What is Gaelic Football?         
 
Gaelic football is a fast-paced free-flowing game of skill, agility and tactics played for 60-70 minutes on a grass playing field.  It combines skills found in sports such as soccer, basketball and volleyball.

Each team consists of 15 players. Some have likened it to soccer as the game is played on a similarly sized grass field and kicking the ball is the main form of moving the ball forwards. Gaelic football however is much more versatile. The aim of the game is to score as many goals (each worth 3 points) under the crossbar and in the net and points (worth 1 point) by kicking through the uprights of the goal - similar to taking a point in rugby or American football.

While kicking the ball is the main form of moving the ball up and down the field players can use also their hands or a combination of hands and feet known as "toe tapping" to run the ball forward. You can also pass the ball from teammate to teammate. There are strict rules about how exactly a player can move the ball. Only four steps can be taken before a player must do something with the ball - either pass it (by flicking it or fisting it to another player), toe-tapping it, kicking it or bouncing it on the ground (allowed just once).

A score results when the ball passes through the "H" style goalposts, by being kicked, flicked or in flight by any part of the body. However, it may not be thrown or carried over the line by the attacking side. A team will typically consist of a goalie, 3 full-backs, 3 half backs, 2 mid-fields, 3 half forwards and 3 full forwards.

History of Gaelic Games

By the latter half of the 19th century, Ireland experienced great social upheaval, economic and political repression. The Great Hunger of 1845-'48 and the subsequent economic depression and depletion of rural communities, together with the political climate, and the lack of organized education and support in Irish culture and sports endangered Gaelic games with gradual extinction. In 1884 a few dedicated individuals, led by a teacher from Co. Clare, Michael Cusack, rallied against this tide and established the Gaelic Athletic Association on the first of November in Hayes Hotel in Thurles. The GAA is credited with the grass roots revival of not only Irish games and traditional cultural activities but the re-birth of a spirit of local pride and nationalism.

The organization grew rapidly from its inception. Cusack reported that by 1886, "the association swept the country like a prairie fire". Three years later it had over 50,000 members. One of the earliest supporters of the GAA was Archbishop Croke of Cashel who became the GAA's first patron. Croke Park in Dublin, the official home field of the GAA, was named in his honor.

In 1904 the game of camogie (akin to hurling) was established and women began to play a more significant part in Gaelic sports and the organization.

Today, all thirty-two counties of Ireland are each represented by teams competing for the All-Ireland Hurling, Gaelic Football and Camogie titles. To view the county colors and the latest results visit the official GAA web site at www.gaa.ie.