The Irish Life GAA Healthy Club Programme is the GAA’s flagship programme to promote health and wellbeing in Ireland outside of its official game’s structures.
It aims to support GAA clubs and communities to achieve locally defined health and wellbeing goals that also reflect the national policy agenda for sport, physical activity, mental health, and preventative health. The programme sets out to help GAA clubs explore how they support the holistic health of their members and the communities they serve. It has the following three aims:
- Initiate new health-promoting activities that directly address local needs
- Mainstream best practice healthy behaviours across the core business (Gaelic Games) of the club (e.g. around alcohol, diet, substances and mental health)
- Provide a framework for formalising existing health promotion activities that are in line with the programme goals.
The programme has 6 health and wellbeing priority areas:
- Physical activity
- Diversity and inclusion
- Community development
- Mental fitness
- Substance use and gambling awareness
- Healthy eating
The programme supports clubs to:
- identify what they are already doing well,
- identify areas for improvement,
- and empower them to ensure that everyone who engages with their club benefits in a health-enhancing way, be they players, officers, coaches, parents, supporters, or members of their community.
How to get involved:
The Irish Life GAA Healthy Club Programme operates off a two-year cycle. Clubs have 18 months to complete the criteria and subsequently achieve either Foundation, Silver or Gold Healthy Club status.
Applications to join the programme will open in Autumn 2025, before applying we recommend interested clubs:
- Discuss joining the programme with their club executive.
- Link in with their County Health and Wellbeing Committee for local support.
- Check out Irish Life GAA Healthy Clubs Programme | Tobar for detailed information on the programme format.
- Access Healthy Club Officer training on www.learning.gaa.ie through the club officer training programme.
Benefits of becoming a Healthy Club:
