A county is a geographic region within Gaelic games , controlled by a county board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and originally based on the 32 counties of Ireland as they were in 1884. While the administrative geography of Ireland has since changed, with several new counties created and the six that make up Northern Ireland superseded by 11 local government districts, the counties in Gaelic games have remained largely unchanged.
51-564: Healy Park (known as O'Neills Healy Park for sponsorship reasons) is a GAA stadium in Omagh , County Tyrone , Northern Ireland and is named after a GAA clubman from Omagh, Michael Healy. Healy Park is the home ground of Omagh St. Enda's and the Tyrone county football team . The stadium is located on the Gortin Road, approximately a 10-minute walk from the town centre. It is one of
102-604: A District Inspector in the Royal Irish Constabulary , P. J. Ryan of Tipperary, John Wyse Power and John McKay. Maurice Davin was elected president, Cusack, Wyse-Power and McKay were elected Secretaries and it was agreed that Archbishop Croke , Charles Stewart Parnell and Michael Davitt would be asked to become Patrons. In 1922 it turned over the job of promoting athletics to the National Athletic and Cycling Association . The GAA organises
153-565: A county, is eligible to compete in the provincial and national championships and leagues, and almost all do so, again there can be anomalies: in the National Hurling League , for example, a team representing Fingal — a sub-region of the GAA county of Dublin, corresponding to the modern administrative county of Fingal — previously competed against other counties. Since the inception of the county system, there have been changes to
204-522: 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. Some of the protectionist rules are as follows: Rule 42 (Rule 5.1 in the 2009 rulebook) prohibits the use of GAA property for games with interests in conflict with
255-401: A number of competitions at divisional, county, inter-county , provincial, inter-provincial and national (All-Ireland) levels. A number of competitions follow a progressive format in which, for example, the winners of a club county football competition progress to a competition involving the top clubs from each county in the province, with the champions from each province progressing through
306-459: A number of initiatives aimed at making the association and Gaelic games more accessible to northern Protestants. In November 2008, the council launched a Community Development Unit , which is responsible for "Diversity and Community Outreach initiatives". The Cúchulainn Initiative is a cross-community program aimed at establishing teams consisting of Catholic and Protestant schoolchildren with no prior playing experience. Cross-community teams such as
357-628: A pitch refurbishment project costing upwards of £1 million for Healy Park. This project was to begin in May 2020 and would have resulted in the closure of the stadium for a year. However, this project failed to materlise due to the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic . In September 2023, Tyrone GAA unveiled a new £280,000 floodlighting system for Healy Park in a Tyrone Senior Football Championship meeting between Errigal Ciaran and Killyclogher . This major upgrade involved an energy-efficient LED system replacing
408-593: A row between 2010 and 2013. Greatest Hurling achievement: Semi-finalists of the 1913 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship . Gloucestershire , Hertfordshire , Scotland and Yorkshire compete in the All-Britain Junior Football Championship. As of 2023, no team from continental Europe , Canada, the rest of the United States , Middle East, Asia or Australasia competes against the counties of Ireland in any of
459-566: A row in 1968 and 1969. Greatest Hurling achievement: Winners of the 2017 Lory Meagher Cup . Lancashire county hurling team competes in the National Hurling League, All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Lory Meagher Cup. Their football team competes in the All-Britain Junior Football Championship. Greatest Football achievement: Winning four All-Britain Junior Football Championships in
510-491: A rule in 2007 that prohibited collective training for inter-county players for a period of two months every winter. This has proven to be controversial in that it is difficult to enforce; in the drive to stay competitive, managers have found ways to avoid it, such as organising informal 'athletic clubs' and other activities that they can use to work on the physical fitness of players without overtly appearing to be training specifically at Gaelic games. GAA county However,
561-592: A second covered stand, a new control tower, press box, the installation of a lift in the stand, and new changing and referee's room. They also planned to expand the ends behind both goals. Construction of the Press Box and Control Tower was completed in October 2007 with new changing rooms and disabled facilities also having been installed. However, the plan to construct the second covered stand at Healy Park has yet to materalise. In January 2020, Tyrone GAA announced
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#1732772095380612-574: A series of national finals. The association has had a long history of promoting Irish culture. Through a division of the association known as Scór (Irish for "score"), the association promotes Irish cultural activities, running competitions in music, singing, dancing and storytelling. Rule 4 of the GAA's 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
663-764: The 2013 Connacht Senior Football Championship . Greatest Hurling achievement: Winners of the 1901 All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship . New York enters a county team in the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and won its first game in the 2023 Connacht football championship vs Leitrim after more than 20 years of trying. They also enter the Tailteann Cup. New York last entered the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship in 2006. Greatest Football achievement: Semi-finalists of
714-455: The 2023 Connacht Senior Football Championship . Greatest Hurling achievement: Runners-up of the 2006 Ulster Senior Hurling Championship . Warwickshire county hurling team competes in the National Hurling League, All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Lory Meagher Cup. Their football team competes in the All-Britain Junior Football Championship. Greatest Football achievement: Winning two All-Britain Junior Football Championships in
765-668: 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. The Irish welcomed the All Australian team at the headquarters of the GAA (Croke Park) on 21 November 2015. It
816-658: The Camogie Association of Ireland , respectively. GAA Handball , is the governing body for the sport of handball , while the other Gaelic sport, rounders, is managed by the GAA Rounders National Council ( Irish : Comhairle Cluiche Corr na hÉireann ). Since its foundation in 1884, the association has grown to become a major influence in Irish sporting and cultural life , with considerable reach into communities throughout Ireland and among
867-507: The Church of Ireland . The council has also undertaken a series of meetings with political parties and community groups who would have traditionally have had no involvement in the association. In January 2011, the then President of Ireland, 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
918-583: The Irish diaspora . On 1 November 1884, a group of Irishmen gathered in the Hayes' Hotel billiard room to formulate a plan and establish an organisation to foster and preserve Ireland's unique games and athletic pastimes. Arising out of the meeting, the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was founded. The architects and founding members were Michael Cusack of County Clare , Maurice Davin , Joseph K. Bracken , Thomas St George McCarthy ,
969-451: The Irish language and it also promotes environmental stewardship through its Green Clubs initiative. As of 2014, the organisation had over 500,000 members worldwide, and declared total revenues of €96.1 million in 2022. The Competitions Control Committee (CCC) of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) governing bodies organise the fixture list of Gaelic games within a GAA county or provincial councils . Gaelic football and hurling are
1020-900: The National Handball Centre , which replaced the old Croke Park Handball Centre built in the 1970s. The centre is due to be the home of GAA Handball and to play host to All-Ireland Gaelic Handball finals. The next three biggest grounds are all in Munster : Semple Stadium in Thurles , County Tipperary , with a capacity of 53,000, the Gaelic Grounds in Limerick , which holds 50,000, and Páirc Uí Chaoimh , County Cork , which can accommodate 45,000. Other grounds with capacities above 25,000 include: Research by former Fermanagh county footballer Niall Cunningham led to
1071-666: The Ulster Football Finals were played in Croke Park, as the anticipated attendance was likely to far exceed the capacity of the traditional venue of St Tiernach's Park , Clones . Croke Park is the association's flagship venue and is known colloquially as Croker or Headquarters , since the venue doubles as the association'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
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#17327720953801122-582: The provincial council to which each is affiliated to. Connacht have five affiliated county boards, Leinster have twelve, Munster have six and Ulster have nine. Also provided is a map showing the location of the province, i.e. north, south, east, west. Listed below are the 14 county boards outside of Ireland and the provincial council to which each is affiliated to. Seven county boards are affiliated to Britain and three county boards are affiliated to North America (an unofficial province). The remaining four county boards are not affiliated to any. 40 of
1173-471: 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. Croke Park holds the All-Ireland club football and hurling finals. Croke Park is named after Archbishop Thomas Croke , who was elected as a patron of the GAA during the formation of the GAA in 1884. The Croke Park campus is also home to
1224-904: The 46 national and overseas county teams currently compete in the Hurling and Football Championships. Counties as used in Gaelic games outside Ireland cover large geographic non-traditional areas which are not considered as counties in any other context. For example, Scotland is a county for GAA purposes, as is London , while the remaining counties of Great Britain cover wider areas than their names suggest. The Hertfordshire County Board , for example, oversees clubs in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire; Gloucestershire GAA reaches into South Wales, Warwickshire GAA includes Staffordshire and Birmingham, and so on. There are also "county boards" for Australasia , Canada , New York ,
1275-763: The Belfast Cuchulainn under-16 hurling team have been established and gone on to compete at the Continental Youth Championship in the USA. Similar hurling and Gaelic football teams have since emerged in Armagh, Fermanagh, Limavady. David Hassan , from the University of Ulster, has written about the cross community work of the association and other sporting bodies in Ulster. The 'Game of three-halves' cross-community coaching initiative
1326-523: 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 a county ground, i.e. the ground where inter-county games take place or where the county board is based. 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
1377-786: The World Handball Championships are organised by the World Handball Council. A European Tour has been set up with players from across Europe participating. 4-Wall Handball is played primarily in Ireland, the US and Canada while the 1-Wall code is played (in addition to the three mentioned) in Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Spain and the UK. To address concerns about player burnout , the association adopted
1428-502: The board of the county then officially known as Queen's County changed its name in 1907 to Leix and Ossary, later becoming Laois . Each county board is responsible for organising GAA club fixtures within the county, and for the promotion and development of Gaelic games and the other objectives of the Association. The county can also refer to the inter-county teams fielded by each county board. While in general any county, and only
1479-668: The community. The initiative was later expanded by teaming up with the Irish Farmers Association to integrate that organisation's volunteers into the initiative. Members of the Irish diaspora have set-up clubs in a number of regions and countries outside of Ireland, and there are GAA clubs in the United States, Australia, Britain, Canada, China, continental Europe and elsewhere. The GAA World Games were first played in Abu Dhabi in 2015. The next edition
1530-407: The county as used in Gaelic games does not always and everywhere cover precisely the same territory as the traditional county. Particularly in the first 50 years of the Association but also in more recent times, there are many examples of clubs based in one of the administrative counties being allowed to participate in the leagues or championships of a neighbouring county. There are also instances where
1581-532: The existing halogen lamps. Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association ( GAA ; Irish : Cumann Lúthchleas Gael [ˈkʊmˠən̪ˠ ˈl̪ˠuːˌçlʲasˠ ˈɡeːlˠ] ; CLG ) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling , camogie , Gaelic football , Gaelic handball , and rounders . The association also promotes Irish music and dance , as well as
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1632-435: 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
1683-524: The largest stadiums in Northern Ireland with a ticketed capacity of approximately 17,636. In early 1962, Omagh St. Enda's club purchased 13 acres (5.3 ha) of land for £1,300 at Lisanelly located near the Gortin Road. By 1968 the club had raised enough money to start construction of the new stadium. Work began in the middle of 1968 with the clearance of ten feet of soil and bog and its replacement with tens of thousands of tons of gravel, stones and topsoil, coupled with an elaborate drainage system. The field
1734-532: The mainly Catholic nationalist community, and many in the Protestant unionist population consider themselves excluded by a perceived political ethos. According to one sports historian, the GAA "is arguably the most striking example of politics shaping sport in modern history". A perception within Northern Ireland unionist circles that the GAA is a nationalist organisation is reinforced by
1785-425: The management of Croke Park has been allowed to earn revenue by renting the facility out to competing sports organisations, but local GAA units which own smaller facilities cannot. It is also said that it is questionable as to whether or not such rental deals would be damaging to the GAA's interests. The GAA has had some notable rules in the past which have since been abolished. Rule 21 , instituted in 1897 when it
1836-457: The most popular activities promoted by the organisation, and the most popular sports in the Republic of Ireland in terms of attendance. Gaelic football is also the second most popular 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
1887-459: The naming of some GAA grounds, clubs, competitions and trophies after prominent nationalists or republicans. Other critics point to protectionist rules such as Rule 42 which prohibits competing, chiefly British, sports (referred to by some as "garrison games" or foreign sports ) from GAA grounds. As a result, the GAA became a target for loyalist paramilitaries during the Troubles when
1938-490: 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 Association clubs throughout Ireland (as well as some clubs outside Ireland). The association has many stadiums scattered throughout Ireland and beyond. Every county and nearly all clubs have grounds, with varying capacities and utilities, where they play their home games. The hierarchical structure of
1989-408: The official county boundary does not coincide precisely with the county as used in Gaelic games, for example where a club is based on a parish that crosses the county border. While in most cases the name of the county as used in Gaelic games is the same as that of the current or former administrative county, there have been exceptions: Derry has never used the official county name of Londonderry , and
2040-451: The publication in 2016 by his website, gaapitchlocator.net, of a map of 1,748 GAA grounds in Ireland, ranging from 24 grounds in his own county to 171 in Cork. 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 predominantly by members of
2091-416: The respective regions of control of the overseas units. In Ireland the concept of the county is very strong and changing the county boundary is extremely controversial. In 2002 a proposal to divide Dublin in two was quickly and strongly opposed. The following is a list of the 32 county boards in Ireland and the 14 county boards outside of Ireland. Listed below are the 32 county boards based in Ireland and
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2142-659: The rest of United States , Europe and Asia , while other overseas GAA regions such as the Cayman Islands operate with their own structures not including county boards. London county football team competes in the National Football league, Connacht Senior Football Championship, All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and Tailteann Cup. London county hurling team competes in the National Hurling League, All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship and Christy Ring Cup. Greatest Football achievement: Runners-up of
2193-463: The rules of either Gaelic football or hurling. However, the first international match between France and Italy was played in 2014. 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
2244-648: 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 . In addition to the opening of Croke Park to competing sports, local GAA units have sought to rent their facilities out to other sports organisations for financial reasons in violation of Rule 42. The continued existence of Rule 42 has proven to be controversial since
2295-464: The terracing added to three sides of the pitch. Work began in September 2001 to build a new all-seated covered stand with a capacity of 5,000. The stand was opened in 2004. In April 2006, Healy Park became the first Gaelic football stadium in Ulster to have floodlighting installed. In December 2006, Tyrone GAA unveiled plans for a £5 million redevelopment scheme. Included in the plans were
2346-489: Was established in predominantly Protestant east Belfast in 2006. Organised through Knock Presbyterian Church, this scheme brings Association coaches to work alongside their soccer and rugby counterparts to involve primary school children at summer coaching camps. The Ulster Council is also establishing cross-community football and hurling teams in schools and is developing links with the Ulster-Scots Agency and
2397-522: Was expelled for attending a soccer international. Rule 27 was abolished in 1971. The association points out the role of members of minority religions in the membership throughout its history. For example, the Protestant Jack Boothman was president of the organisation from 1993 to 1997, while Sam Maguire was a Church of Ireland member. Nonetheless, to address concerns of unionists, the association's Ulster Council has embarked on
2448-557: Was played in Dublin in 2016 with subsequent editions to be played in Ireland every three years. The 2019 games were awarded to Waterford , but the next edition in Derry was deferred to 2023 due to the Covid pandemic. While some units of the association outside Ireland participate in Irish competitions, the association itself does not organise regular international games played according to
2499-487: Was single one-off test match, which led the Irish to reclaim the Cormac McAnallen Cup by a score of 56–52. The international dimension of Gaelic handball includes a World Championship tournament, alongside a European Tour and US Semi-Professional Tour. The 4-Wall and 1-Wall codes of the game are played around the world [with slightly different rules depending on which country one is playing in] and
2550-419: Was sown early in 1969 and fenced a few months later. The ground known then as New Park was opened on 17 September 1972 by then GAA President Alf Murray. On 19 October 1980, the new park was renamed to Healy Park in memory of Michael Healy. The two years between 1980 and 1982 saw the fruition of the new clubrooms and social centre at Healy Park, which added further to the infrastructure of Healy Park. 1994 saw
2601-629: Was suspected that Royal Irish Constabulary spies were trying to infiltrate the organization, prohibited members of the British forces from membership of the GAA. The rule was abolished after an overwhelming majority voted for its removal at a special congress convened in November 2001. Rule 27 , sometimes referred to as The Ban , dated from 1901 and banned GAA members from taking part in or watching non Gaelic games. During that time people such as Douglas Hyde , GAA patron and then President of Ireland,
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