It’s footy, but not as much of the rest of the world knows it.
Due to the huge Irish expat community in the UAE, Gaelic football has an equally massive following.
Teams play and participate in competitions all over the GCC, and if you’re looking to get involved we’ve pulled together all you need to know.
What is Gaelic football?
In the most basic terms, Gaelic football is a cross between rugby and what you rugby folk like to call ‘soccer’.
As with rugby union, there are 15 players a side. You have one goalkeeper, six backs, two midfielders and six forwards. And the whole idea of the game is to kick or punch the ball (that is similar to a volleyball) either into the other team’s goal to score three points, or to get it over the 8ft 2in crossbar and between the tall upright posts for one point.
The version of Gaelic football known and loved by millions across the world dates back to the late 19th century but earlier incarnations have been recorded as far back as the early 1300s.
The sport has three main competitions: the All-Ireland Club Championship, the National Football League and the All-Ireland Senior Championship, which is regarded as the pinnacle of the Gaelic Football with an annual final at Dublin’s Croke Park that attracts more than 80,000 fans.
The Gaelic Athletic Association, or GAA, governs the sport worldwide and although the players are amateur and don’t get paid for their efforts, the prestige of representing your club or county far outweighs any lack of financial incentives to do so.
Where can you play it in Abu Dhabi?
The UAE has a hugely thriving Irish community – you only have to look at the amount of Emerald Isle-themed pubs across the country to realise that. For that reason, there is also a thriving community of sportsmen and women playing games from the old country.
Gaelic football in the UAE is governed by the Middle East GAA (https://middleeastgaa.com/), which although new (it was only set up for the 2013/14 season) is one of the fastest-growing associations of its type in the world. It has 15 clubs from six nations in the region, with two from Abu Dhabi and another based in Al Ain (more on them soon).
In 2015, the Middle East GAA set up and hosted the first-ever GAA World Games, which took place in Abu Dhabi and had teams from across the world competing against each other. The Middle East has proved what a hotbed of talent it is, winning the men’s senior football title at all three of the Games held so far, also grabbing the ladies’ crown on one occasion.
So, what clubs do we have here in the capital?
Abu Dhabi Na Fianna
Founded back in 1995, Abu Dhabi Na Fianna is one of the largest sports clubs in the Gulf region. It began life in Mushrif Park, where four Irish expats would get together every Saturday to play a bit of hurling. Their group soon expanded and before long a fully fledged GAA club had been set up, attracting both Irish and international players. In the late 1990s, Na Fianna were the dominant force of Gaelic sports in the UAE, regularly out-shining their noisy neighbours up the road in Dubai.
And although their fierce rivals might have shifted the balance of power since then, Na Fianna is doing its utmost to reclaim their place at the top of the Emirati pile. In 1999, it established a ladies’ team, who would go on to become Middle Eastern champions in 2013 with an unprecedented unbeaten run. Its youth section was set up in 2004 with the aim of bringing through the next generation of Na Fianna stars. A hugely friendly and welcoming club, Na Fianna regular organises social events and has roughly 500 members. Now based in Zayed Sports City, training is every Monday and Wednesday from 7pm to 8pm.
Visit www.facebook.com/abudhabinafiannagaaclub for more information on how to join.
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Al Ain GAA Club
The Garden City’s very own GAA club was started in 2009 by a band of homesick Irish expats wanting a taste of home in their sporting lives. Since then, Al Ain GAA has gone from strength to strength with membership numbers rising year on year – its recruits all hoping to pull on their rather dashing purple jerseys. The team makes full use of the excellent facilities at the Al Ain Amblers Rugby Club (if you’ve never been, it is a hugely impressive venue) and has swiftly established itself as one of the pivotal parts of an ever-expanding Irish community in the city. But it’s not just the Emerald Isle’s expats that do their bit for Al Ain GAA as players from the UK, New Zealand and South Africa have donned its colours in recent years. The club has two men’s football teams and a pair of ladies’ squads, some of whom have represented the Middle East with great distinction in the GAA World Games. A junior section was started in 2019, providing local young talent a platform from which to show off their skills. It might not be the biggest club in the country but what it lacks in size it makes up for in spirit.
Visit www.facebook.com/alaingaaclub for more information on how to join.
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Al Reem Shamrocks
The new kids on the block, Al Reem Shamrocks were only founded in 2017 but have quickly emerged as one of the most vibrant and talented clubs in the UAE. Calling the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Khalifa City their home, the Shamrocks have three men’s teams competing at the junior and intermediate levels and a whopping five women’s teams – proving just how far they have come in such a short space of time. They have expanded their GAA reach in recent years by setting up hurling and camogie teams. And they’ve even branched out into handball – pretty successfully, we might add – hosting the sport’s first-ever Middle East tournament and beating Riyadh in the final. As for the football, training sessions take place at 7pm every Monday for the women, followed by the men at 8pm. Membership costs a mere Dhs500 for the year (or Dhs300 for returning players) and the price includes the club’s pretty natty black and red kit.
Visit www.facebook.com/alreemshamrocksgaa for more information on how to join.
