Perception of Gaelic Games Abroad

WesternZulu

It is always something that i wondered.

Particularly in the UK since they are our nearest neighbour.
Is there much known about football and hurling...and if there is anything known about the GAA, then how are its games perceived?

You would imagine that anybody in the UK with an interest in sport would have come across gaelic games at some stage in their lives.

Since the GAA is so popular here you would think that a lot of Europe would be aware that there are 2 unique sports to Ireland, not played anywhere else, that are hugely popular on this island?

Or am i being naive, that because our games are isolated from the rest of Europe and the World, unless they are pointed out by an Irish person to someone then the majority of people in the UK/Europe do not know Gaelic Football or Hurling even exist?

riffmongous

Did you see that old black and white film they were showing on the news a few weeks ago about hurling over in the US in the '30s(I think)?

I have a few friends from Germany who I tried to show how great hurling is but they didn't buy it, they thought it was more of a novelty Irish tradition.

baztard

I spent a year travelling through latin america recently. The hostels on the gringo trail are full of europeans, north americans, australians, new zealanders and a few other countries. Quite a lot of the English and Australians I spoke to knew about GAA. Some north americans knew about it, but none of the europeans. But then again these people also thought the Irish language was just a version of English, and that NI & ROI had the same sort of relationship as North Korea & South Korea. So their knowledge or Ireland wasn't amazing. All of them were fascinated about the football and hurling when i explained them to them.

Henno30

You have to think how crazy hurling looks to people who haven't seen it before though. Completely anarchic. I've met american tourists at games alright and they tend to be sports fans who've been shown dvds or have found it on the internet. They always love the speed of it. Would be great in some ways if the championship could be syndicated abroad but it's not something that would bother me to be honest.

Professey Chin

I remember having to do a course for work that included the instructor coming over from Germany. This was the middle of July so Championship in full swing. He came into the course 1 morning completely confused by this strange stick sport hed seen on tv the night before that he couldnt stop watching :pac:

Flukey

Not a lot of people know about our two big sports, but most that do see it are fascinated by it. Particularly Hurling, which is something so different to what they would know. They are in awe at watching a game that those of us with more knowledge would know to be a poor quality game. In those situations, I always think what their reaction would be if they saw a good match. Including this year, I've brought various people from other countries to matches. They are always amazed. I had some people from Canada at the infamous Louth v Meath match this year. They really enjoyed it. That night the World Cup Final was on. We all know that was a terrible match. The Canadians said that what they had seen in Croke Park was far better.

Later in the summer I had some English people with me, also at football matches. They too enjoyed the games they saw. What they also liked was the atmosphere, the way rival fans mixed together and they also commented at the amount of women and children that were at the matches. They had done a little research on the rules, so they were able to pick up on what was happening pretty quickly, though they did wonder why players didn't go for goals more often than they did. I explained that it is better to take your points and wait for real goal chances.

It has been commented on in this forum about how the GAA don't do enough to market the games to tourists. PArticularly in the early stages of the championship, there is always spare capacity in the venues. Targetting hotels and guesthouses in the vicinity of those venues with information about the games that are on could get them some additional fans and help to widen the visibility of the game to people from other countries.

riffmongous

Flukey wrote: »

It has been commented on in this forum about how the GAA don't do enough to market the games to tourists. PArticularly in the early stages of the championship, there is always spare capacity in the venues. Targetting hotels and guesthouses in the vicinity of those venues with information about the games that are on could get them some additional fans and help to widen the visibility of the game to people from other countries.

This is something I've often wondered about. You know when you go on a school tour, (apologies if you don't know;)) one of the highlights is always going to see a game, usually soccer, involving the city you are visiting. So considering the number of spanish students who visit Ireland every summer how come most how come nothing is done to bring them along to a game? I know Bray Wanderers soccer club do something like it

Flukey

You do sometimes see groups of foreign students brought to matches in Croke Park. I would imagine it is more an initiative of the school they are studying at rather than the GAA itself. It is something they should be doing. Target all the English language schools. Years ago we used to have foreign students staying with us. If they had a Sunday free, we sometimes would bring the ones staying with us to Croke Park. They loved it.

flahavaj

In my experience Yanks always enjoy hurling far more than soccer anyway.

Flukey

Most people seeing hurling for the first time prefer it to soccer, or at the very least as soccer fans they are highly impressed with what they see. I remember being in Croke Park for one of the International Rules series matches a number of years ago. On the same day they were playing the railway cup hurling semi-finals. Unfortunately not a lot of people were in, but you could clearly hear the oohs and aahhs in Australian accents as the Australian fans watched on. The Australian team came out at one point to try their hand at playing with a sliothar and camán. The crowds watched with interest. It was a pity that more Australians hadn't arrived early and saw the Hurling matches. They would have loved them.