GAA In Galway
Galway GAA
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) 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.
Hoganstand
Gaelic football, commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It is, together with hurling, one of the two most popular spectator sports in Ireland.
Gaelic football 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 kicking or striking the ball with the hand and getting it through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates.
Statistics show the game drawing significantly more spectators than any other sport in the Republic of Ireland recently; 2005 ESRI figures indicate that it draws 34% of total attendances at sports events in Ireland, with the closest rival, hurling drawing 23%.
Hurling Galway
The following are the positions in the Gaelic sports of Gaelic football, hurling and camogie. Like rugby and baseball, and unlike soccer, these have set positions which haven't changed in decades. In most cases, each player sticks firmly to his position, although players sometimes switch positions at the order of their coach, manager or captain.
Each team consists of one goalkeeper (who wears a different colour jersey), six backs, two mid fielders, and six forwards: fifteen players in all. Some under-age games are played 13-a-side (in which case the full back and full forward positions are removed) or 11-a-side (in which case the full back, centre back, centre forward and full forward positions are removed).
