GAELIC FOOTBALL
Materials/equipment: One ball, similar of football, but
heavier.Space: The grass pitch is rectangular, stretching 130145
metres long and 8090m wide.
Number of participants: Two teams of 15 players.Duration: 60
minutes, divided into two halves of 30 minutes.
Task description: The objective of the sport is to score by
passing the ball through the other team'sgoals(3 points) or a set
of two upright posts separated by a crossbar 2.5 metres above the
ground (1 point).
Norms/rules: Ball may be kicked orhand passed. A hand pass is
not a punch but rather a strike of the ball with the side of the
closed fist, using the knuckle of the thumb.
The following are considered technical fouls: Bouncing the ball
twice in a row (It may be soloed continuously). Changing hands:
Throwing the ball from your right hand to left or vice versa. Going
four steps without releasing, bouncing or soloing the ball (soloing
involves kicking the ball into one's own hands). Hand passing a
goal. To hand pass a ball with an open palm there must be a clear
striking action (the ball may be punched over the bar from up in
the air, but not into the goal). Picking the ball directly off the
ground (it must be scooped up into the hands by the foot). Square
ball is an often controversial rule:If, at the moment the ball
enters the small square, there is already an attacking player
inside the small rectangle, then a free out is awarded. Throwing
the ball (it may be "hand-passed" by striking with the fist).
Shoulder to shoulder contact and slapping the ball out of an
opponent's hand are permitted, but the following are all fouls:
Blocking a shot with the foot. Pulling an opponent's jersey.
Pushing an opponent. Sliding tackles. Striking an opponent.
Touching the goalkeeper when he/she is inside the small rectangle.
Tripping. Using both hands to tackle. Wrestling the ball from an
opponent's hands.
Alternatives: Don`t use any kind of tackling.
Graphic explanation:
Introduction: Gaelic football was first codified in 1887,
although it has links to oldervarieties of footballplayed in
Ireland and known collectively ascaid. Consequently, the namecaidis
used by some people to refer to present day Gaelic football.The
first legal reference of football in Ireland was in 1308, when John
McCrocan, a spectator at a football game atNovum Castrum de
Leuan(the New Castle of the Lyons or Newcastle) was charged with
accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard. A field near
Newscastle, Co. Dublin is still known as the football field. The
Statute ofGalwayof 1527 allowed the playing of "foot balle"
andarcherybut banned "'hokie' thehurlingof a little ball with
sticks or staves" as well as other sports.Limerick was the
stronghold of the native game around this time, and the Commercials
Club, founded by employees of Cannock's Drapery Store, was one of
the first to impose a set of rules, which was adapted by other
clubs in the city. Of all the Irish pastimes the Gaelic Athletic
Association (GAA) set out to preserve and promote, it is fair to
say that Gaelic football was in the worst shape at the time of the
association's foundation.Irish forms of football were not formally
arranged into an organised playing code by theGaelic Athletic
Association(GAA) until 1887. The GAA sought to promote traditional
Irish sports, such ashurlingand to reject "foreign" (particularly
English) imports. The first Gaelic football rules, showing the
influence of hurling and a desire to differentiate from association
football for example in their lack of anoffside rule were drawn up
byMaurice Davinand published in theUnited Irelandmagazine on 7
February 1887. The rules of the aforementioned Commercials Club
became the basis for these official (Gaelic Football) rules who,
unsurprisingly, won the inaugural All-Ireland Senior Football Final
(representing County Limerick).
