Gaelic football

[Bamboo Grove]

Wow, I had no idea that this kind of entertaining sport existed. I've never liked rugby or American football, although Aussie rules is ok to watch. But this looks like something I'd like to go and see live. Anybody know more about this?

[PeteC]

Watching that clip (only once) I didn't see any body tackling. Is the idea simply to knock the ball out of the runners hand, or block the ball when being kicked? Pete

[barrys]

Played GAA sports a lot when I was younger - Gaelic football is a fast, exciting and skillful sport.

The following link gives a good synopsis of the principles and rules of GAA:
http://www.skysports.com/gaa/gaelic-foo ... elic-games

But if you think Gaelic Football is exciting, you have to watch Hurling - a thrilling sport that it not for the faint-hearted.
The clip below gives a good idea of the game



One of the greatest sporting days-out ever is to be at an all-Ireland final for either of the sports.
A full-day carnival atmosphere with 80,000 + spectators - and not a hint of trouble between the fans!

[dtaai-maai]

And the men in the white coats are there to take the goalie back to the institution at the end of the game.
"Oh yes sir, please sir, I'd like to play in goal!" They must be out of their mind..

[Bamboo Grove]

Barrys wrote:

One of the greatest sporting days-out ever is to be at an all-Ireland final for either of the sports.

In which month are these?

dtaai-maai wrote:

And the men in the white coats are there to take the goalie back to the institution at the end of the game

.

I was thinking of that myself. Requires a certain amount of insanity.

The game looks very much like a spectator sports, though.

[PeteC]

It looks as if they have to dribble the ball on the ground every 5 or 6 running steps. Pete

[barrys]

The all-Ireland finals are played at Croke Park, Dublin in early to mid-September.

What do you mean exactly by dribble the ball on the ground, Pete?
It doesn't sound like anything I'm familiar with in either sport.

[PeteC]

The all-Ireland finals are played at Croke Park, Dublin in early to mid-September.

What do you mean exactly by dribble the ball on the ground, Pete?
It doesn't sound like anything I'm familiar with in either sport.

Mean bounce it off the ground as they're running as in basketball or, is it coming off their foot kicked back them themselves? I can't see the film that closely to tell if ground or foot. Whatever it is, it seems every 5 or 6 steps so I imagine there's some rule about having to do it. Pete

[barrys]

Hi Pete,

Here is the rule explained in the Sky Sports link I posted above:
"In Gaelic football, players are allowed to carry the ball in their hands and it can be kicked or hand-passed. After every four steps the player must bounce or solo the ball. A solo involves dropping the ball onto your boot and kicking it back into your hand. You cannot bounce the ball twice in succession but you can solo as many times as you wish. The ball cannot be lifted straight off the ground - a player must put his boot under it."

A lot of the major games are shown on Setanta.

[barrys]

And the men in the white coats are there to take the goalie back to the institution at the end of the game.
"Oh yes sir, please sir, I'd like to play in goal!" They must be out of their mind..

Yep, goalkeepers in hurling are a breed of their own.

Possibly one of the most dangerous situations is sport:
A hurling goalie facing a penalty shot:


-see article below:
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sp ... ports.html

[Bamboo Grove]

Ok, barrys, now I understand your skills in vaulting backways to Pranburi river all those years ago.