The weekend in North Olmsted will be busy with Gaelic Football! If you haven’t read our prior piece, please do so. But for those of you newcomers to the sport, let’s give you a quick primer!

 

History of Gaelic football

 

Ancient Irish folk played games called caid and hurling. Caid was a game where a ball made from animal hide and a bladder was moved from end to end by a mass of people into two arch-made goals usually constructed from tree branches. It was typically played by an entire parish (think of your town inviting all townsfolk to a HUGE field) and probably after church.

 

Hurling is similar to field hockey/lacrosse. Elements of the sport can be found in today’s version of gaelic football. Wooden paddles like bats and a ball similar to a baseball are used to score points in goals. Hurling is a separate sport and considered Ireland’s national sport.

 

Here’s a video on the sport, with all its beauty, speed, and violence. (Caution: there is a great deal of blood!)

 

Gaelic Football

Team

The teams are composed of 15 players on the field. Typically, there’s a goalkeeper, fullbacks (defenders), halfbacks (more defenders but link play to more offensive players), midfielders (key player: they act as defenders AND attackers by setting up possession and passing to teammates. The offense consists of half-forwards and full-forwards. The half folks set up chances for the full ones. The full forwards are usually the tallest, able to jump the highest, and their goal? Score!

 

Teams can substitute up to six players per game. Once out, you cannot reenter.

 

Field and game

The game is a series of two halves, each 35 minutes long with a ten minute halftime.

 

The field is roughly 130-145 meters (142-158 yards) long and 80-90 meters (87-98 yards) wide. 

The goal posts are a combo of soccer goals with posts.

 

These posts are situated at the end of each side. They are 2.5 meters (8 feet) high and 6.5 meters (21 feet) wide. Here’s a picture. The posts extend roughly 20 feet upwards.

Ball

Think of volleyball. That’s the best way to view the ball used in play. Also called a “sliotar,” the ball is a hard, leather bound sphere. 

 

Scoring

There are two ways to score. Your team will be awarded either one point or a goal, worth three. Here’s how it works.

 

One point

When you get the ball over the crossbar, past the endline, and between the posts, your team earns a point. Here are some examples of great points.

 

 

 

Three points

 

To earn the goal and achieve three points, you need to basically get the ball into the net, obviously below the crossbar and between the pipes. Here’s a great video of goals!

 

 

Basic Rules of Play for Gaelic Football

Here is a great overview of the rules for Gaelic football from the blog, Kilclief.com.

 

General rules 

Players are allowed to carry the ball in their hands for a maximum of four steps only. The ball can be hand-passed or kicked. After making four steps, a player must solo or bounce the ball. Soloing is dropping the ball on your foot and kicking it back to your hand. Players are not allowed to bounce a Gaelic ball for two consecutive times. In male Gaelic football, players are not allowed to pick the ball from the ground directly. However, this may be allowed in ladies Gaelic football. The possession of the ball goes to the opposing team and a free is given from the foul point when a player picks the ball illegally from the ground.

Basic Techniques

Hand pass

 

There are two ways to pass. Closed fist and open hand. The closed fist is easy because you can pass it ANYWAY with the fist. But it’s different with the open hand. You can ONLY pass underhand with the open hand and the hitting hand must follow OVER the hand holding the ball. Check out the video.

 

 

Soloing

 

What sounds hard is actually easy. It’s the coordination that’s important. Watch these school children as they practice this vital technique.

 

 

Notice how they can dribble the ball like basketball then drop the ball onto their foot and kick it back to their hands. This kick back up to the hand is the art of soloing. You cannot dribble twice in succession. After a dribble (or hop) you must solo. You can solo as many times as you wish!

 

Tackling

 

The technique of tackling is basically three different ideas. First, you can do a shoulder charge. Basically that’s knocking your opponent with your shoulder ONLY. No fists or pushing.

 

Second, you can perform a hand tackle. Using your hand you knock the ball away from the opponent. You cannot hold your opponent. Focus on the ball only, not the opponent’s body, and use your inside or near opponent’s arm/hand. 

 

Third is the block down. As the opponent tries to kick for a point/goal or pass, you dive in front of the kick with your hands together trying to block it away.

 

Final score

 

The last of our primers for Gaelic Football is how you read the final score.

 

The Ireland Football final was on July 30th. Dublin beat Kerry, 1-15 to 1-13. What does this mean?

 

Let’s look at Dublin.

 

The 1 means they grabbed one goal, 3 points. The 15 means they had fifteen times where they put the ball ABOVE the crossbar or 1 point. So, Dublin scored 18 points. Kerry? Well, you do the math!

 

There is much more to this game, so we decided to just give you a video on the major points.

Hope to see you in North Olmsted this weekend as Cleveland GAA hosts teams from Ireland, New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Ohio. Ohio clubs include those from Cincinnati, Akron, and of course Cleveland.

 

The big match will be Achill Ireland against Pittsburgh. That starts at 5 pm Saturday.

Tickets are available here!