Where is Gaelic football played?

Gaelic Football is one of Ireland's two main national sports, the other being a sport called Hurling. At a first glance by the uneducated eye, it could look like a cross between soccer and rugby, but there is a lot more to it than that.

It is 15 players a side. The goals resemble a soccer goal and rugby goal stuck together. Getting the ball into the net is called a goal and gets 3 points. Get the ball over the crossbar and between the posts gets 1 point and is known as a point. There is no score for just reaching the endline like a try in rugby or a touchdown in American Football. It is played with a round ball. Players can touch it, but not run while just holding it. They also cannot touch it with their hands while it is in contact with the ground, but have to hook it up with their foot. It is a fast moving game when played at its best. Players can pass by punching or kicking the ball, but not by throwing it. A game is normally played over two 35 minutes halves.

The game is played by everyone from children to adults, with competitions at different grades, like by age or through schools and colleges. Nearly every small town or parish in Ireland has a GAA club. The GAA is the Gaelic Athletic Association, the governing body of Gaelic Football and Hurling, as well as some other sports. It is a social, sporting and cultural organisation, which is why clubs are so widespread, about 2500 in Ireland alone. There are also some where large amounts of Irish people have gathered around the world. New York has teams for example. Any club can have lots of teams of the different categories, from children upwards.

Ireland has 32 counties and the best players from the clubs in each county can get selected to play for their county team. The biggest competitions are the inter-county ones, with the All-Ireland Championship being the main competition. The final, which is played every September, is the single largest sporting event in the entire Irish sporting calendar. It is played in Croke Park in Dublin, the largest stadium in Ireland. It is one of the top 5 largest sporting stadiums in Europe in fact.

Gaelic Football is amateur, which is a very significant and a surprise to many who see it. Although the biggest match of the year will fill Croke Park's 82,300 capacity and have millions of people tuned in on radio, TV and the internet, in Ireland and anywhere in the world where you will find Irish people, the players don't get paid a single cent. They are playing for the love of the game, and many have day jobs or are students. They actually play more passionately, much as people do when they play sport for fun, before money starts to interfere.

There are matches all year round, but the main season stars around February with the league. The All-Ireland Championship starts in May, after the League finishes.

See the related question below where you will find links to video of Gaelic Football.
Gaelic football is an Irish game that bears some similarities to soccer and Australian rules football. Two sides play with a round ball, which the players are allowed to either kick or carry, and they score either by propelling the ball into a net guarded by a goalie or kicking the ball between a pair of uprights that extend above the net. A kick into the net is worth 3 points, and a kick between the posts counts for 1 point.