In 1887 Gaelic Football was first created Ireland. It is very similar to other sports that were played in Ireland many years ago, especially Caid. Because of this, some people nowadays nickname Gaelic Football ‘Caid’.
The Earliest record of ‘football' being played in Ireland was in 1308 when a man called John McCrocan, a ‘football’ fan at a game in Newcastle started an incident. He was charged with ‘accidentally’ stabbing a football player called William Bernard. During the 17th Century, the game of Gaelic Football became a lot bigger. It was played around more places of Ireland and the popularity of the game had become considerably bigger. Landlords would get together and organise a team with around 20 or more players and play a game. Although, in the 18th Century Dublin created a type of 'Gaelic Football' that only included 6 players on a team. Around 1695 on Sundays, people didn’t want anyone doing anything big so the law was to play no sports. If anyone was caught playing Gaelic on a Sunday they would be fined one shilling which was a fair amount at this time. |
Between 1860 and 1870 rugby started to get introduced to Ireland which then led to introducing some of those rules into the Gaelic Football rules. This made the game a lot more rough and dangerous because tripping was allowed. Later on, Gaelic football was given the name GAA which stood for Gaelic Athletics Association. GAA was not only given to Gaelic Football, it was given to all Gaelic sports.
Men aren’t the only people nowadays to be playing Gaelic Football though, since the 1970’s; women have been starting to enjoy playing this native sport. The rules between GAA and Aussie Rules are extremely similar so there are questions about whether they originated from the same sport, or very similar sports. There are times now when Australia and Ireland put a team together and play off against each other; this game uses rules known as International Rules Football. The GAA have presidents and the person who is currently know as president for the GAA is Christy Cooney from Youghal in County Cork. |