Gaelic football

Gaelic Football (Irish: Peil, Peil Ghaelach or Caid ), commonly referred to as "football", or "Gaelic", is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It, along with Hurling, is the most popular spectator sport in Ireland.^[1]

Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The object is to score by kicking/striking the ball with your hand and getting it through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Getting the ball into the net scores 3 points; getting it between the posts but above the goal scores 1 point.

Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates.

Gaelic football is one of four Gaelic Games run by the Gaelic Athletic Association, the largest sporting organization in Ireland. It has strict rules on player amateurism. The game is believed to have come from ancient Irish football known as caid which dates back to 1537, although the modern game took shape in 1887.

1. ↑ "GAA attendance figures" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-05-26. Retrieved 2006-11-27.