Recreational Games

Social & Recreational GAA

 

Stay and Play with the GAA

Gaelic games have acted as a hugely important social and cultural conduit for countless thousands of Irish people over the years.

The GAA has always seen itself as an association not afraid to try out new ideas or adapt existing practices to meet changing social demographics and the needs of the Association's membership. The concept of Recreational GAA was devised in 2003 under the presidency of Sean Kelly through the Social and Recreational committee. Over the last year the Ulster GAA has held numerous Social & Recreational blitzes around the country

This is a project targeting males and females of all ages who aren't currently playing competitive football and would like the opportunity to ‘have a kick about' in a fun enviroment. We all know players in our club or indeed past members that this game will suit, so this is a great chance for them to get back playing our games and gain the health benefits associated with playing sport.

Various initiatives have occcured in the past in terms of "old crocks”, over 40s, internal winter leagues and charity matches, so the interest is probably there within your club. All it requires is someone to contact a few possible candidates and you'll be surprised to see how keen some people are to continue play or indeed try and play our games. Not all players wish to play our games competitively and without this outlet provided by Social games many stop playing at an early age and in many cases their participation in club life ceases.

There are no set rules as such but some recommendations are limited to 2 touch and no intentional contact. Games can be organised for numbers from 3-a-side to 15-a-side and it is recommended that periods of play should be approximately 10 minutes in length with at least a three minute interval after each phase for obvious reasons!