Record numbers participate in Gaelic Games Europe Finals

29 October 2023 - 12:49PM

The Craobh Rua Belgium team that won the Ladies Football Pan European Senior Final.

By John Harrington

The rapid growth of Gaelic games in Europe was vividly highlighted by the record number of clubs and players who participated in the Pan European Football Finals hosted by Den Haag on October 14.

50 teams played 105 matches and the tournament was a great success despite some inclement weather that required the organisers to think on their feet.

“By a country mile this was our biggest tournament yet,” says Gaelic Games Europe Assistant Secretary, Dave Reilly. “They're getting bigger and bigger every year.

“It was a huge undertaking. There were a lot of sleepless nights and a lot of phone-calls but we made it work in the end. The matches were held on nine pitches which were spread across three locations which were walkable to each other.

“Unfortunately the night before we had atrocious weather which meant a lot of pitches became unavailable, but creative minds came out and we were able to source last-minute astro-turf pitches in the same place and moved the goal-posts across there so we could finish the day off.”

The football finals followed quickly on the heels of the 15-a-side hurling and camogie finals the previous weekend in Maastricht which also saw record numbers take part.

Amsterdam won both the men's 15-a-side football and hurling titles.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the fear was that it would stunt the growth of Gaelic games in Europe for some time, but the reality has been something entirely different.

“I thought we were going to have a slow start coming back after Covid, but it was the complete opposite,” says Reilly.

“Teams seemed to have primed themselves during Covid and everyone really wanted to get back out there and play. When we came back last year after Covid the tournaments were huge.

“Particularly in hurling, I think we had over 200 players at some tournaments and I had never seen it that big before Covid.

“It wasn't just that people were missing the games so much and really wanted to get back playing, I also think Covid forced clubs to bring out creative streaks.

"My own club, for example, had internal game days because you obviously couldn't leave the country and play elsewhere.

“So we played amongst ourselves and this brought more people in because people who couldn't commit to travelling abroad to play four or five times in the year because of family or work commitments were able to play, and then when they started playing at home during Covid the grá for it came back.

“Clubs were then really pumped to play one another again and once we got the green light everyone was ready to go.”

A Western Brittany team made up entirely of native-born players won the Ladies Football Junior title.

Such is the rapid growth of Gaelic games on the continent that the most pressing issue for Gaelic Games Europe now is to accommodate the increasing number of players and teams.

“Yes, we’re getting growing pains in terms of logistics,” says Reilly. “It's a welcome development, but it's one we do need to address.

“Back when I started playing in 2016/2017 you would run tournaments on two pitches, but that's now impossible. You need four plus pitches now.

“We had a lot of places like Luxembourg that would regularly host tournaments but they can't anymore. It's a challenge now to find venues big enough to host our tournaments. It's a welcome challenge but one we need to address to figure out how we can handle this growth.

"Ladies football and camogie are absolutely flying, just like the men’s games are. Traditionally we could base hurling around Germany and the countries that border Germany.

“Now this year out of nowhere there's a full camogie team out of Stockholm who have come to two tournaments and are going from strength to strength.

"So we're getting pockets of this everywhere and its' brilliant. Things are absolutely exploding.

“We're talking now in 2023 and I'm wondering how we'll handle the growth, but I'm sure ten years from now I'll look back at 2023 and say, 'wow, it was tiny back then in comparison to what it is now'. The growth is just exponential.”

Men's Football Pan-European Finals:

Senior: Cumann Warszawa (Warsaw) 1-5 Nantes Don Bosco* 0-6

*all French players

Intermediate: Hillerod Wolfe Tones 4-5 Eindhoven Shamrocks 3-5

Junior: Copenhagen/Malmö 2-2 Nijmegen 2-6

Ladies Football Pan-European Finals:

Senior: Craobh Rua (Belgium) 6-5 Cumann Warszawa 0-6

Intermediate: Cumann Warszawa B 1-6 Copenhagen 0-1

Junior: Breizh Izel* (Western Brittany) 4-8 Hamburg 3-4

*all French players

Men's 15-a-side final:

Amsterdam GAC 2-7 Barcelona Gaels 2-4