Foreign games in local GAA club

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 12:20pm #1

Hurling walls in GAA clubs - they are great for practicing tennis. Better than the walls in tennis clubs.

Anyone know if i would be told to stop if i brought my kids town to it with a few tennis rackets and proceeded to hit tennis balls against the wall when its vacant? Or hockey sticks?

My kids are members of the club playing both football and hurling.

I have seen guys playing soccer on the pitches wearing man utd/ liverpool jerseys that didnt seem to be told off.

The GAA rulebook does prohibit non-GAA games being played at GAA clubs.

I havent noticed any complaints but i dont want to be scorned.

Crash Bang Wall · 04-06-2019 1:30pm

Id say it will depend on those in charge at the club or nor, and whether they have a bit of common sense.

Back when I was at college (nearly 20 years ago). I was doing a FAS Scheme in my spare time....they paid you €600 for 200 hours work in the community.....I was assigned to the GAA club, cleaning up, painting the usual.

I was also a coach of an underage soccer time.....one of the guys on the team lives beside the pitch, came down and asked me one day about training.....5 min chat.

That evening, the Chairman of the GAA club warned me not to be orgainising soccer events when I was being paid to work by the GAA....when it was FAS that were both paying me, and providing me with paint for painting the dressing rooms, and anything else that was needed!!

Coillte_Bhoy · 04-06-2019 1:35pm

sdraobs wrote: »

Hurling walls in GAA clubs - they are great for practicing tennis. Better than the walls in tennis clubs.

Anyone know if i would be told to stop if i brought my kids town to it with a few tennis rackets and proceeded to hit tennis balls against the wall when its vacant? Or hockey sticks?

My kids are members of the club playing both football and hurling.

I have seen guys playing soccer on the pitches wearing man utd/ liverpool jerseys that didnt seem to be told off.

The GAA rulebook does prohibit non-GAA games being played at GAA clubs.

I havent noticed any complaints but i dont want to be scorned.

Is this a joke? Why on earth would they be told off?

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 1:36pm

Was that more about an annoying micro managing chairman making sure that you were not distracted from your work, as opposed to the issue that it was a foreign sport you were organising.

You are probably right, it will depend on the club management/executive.

OldMrBrennan83 · 04-06-2019 1:37pm

We were ran from our local pitch for playing American football before, though it was many moons ago and we we're cutting the ****e out of it.

04-06-2019 1:39pm

Will depend on the club, years ago we used to sneak onto the main pitch in Na Piarsaigh (Cork) to play cricket. Most of us were, or had, played GAA sport at some stage.
There were a lot of angry words and calls to parents for a few weeks but they realised that a bunch of 12-15 year olds were hard to stop, during the summer holidays so just asked us to use the training pitch instead, just to prevent wear/tear on the main.

Same went for rugby.

They were fine with us pucking the sliotar around on the main though

Hammer Archer · 04-06-2019 1:42pm

Tennis would surely be allowed. Are hockey balls heavier and harder than sliotars? That would be the only reason I'd see for not allowing people hit them off the walls.

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 1:43pm

Coillte_Bhoy wrote: »

Is this a joke? Why on earth would they be told off?

The reason they would be told off is rule 5.1 of the GAA rulebook:

5.1 Uses of Property
(a) All property including Grounds, Club Houses, Halls,
Dressing Rooms and Handball Alleys owned or
controlled by units of the Association (“Association
Property”) shall be used only for the purpose of
or in connection with the playing of the Games
controlled by the Association, and for such other
purposes, which accord with the Aims of the
Association, that may be sanctioned from time to
time by Central Council.

So in other words, only GAA games are allowed to be played at GAA clubs.
Thanks for inputs guys, i was looking if people had experience of foreign games. seems that if no harm is caused and im not taking the pi55, id be okay to let my kids muck about with tennis rackets/hockey sticks

04-06-2019 3:54pm

Used to train in a local GAA hall, for technical sessions, during bad weather (rugby) too actually.

Stoner · 04-06-2019 4:11pm

Saw plenty of Racquetball games played in the two that were around when I was a young fella.

There was even a little competition arranged by the lads who worked across the road.

We'd play heads and vollies on it too between a hurling version of world cup where if the ball went past the back line you were out.

They are a fantastic amenity for all sorts of games.

Never saw anyone playing handball there though.

kippy · 04-06-2019 4:14pm

It would depend on the club and the people involved as with a lot of these types of things but the facts that it's just kids, only messing around, and ye are already members, wouldn't go against ye.

awec · 04-06-2019 4:17pm

Hammer Archer wrote: »

Tennis would surely be allowed.Are hockey balls heavier and harder than sliotars? That would be the only reason I'd see for not allowing people hit them off the walls.

Yes, much harder and much heavier. They are made of solid plastic, they don't compress at all.

If you were to hit them against a wooden surface not designed for it you'd probably end up doing damage.

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 4:23pm

thats great guys. i appreciate the input. Boards is great for this kind of thing, i couldnt find anything when i googled.

ill keep doing it with my kids. Sure all sports compliment each other. And so if my kids mess around hitting tennis balls, it will do their hurling/football good anyway. And gathering from what i am reading above, if there is no damage* and I keep it low key, it should be fine. ill make sure htey are wearing their club jerseys so we dont look like outsiders.

i have never owned a hockey ball, i mean hitting sliotars/tennis balls with a hockey stick. i didnt know hockey balls were plastic.

shockframe · 04-06-2019 4:25pm

Foreign games in local GAA club

Doubt theres a problem.

Not sure why London or New York would want to move a club match over to an Irish club ground mind.:D

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 4:39pm

shockframe wrote: »

Foreign games in local GAA club

Doubt theres a problem.

Not sure why London or New York would want to move a club match over to an Irish club ground mind.:D

hahaha, very clever. well spotted. you should be a lawyer with that sharpness to words.

i think this thread has reached a conclusion so im not going to bother changing foreign games to foreign sports.

threeball · 04-06-2019 4:44pm

sdraobs wrote: »

Hurling walls in GAA clubs - they are great for practicing tennis. Better than the walls in tennis clubs.

Anyone know if i would be told to stop if i brought my kids town to it with a few tennis rackets and proceeded to hit tennis balls against the wall when its vacant? Or hockey sticks?

My kids are members of the club playing both football and hurling.

I have seen guys playing soccer on the pitches wearing man utd/ liverpool jerseys that didnt seem to be told off.

The GAA rulebook does prohibit non-GAA games being played at GAA clubs.

I havent noticed any complaints but i dont want to be scorned.

If anyone says a word say you're working on their hand eye co-ordination and the hurl is too difficult for them to hit consistently. If they take issue with that tell them to frigg off.

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 4:46pm

threeball wrote: »

If anyone says a word say you're working on their hand eye co-ordination and the hurl is too difficult for them to hit consistently. If they take issue with that tell them to frigg off.

good idea. thanks

arctictree · 04-06-2019 5:05pm

I'll go a little against the grain here and say that GAA clubs should only really be used for GAA sports. The members have voted for this in the rules and it is a democratic association. In saying that, the GAA tend to turn a blind eye to sports/activities not in direct competition, e.g athletics and school sports days. To be fair, I doubt if my local rugby club would be too happy about hurling/football being played on their pitches.

sdraobs · 04-06-2019 6:02pm

arctictree wrote: »

I'll go a little against the grain here and say that GAA clubs should only really be used for GAA sports. The members have voted for this in the rules and it is a democratic association. In saying that, the GAA tend to turn a blind eye to sports/activities not in direct competition, e.g athletics and school sports days. To be fair, I doubt if my local rugby club would be too happy about hurling/football being played on their pitches.

good point.

The GAA get alot of government money every year. And the government represent all the people of ireland, not just GAA players or people that voted for them. but that doesnt mean that they should be taken over by soccer tournments.

i am gathering from this, that anything formal is forbidden, but a few friends who are members of the club mucking* about when the grounds arent being used shouldnt be frowned upon. unless half the town turns up at the same time and it turns into a farce.

*muck about is a bad term, i dont mean turning the pitches to muck.

Bonniedog · 04-06-2019 6:16pm

Erin's Isle used to have American football team practising on their all weather training pitch!

dobman88 · 04-06-2019 6:27pm

There isnt a night goes by when we have a match or training that there aren't kids playing soccer, taking penalties, playing heads and volleys on the 2nd pitch. Sometimes its jumpers for goalposts, others it's just a few kicking into one of the goals. And theres never a word said, surely it's in the clubs interest to keep the kids involved and interested. Once they're not causing trouble or making a total mess, leave them to it.

And they'd all be wearing soccer jerseys, even the boys and girls at club football and hurling training, they'd have soccer jerseys on. Dont see the point in mentioning that as all kids wear shirts of their favourite team or player.

arctictree · 04-06-2019 8:07pm

We have all the kids here wearing all sorts of tops while training and mucking about. The wearing of a rival clubs jersey though is strictly forbidden!!

Sheep breeder · 04-06-2019 10:01pm

arctictree wrote: »

I'll go a little against the grain here and say that GAA clubs should only really be used for GAA sports. The members have voted for this in the rules and it is a democratic association. In saying that, the GAA tend to turn a blind eye to sports/activities not in direct competition, e.g athletics and school sports days. To be fair, I doubt if my local rugby club would be too happy about hurling/football being played on their pitches.

There was a community in Wicklow who raised money for pitch’s and centre for all and the gaa stepped in and took it over for themselves and caused a lot of bad blood, in our local pitch every thing is played by the local kids for the last forty year and the reason is keep the kids involved in the village.

kippy · 04-06-2019 11:04pm

Sheep breeder wrote: »

There was a community in Wicklow who raised money for pitch’s and centre for all and the gaa stepped in and took it over for themselves and caused a lot of bad blood, in our local pitch every thing is played by the local kids for the last forty year and the reason is keep the kids involved in the village.

The thing is, it's hard to tell what exactly is going on in the background with a lot of these things.

While the money may be "Raised" locally and even come in the form of grants, someone or group of people have to be organised enough to:
1. Raise that money (Either by fundraising initiatives or by applying for the grants/loans/supports.
2. Implement the building of the facilities.
3. Have the resources to maintain and organise the use of the facilities.

Usually within most communities the GAA (through volunteers) are best positioned to set up the structures that allow for these things to happen and this comes with the side effect of limiting the sports that can be played at an organised level at these facilities.

Charles Babbage · 05-06-2019 12:17am

Sheep breeder wrote: »

There was a community in Wicklow who raised money for pitch’s and centre for all and the gaa stepped in and took it over for themselves and caused a lot of bad blood, in our local pitch every thing is played by the local kids for the last forty year and the reason is keep the kids involved in the village.

If someone else raised the money, why do they then not own the pitch themselves? More likely they collected money on behalf of a GAA club.

Neon_Lights · 05-06-2019 1:38am

sdraobs wrote: »

Hurling walls in GAA clubs - they are great for practicing tennis. Better than the walls in tennis clubs.

Anyone know if i would be told to stop if i brought my kids town to it with a few tennis rackets and proceeded to hit tennis balls against the wall when its vacant? Or hockey sticks?

My kids are members of the club playing both football and hurling.

I have seen guys playing soccer on the pitches wearing man utd/ liverpool jerseys that didnt seem to be told off.

The GAA rulebook does prohibit non-GAA games being played at GAA clubs.

I havent noticed any complaints but i dont want to be scorned.

There's a squash court in an unnamed Tipperary gaa club

Foreign games in local GAA club

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