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Gaelic games



 
 
Gaelic games are the traditional sports played in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
. The two main Gaelic games are Gaelic football
Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football", "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It is, together with hurling, one of the two most popular spectator sports in Ireland today....
 and Hurling
Hurling

Hurling is an outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic Culture origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar....
, both of which are organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation mainly focused on promoting Gaelic games: the traditional Ireland sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball and rounders....
 (GAA). Other games organised by the association include Rounders
Rounders

Rounders is a game played between two teams, each alternating between batting and fielding. The game originates in England and has been played there since Tudor Times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in "A Little Pretty Pocketbook" where it is called Baseball....
 and Gaelic handball
Gaelic handball

Gaelic handball is a sport similar to racquetball and squash and it is one of the four Gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association....
.

Women's versions of Hurling and football are also played, Camogie
Camogie

Camogie is a Modern Celts team sport. Played with a stick and ball, it is the women's variant of hurling, and is organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland....
 organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland
Camogie Association of Ireland

The Camogie Association of Ireland organise and promote the sport of Camogie in Ireland and across the world. The Association has close ties with the Gaelic Athletic Association....
  and Ladies' Gaelic football
Ladies' Gaelic football

Ladies' Gaelic Football is a team sport for women, very similar to Gaelic football, and coordinated by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. It is the most prominent amateur team sport for women in Ireland....
 organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association
Ladies' Gaelic Football Association

The Ladies Gaelic Football Association is the organisation which promotes and regulates ladies' Gaelic football in Ireland.The association has also selected the Ireland women's international rules football team, which will play the Australia women's international rules football team in international rules football for the first time in 20...
. While women's versions are not organised by they are closely associated with the GAA.

During the late 19th century, Gaelic games in Ireland were dying out.






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Gaelic games are the traditional sports played in Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
. The two main Gaelic games are Gaelic football
Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football", "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It is, together with hurling, one of the two most popular spectator sports in Ireland today....
 and Hurling
Hurling

Hurling is an outdoor team sport of ancient Gaelic Culture origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar....
, both of which are organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association
Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation mainly focused on promoting Gaelic games: the traditional Ireland sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, Gaelic handball and rounders....
 (GAA). Other games organised by the association include Rounders
Rounders

Rounders is a game played between two teams, each alternating between batting and fielding. The game originates in England and has been played there since Tudor Times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in "A Little Pretty Pocketbook" where it is called Baseball....
 and Gaelic handball
Gaelic handball

Gaelic handball is a sport similar to racquetball and squash and it is one of the four Gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association....
.

Women's versions of Hurling and football are also played, Camogie
Camogie

Camogie is a Modern Celts team sport. Played with a stick and ball, it is the women's variant of hurling, and is organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland....
 organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland
Camogie Association of Ireland

The Camogie Association of Ireland organise and promote the sport of Camogie in Ireland and across the world. The Association has close ties with the Gaelic Athletic Association....
  and Ladies' Gaelic football
Ladies' Gaelic football

Ladies' Gaelic Football is a team sport for women, very similar to Gaelic football, and coordinated by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. It is the most prominent amateur team sport for women in Ireland....
 organised by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association
Ladies' Gaelic Football Association

The Ladies Gaelic Football Association is the organisation which promotes and regulates ladies' Gaelic football in Ireland.The association has also selected the Ireland women's international rules football team, which will play the Australia women's international rules football team in international rules football for the first time in 20...
. While women's versions are not organised by they are closely associated with the GAA.

During the late 19th century, Gaelic games in Ireland were dying out. This decline was stopped and reversed by the GAA and the Irish national Gaelic Revival
Gaelic Revival

For the Gaelic resurgence to overthrow English supremacy in the 14th-16th century, see: Norman Ireland#Gaelic resurgence.2C Norman decline 1254.E2.80.931536....
. Today they are the most popular games in Ireland.

Gaelic football

Gaelic football is the most popular of the Gaelic games and is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by driving the ball through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. It combines the skills of soccer and basketball in a fast-paced, high-scoring contact sport.The female version of the game is known as Ladies' Gaelic football
Ladies' Gaelic football

Ladies' Gaelic Football is a team sport for women, very similar to Gaelic football, and coordinated by the Ladies' Gaelic Football Association. It is the most prominent amateur team sport for women in Ireland....
 and is very similar to the men's game with a few minor rule changes

Hurling

Hurling is a stick and ball game played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by driving the ball through the goals or putting the ball over the bar and thereby scoring a point. Three points is the equivalent of a goal. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. It is over three-thousand years old, and is said to be the world's fastest field game, combining skills from lacrosse, field hockey, and baseball in a hard-hitting, highly skilled game. The female version of the game is known as Camogie
Camogie

Camogie is a Modern Celts team sport. Played with a stick and ball, it is the women's variant of hurling, and is organised by the Camogie Association of Ireland....
 and is very similar to hurling with a few minor rule changes.

Rounders

Rounders is a bat and ball game which is played in Ireland; a similar version is played in England. Rounders is the least popular of the GAA Gaelic games and is organised by a sub division of the GAA known as the Rounders Council of Ireland. It is like baseball
Baseball

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport of nine players each. The goal of baseball is to score run by hitting a thrown Baseball with a baseball bat and touching a series of four markers called base arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot square, or diamond. Players on one team take turns hitting against...
.

Gaelic handball

Gaelic Handball is a game where two players use their hands to return a ball against a wall. The game is similar to American handball
American handball

American handball, usually referred to simply as handball, is a sport in which players hit a small rubber ball against one or more walls....
; Gaelic handballers play against their US counterparts.

Other Gaelic games

  • Other Gaelic games such as gaelic athletics have nearly or completely died out.
  • Pastimes such as Road bowling, a sport played in Ireland for a long time, could be considered Gaelic games.
  • Although not Irish, the Scottish sport of Shinty
    Shinty

    Shinty is a team sport played with sticks and a ball. Shinty is now played almost exclusively in the Scottish Highlands of Scotland, and amongst Highland migrants to the big cities of Scotland, but it was formerly more widespread, being once competitively played on a widespread basis in England and other areas where Scottish Highlanders mi...
     could be called a Gaelic game, as it is part of the Scottish Gaelic culture and shares common roots with Hurling.


See also

D. P. Moran
D. P. Moran

David Patrick "D.P." Moran was a principal proponent and ideologist for the early 20th century "Irish-Ireland" nationalism through his journal, The Leader....

External links