ban on British security forces playing Gaelic games

Rule 21, instituted in 1897 when it was suspected that Royal Irish Constabulary spies were trying to infiltrate the organization, prohibited members of the British forces from membership of the GAA, and prevented GAA members from attending social events with such people. Support for the ban remained throughout The Troubles, particularly in areas where GAA members endured "years of harassment and intimidation by the security forces". Nonetheless, at a special congress convened in November 2001 the GAA voted by an overwhelming majority to change the rule and allow members of the United Kingdom security forces to play hurling and football.

Rule 42 Ban on other sports in GAA grounds

Rule 42 (Rule 5.1 in the 2009 rulebook) prohibits the use of GAA property for games with interests in conflict with the interests of the GAA referred to by some as "garrison games" or foreign sports. Current rules state that GAA property may only be used for the purpose or in connection with the playing of games controlled by the association. Sports not considered 'in conflict' with the GAA have been permitted.

On 16 April 2005 the GAA's congress voted to temporarily relax Rule 42 and allow international Soccer and Rugby to be played in the stadium while Lansdowne Road Football Ground was closed for redevelopment. The first soccer and rugby union games permitted in Croke Park took place in early 2007, the first such fixture being Ireland's home match in the Six Nations Rugby Union Championship against France.

Naming of competitions, grounds and clubs and commemorations of nationalists

Two incidents of hunger strike commemorations on GAA grounds drew criticism from unionists, even though these events actually violated the GAA's rules. Following such an event in 2009, the Unionist majority Northern Ireland Assembly passed a motion calling on the Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure to ensure that no sports club, which facilitates a commemoration or glorification of terrorism, receives financial support through his Department, either directly or indirectly. Some GAA competitions, grounds and clubs are named after Irish nationalists and Irish republicans. For example Casement Park in Belfast is named after Sir Roger Casement, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.

See also

• List of GAA Stadiums by Capacity
• GAA All Stars Awards
• Up for the Match
• Top 20 GAA Moments
• Michael Cusack
• Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh
• Micheál Ó Hehir
• The Sunday Game
• Féile na nGael
• Sport in Ireland

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External links

• GAA official website
• An Fear Rua: The GAA Unplugged! – analysis, discussion forums, satire and humour on GAA topics.
• Hogan Stand
• GAAinfo – Results, Statistics and Information
• Radio Beo – Live commentary from club games, on the Internet.

Other links

• National GAA Results and Fixtures on Aertel
• GAA World by The Irish News
• Index of GAA club sites
• Michael Cusack Visitor Centre

• Use dmy dates from September 2010
• Gaelic Athletic Association
• Gaelic games governing bodies
• Gaelic games governing bodies in Ireland