GAELIC FOOTBALL is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the other team's goal (3 points) or between two upright posts above the goal and over a crossbar (1 point). The ball can be carried in the hand for a distance of four steps and can be kicked or "hand-passed", a striking motion with the hand or fist. After every four steps the ball must be either bounced or "solo-ed", an action of dropping the ball onto the foot and kicking it back into the hand. You may not bounce the ball twice in a row. Players may contest for the ball by playing it with the hand or by shoulder charging an opponent side-to-side.
TRAINING
Wednesday 2PM - Pontcanna Fields
(All Abilities Welcome!)
BUCS (MENS)
This year we are entering a Mens squad into the BUCS league for Gaelic football, this will give students weekly fixtures in the Midlands & South league starting from mid October and running through to the end of January every Saturday, playing teams such as Birmingham, Nottingham, Loughborough, St Marys, Coventry and Nottingham Trent once at Home and once away.
In addition to this, there is a central venue National Championship Final hosted in conjuction with the BUGAA every year, this is where the 3 university leagues, Midlands & South, North-West, and Scotland combine. We are then placed in either Division 1 or 2 depending on league postion. The most recent of these tournaments was in Manchester where we reached the Division 2 Semi-finals out of 10 teams on the day.
BUGAA (LADIES)
There is currently no BUCS league for Ladies at the moment, however this is something that BUCS are working on. Instead the BUGAA a subsidy of the British Provincial Council of GAA organise a league almost identical to the mens BUCS league where it too runs from mid October through to the end of January providing games against other univeristy teams. Unfortuanetly due to this being classed as an external league by the AU funding is low meaning that as a club we would struggle to be able pay for transport, referees and other admin costs each weekend without setting membership prices too high. We do however still intend providing sufficient numbers to enter the Ladies into one-off tournaments and friendlies where possible.
EXTERNAL LEAGUES & TOURNAMENTS
Separate from BUCS we do try and aim to enter several other GAA related tournaments throughout the year, these tend to be once BUCS is finished. (Post-January) These tournaments are usually run by other University teams or Senior GAA clubs throughout the UK and tend to be self-funded as AU financial support is limited for anything non-BUCS related, e.g. Students contribute toward transport and accomodation if an overnight stay is necessary. We try hard to enter external tournaments as they provide us with valuable connections to other GAA teams and are a good way of filling the gap between January and the end of the academic year.
In May 2025 we entered the Thomas MacCurtains GAA 7's in Ilford, East London. we were able to field 2 teams for this Cardiff Harps and Gaels with the Gaels coming through on top out of 10 teams after a penalty shootout to take home the clubs first piece of silverware!
SOCIALS
Our socials are ran every Wednesday night starting at Oneills Pub, St Marys Street who are our main sponsor for the coming year. Details of social themes are announced via our Instagram page so please follow to stay up to date! (Link Above)
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