Naming of clubs in different counties

cms88 · 31-10-2015 2:08pm #1

Here's a question that recently occurred to me and I thought that I'd put it out there to see if anyone knew anything about it.
It relates to the naming of GAA clubs around the country.

Take Offaly as an example. Most clubs (definitely in excess of 90%) are named after their village or Parish or general area, i.e. Tullamore, Edenderry, Birr, Rhode, etc. That is how the clubs are known. There are the occasional amalgamation club like St. Rynaghs or Shamrocks, but most of the rest are a placename and that's it.

In other counties, this appears not to be the case at all. In fact, quite the opposite in some cases. Any reason for this?

PTH2009 · 31-10-2015 3:32pm

How come there's so many sarsfields in the country.

Fireball07 · 31-10-2015 3:32pm

cms88 wrote: »

Here's a question that recently occurred to me and I thought that I'd put it out there to see if anyone knew anything about it.
It relates to the naming of GAA clubs around the country.

Take Offaly as an example. Most clubs (definitely in excess of 90%) are named after their village or Parish or general area, i.e. Tullamore, Edenderry, Birr, Rhode, etc. That is how the clubs are known. There are the occasional amalgamation club like St. Rynaghs or Shamrocks, but most of the rest are a placename and that's it.

In other counties, this appears not to be the case at all. In fact, quite the opposite in some cases. Any reason for this?

Can you give examples of which counties in particular you are thinking of?

In Limerick, for example, I would say that the vast vast majority of clubs are merely the name of the parish/village. Amalgamations are an exception some of the time and you have the odd other exception- Fr. Casey's from Abbeyfeale, South Liberties from Ballyneety, St. Senan's from Foynes; a couple of others.

Off the top of my head, I would have said it was similar enough in most areas. City teams tend to be the most likely to have other names, I'd say.

Radio5 · 31-10-2015 5:42pm

Sometimes the Club name will reflect the history of a place.

In Kerry for example there was quite a strong republican tradition so clubs in Tralee town would have been called after Austin Stack, John Mitchel, Charlie Kerins and The O'Rahilly.

In Killarney, Dr. Crokes were founded not long after the GAA itself and took their name from the first patron of the GAA, Dr. Croke who was an Archbishop and for whom Croke Park is named.

cms88 · 31-10-2015 7:22pm

Fireball07 wrote: »

Can you give examples of which counties in particular you are thinking of?

In Limerick, for example, I would say that the vast vast majority of clubs are merely the name of the parish/village. Amalgamations are an exception some of the time and you have the odd other exception- Fr. Casey's from Abbeyfeale, South Liberties from Ballyneety, St. Senan's from Foynes; a couple of others.

Off the top of my head, I would have said it was similar enough in most areas. City teams tend to be the most likely to have other names, I'd say.

All counties really

CrabRevolution · 01-11-2015 2:02pm

In Meath its generally just always the place name or a Saint.

Any clubs not having a place name/saint are amalgamations of some sort like Clann na nGael (Athboy/An Ghaeltacht), Na Fianna (Enfield/Baconstown), Blackhall Gaels (Batterstown/Kilcloon) etc.

The only non amalgamated clubs to buck the trend are Simonstown Gaels and Navan O'Mahony's. Even then they arent exactly pushing the boat out.

feargale · 06-02-2016 10:51pm

PTH2009 wrote: »

How come there's so many sarsfields in the country.

Because we're a great ould country for diversity. Celtic imaginative genius and all that!

Bonniedog · 07-02-2016 6:31pm

Many Dublin clubs are saints names of parishes. North county villages and newer suburbs tend to be place names. There are some older clubs that have political/historical connections - Crokes, Faughs, Parnells, Clan na Gael, Erins Isle, Robert Emmets, Wild Geese etc.

Weirdest is possibly Starlights which was named for its proximity to airport I do believe!

feargale · 07-02-2016 10:24pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

Weirdest is possibly Starlights which was named for its proximity to airport I do believe!

At least that has some claim to originality unlike most of the others.

Not to talk of the duplication of county colours. 5 counties sporting green and "gold", 4 red and white, 4 blue and some shade of yellow, 4 blue and white, 2 maroon for goodness' sake! Think of all the wonderful colour combinations that could be used, green and black, orange and blue, purple and green, brown and yellow ( or "wine and gold.") And despite the fact that about a quarter of the world's national flags have the combination, heaven forbid that any county would remind us of perfidious Albion by wearing red and blue. Is Portarlington the only club to wear red and blue? I wonder if that is a recognition of its Huguenot heritage.

CrabRevolution · 07-02-2016 11:10pm

feargale wrote: »

At least that has some claim to originality unlike most of the others.

Not to talk of the duplication of county colours. 5 counties sporting green and "gold", 4 red and white, 4 blue and some shade of yellow, 4 blue and white, 2 maroon for goodness' sake! Think of all the wonderful colour combinations that could be used, green and black, orange and blue, purple and green, brown and yellow ( or "wine and gold.") And despite the fact that about a quarter of the world's national flags have the combination, heaven forbid that any county would remind us of perfidious Albion by wearing red and blue. Is Portarlington the only club to wear red and blue? I wonder if that is a recognition of its Huguenot heritage.

Erin's own of Cork and both St. Thomas and Abbeyknockmoy of Galway are 3 more red and blue just off the top of my head. I'm pretty sure many many other clubs have those colours too. My old primary school was in the Gaeltacht and still had blue and red jerseys, so the connection to Britain holds very little water.

Regarding county colours, it's hardly unique to Ireland. Look at the premier league for example, out of 20 teams 6 of them are some combination of red/red and white, 5 are some combination of blue/blue and white, 2 are maroon and blue, and 2 more are mostly white. Even with promotion and relegation it doesn't change much, the current top 12 in the championship all wear strips similar to current premier league teams.

Xenophile · 08-02-2016 9:08am

Very few Commercial Clubs in rural Ireland but I am happy to say that there is one in Clonmel. The hurling club in Clonmel is called Saint Mary's. The dual club just outside the town is called after a stream Moyle Rovers.

callaway92 · 08-02-2016 10:35am

Most clubs not named after towns would be ones made up of a couple of villages etc. put together?

Bonniedog · 08-02-2016 11:59am

Xenophile wrote: »

Very few Commercial Clubs in rural Ireland but I am happy to say that there is one in Clonmel. The hurling club in Clonmel is called Saint Mary's. The dual club just outside the town is called after a stream Moyle Rovers.

My granddad who was from Tipp played with Dublin Commercials and Dublin in the 1920s. They were mainly Tipperary men who worked in pubs. Club is still going strong and Tipp connection survives.

Xenophile · 08-02-2016 12:16pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

My granddad who was from Tipp played with Dublin Commercials and Dublin in the 1920s. They were mainly Tipperary men who worked in pubs. Club is still going strong and Tipp connection survives.

Great, that's a nice story !

feargale · 09-02-2016 4:00am

Bonniedog wrote: »

My granddad who was from Tipp played with Dublin Commercials and Dublin in the 1920s. They were mainly Tipperary men who worked in pubs. Club is still going strong and Tipp connection survives.

Didn't they win the All-Ireland senior hurling in 1889?

Duffy the Vampire Slayer · 09-02-2016 11:55am

Most in Mayo are town names, with a few exceptions- Eastern Gaels, Davitts, etc.

Most in Roscommon on the other hand seem to have Saints' names or others- Eire Og, Michael Glaveys etc.

Bonniedog · 09-02-2016 12:18pm

feargale wrote: »

Didn't they win the All-Ireland senior hurling in 1889?

They did. And won a good few more Dublin senior titles and represented Dublin at senior and junior in other years. Last senior was in 1916 coincidentally.

My granddad played with Dublin in the 1920s when county champions were starting to pick players from other clubs. He left Tipp in his late teens, married a Dublin woman, had two sons and a grandson who played hurling for Dublin but used to support any other team playing the Dubs

The Tipp/Dublin hurling connection is historically very strong. Of current senior panel I can off the top of my head think of six who have at least one parent or grand parent from Tipp, and of course Stakelum is on the line and Dwyer on the field. And my granddad would still be shouting for the fkn Cats!

Hesh's Umpire · 09-02-2016 3:13pm

feargale wrote: »

Is Portarlington the only club to wear red and blue?

Portarlington's colours are maroon with a green sash.

StupidLikeAFox · 10-02-2016 2:37pm

Xenophile wrote: »

Very few Commercial Clubs in rural Ireland but I am happy to say that there is one in Clonmel. The hurling club in Clonmel is called Saint Mary's. The dual club just outside the town is called after a stream Moyle Rovers.

What is a "Commercial" club out of curiosity?

Bonniedog · 10-02-2016 4:52pm

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

What is a "Commercial" club out of curiosity?

People who were involved in commerce - business. Don't know about Clonmel but the Dublin Commercials were mostly barmen and publicans in the old days, and still strong connection Tipp pubs today. I assume that in my Grandad's time such teams were ways of people working in same places or trades had of making a social connection. Especially if they were from same part of country originally. There was similar link to Geraldines club which was nearly all Guinness employees and which won All Ireland for Dublin in late 1800s or early 1900s.

Stationmaster · 10-02-2016 5:07pm

Off the top of my head Clare would have Wolfe Tones, Eire Og, Smith O'Briens, St. Senans, St. Breckans, St Josephs x 2, Michael Cusacks, Shannon Gaels, O'Currys, Shamrocks - can't think of anymore. Two clubs wear claret and gold which is unusual enough I suppose but the majority are 'normal colours'.

armaghlad · 10-02-2016 5:19pm

RE OP

In the north clubs tend to have a name AS WELL AS the placename of the club; and often (but not always) are used inter-changeably eg:

Ruairí Óg, Cushendall (Antrim)
St Patrick's, Cullyhanna (Armagh)
Cavan Gaels, Cavan (Cavan)
Owen Roe's, Coleraine (Derry)
St Eunan's, Letterkenny (Donegal)
RGU, Downpatrick (Down)
Shamrocks, Roslea (Fermanagh)
Harps, Monaghan (Monaghan)
Na Fianna, Coalisland (Tyrone)

Donegal and Down are big exceptions to the rule with a lot of clubs named after just the placename (eg Kilcar, Termon; Ardglass, Teconnaught)

Cavan, Fermanagh and Monaghan are a bit of a mix;

To my mind, there are few, if any, Antrim, Armagh, Derry or Tyrone clubs that don't use both a placename and a club name together.

feargale · 14-02-2016 4:17pm

Bonniedog wrote: »

People who were involved in commerce - business. Don't know about Clonmel but the Dublin Commercials were mostly barmen and publicans in the old days, and still strong connection Tipp pubs today. I assume that in my Grandad's time such teams were ways of people working in same places or trades had of making a social connection. Especially if they were from same part of country originally. There was similar link to Geraldines club which was nearly all Guinness employees and which won All Ireland for Dublin in late 1800s or early 1900s.

Limerick Commercials were backboned by young single men who worked in Cannocks and slept over the shop. I think Dublin Commercials were also composed mainly of men in the rag trade. I know of at least one.

yesnow · 03-11-2017 5:06pm

In Galway, especially East Galway it is quite common to use two placenames from the parish. Some examples:

Kilkerrin-Clonbern
Mountbellew-Moylough
Ahascragh-Fohenagh
Oranmore-Maree
Salthill-Knocknacarra

Bonniedog · 04-11-2017 12:50pm

feargale wrote: »

Limerick Commercials were backboned by young single men who worked in Cannocks and slept over the shop. I think Dublin Commercials were also composed mainly of men in the rag trade. I know of at least one.

My granddad was a barman so assumed that was main component of Dublin Commericals. Club has had, and continues to have, very strong link with Tipp publicans and barmen. One of few surviving hurling only clubs. There was another team in early part of century called Grocers who were also mostly barmen and shop assistants.

My granddad was fond of reminding us that there was no hurling really in Dublin until people from Tipp and elsewhere brought it. Which is mainly true. Football was always strong in the north county where most teams are called after the villages and towns they are from - Skerries, Man O'War, etc. City teams which were founded later are mostly called after the Catholic parish they are in - Vincents, Josephs, Finbarrs and so on.

Oldest clubs are called after GAA founders and patrons - Crokes, Parnells, Kickhams. There used also be a Davitts as far I recall, but long since disappeared.

Naming of clubs in different counties

Comments