Kian Gadsby
Despite being incredibly popular in its Irish home, Gaelic football barely gets a mention when discussing sports anywhere else in the world.
However, this may be about to change. The sport has gathered a reputation for being an inclusive game, and with its captivating gameplay, popularity is starting to surge across the UK.
Despite this recent rise, Gaelic football, which is one of the last truly amateur sports and not even the top players are paid, is still relatively unknown to the masses, with many seasoned sports fans and students unfamiliar with the sport.
The fear of the unknown is a significant barrier to entry for prospective players, and with some key stars graduating, the University of Nottingham’s team suffered as a result.
In a bid to finally shine the spotlight and demystify this ancient sport, Impact caught up with University of Nottingham’s Men’s Gaelic Football Team Half Forward John Doherty as part of Impact’s Students Sporting Stories Series.
John discussed the team’s fortunes, future ambitions and outlined why new players should consider joining the team even if they are unfamiliar with the sport.
What is Gaelic Football?
Since many students in the UK will be unfamiliar with Gaelic football, the niche sport can initially be complicated to understand.
However, when you grasp the basics, there are obvious parallels between this sport and the more popular association football. The game is played with two teams of 15, including a goalkeeper, on a pitch that is larger than a football pitch with a goal with rugby posts placed at each end.
Fundamentally, the core difference is that the ball is regularly in players’ hands, although they must regularly kick and bounce the ball. Scoring is also different, with one point is awarded for kicking the ball over the bar between the posts, with three points the reward for getting the ball in the goal.
With the sport being very similar to football, John expressed that although it was a childhood experience that initially brought him to the game, his experience of football proved vital to his success after adopting Gaelic at university.
“I started when I was around 9 years old but quit when I was 12/13 to focus on football. I picked it back up at university after seeing the stall at freshers fair and have loved it since.
“The game is different to other team sports in that it involves many 1v1 situations as you are directly against the player that you are marking.
“It is a very fast paced and physical sport that needs high endurance and fitness levels.”
Down but Not Out – How will they rebound from Last Season’s Disappointments?
Last season was a disappointing one for the men’s team, as they were an inexperienced side and as a consequence struggled to compete with some of the squads from other universities.
In some games, they ended up unable to find enough available players to fulfil their league fixtures, ultimately resulting in a points deduction and a last placed finish in their BUCS league.
Undeterred, the story didn’t end there. By the time March came around and the team went to Manchester to compete in the Championship tournament, they were able to give a much better account of themselves.
A monumental effort saw them defeat Birmingham in the league stage, and they ended up narrowly missing out on a place in the Shield final after a tough loss to Edinburgh.
When asked about their form, John gave an honest reflection of their season.
Although he said that the team were not pleased with their performances, they are positive that they can make progress next year.
“Funnily enough we aren’t too happy with the -3 points we got. However, as a team we started picking up some big results in the Championship in Manchester towards the end of the season, and we are optimistic that we can build on that for next year.”
Positivity heading into the new season was a key theme of our conversation.
When I asked John specifically about their ambitions for next year, he didn’t hesitate to say that he remained upbeat that the team could bounce back and earn promotion.
“Main objective this year is to get back to being a competitive team in the league.
“We were a team full of freshers last year after losing a lot of players to graduation, many of these freshers being completely new to the sport entirely.
“Hopefully this year with a more experienced squad we should be able to qualify for the higher championship group which is the main aim for us.”
Why You Should Give it a Go
To end the interview, John spoke on why prospective new players should consider taking up Gaelic during their time at the University of Nottingham.
“Although it looks complicated, the rules are really easy to pick up and can be extremely rewarding. There is a real togetherness within the team and the socials are always class.”
He paused, before laughing as he concluded the conversation by making a desperate plea for a new shot stopper.
“Also, please come along if you are a goalkeeper!”
Gaelic may be flying under the radar for now, but it may not be long before this action-packed game is finally competing for the attention which it deserves.
Want to give it a go? More information, including trial, training and contact information, is available on the Gaelic Instagram page @uon_gaa.
Kian Gadsby
Featured image courtesy of UoN Gaelic Football Club. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @uon_gaa via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @uon_gaa via Instagram. No changes were made to this image.
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