Cork players, left to right, Robbie O'Flynn, Brian Hayes, and Darragh Fitzgibbon in action against Clare players, left to right, David McInerney, John Conlon, Darragh Lohan, and Diarmuid Ryan, during the GAA Hurling All-Ireland Senior Championship Final between Clare and Cork at Croke Park in Dublin. Photo by Daire Brennan/Sportsfile.
Gaelic games will bridge a 120-year gap when they return to the Olympic stage in Paris tomorrow.
For the first time since they were official demonstration sports at the 1904 Games in St Louis, a two-day demonstration will see Gaelic football, hurling, camogie and Ladies Gaelic football feature as part of a sports festival in the Olympic fan zone at Chateau Vincennes in Paris.
Ireland is one of 10 countries that has been chosen to feature in a 10-day festival of sport showcasing indigenous European sports and games. Sport Ireland has nominated the GAA to feature Gaelic games with the local Paris Gaels GAA club involved in exhibiting the games.
Tomorrow (Thursday), there will be three hours of activity for local schoolchildren from 3pm – 6pm. On Friday, there will be another exhibition aimed at the general public attending the fan zones and watching the Olympics to experience Gaelic games from 12.0pm to 3pm.
The high-profile exposure is a huge boost to World GAA as it continues its campaign of international awareness. World GAA accounts for 470 clubs outside of Ireland with Gaelic games played in 52 countries.
The GAA and Camogie Association secured UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status for hurling and camogie in 2018, and Gaelic football and Ladies Gaelic football have this month been formally recognised on Ireland’s national list, the first step in the bid to also secure UNESCO statues for football.
A GAA delegation led by Director General Tom Ryan will be guests of Ireland’s Ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, and hold a number of meetings with sporting bodies as part of the three-day visit to Paris.