A record number of teams and players took part in the 2024 All Britain Competition last week in The Hazelwood Centre in Sunbury-On-Thames, London.
3,887 children and 350 club and school teams participated in the four day festival of Gaelic football hurling and camogie in what was the 12th edition of a competition that goes from strength to strength every year.
GAA President, Jarlath Burns, was in attendance at the ABCs for the first time and was hugely impressed by what he witnessed.
“The GAA is all about values, it's a sporting organisation but it's much, much more than this,” said Burns.
“It's about community and having respect for each other, it's about valuing our amateur status, it's about being totally inclusive, and it's about team-work and volunteerism.
“You see all that in a real special way here in this space. For me as well coming over from Ireland seeing young people who you would never normally see playing GAA, all of the different accents and types of schools and clubs and all of the variety of skills and the journey that people are on in their Gaelic games story is very, very special to watch.”
3,887 children and 350 club and school teams took part in the 2024 All Britain Competition.
The numbers of children playing Gaelic games in Britain is increasingly rapidly year on year, and Britain GAA secretary, Michael Walker, believes the future will continue to get brighter and brighter.
“The week was fantastic,” said Walker. “It exceeded all of our expectations. A special thank-you to the 92 volunteers working over last four days and our wonderful ABC committee.
“I'd also like to thank Gael Londain for the use of their venue and all the club volunteers. The future is very bright for our sport as our numbers continue to grow. Thanks to all our sponsors who continue to support the growth of the event.
“It's been a great year but I think the target is to continue to grow the event and make it bigger and better.”