BY Niall O Grady
What is Gaelic Football? (video)
Gaelic Football is an Irish sport very similar to Australian Rules. It is is played on a rectangular pitch like a soccer pitch with H shaped goalposts much like the goals on a rugby pitch. A goal keeper protects the goal like in soccer.
The football can be kicked or “hand-passed” (a hand-pass is a striking motion with a closed fist). The football can also be carried but only for 4 steps. After every four steps the ball must be ‘played’. This means the ball must be either bounced or “solo-ed”.
Solo-ing can also be referred to as tapping the ball and is action of dropping the ball onto the foot and kicking it back into the hand. To carry the football over a distance a player must ‘play’ the ball every four sets. Players have as many consecutive solo’s as the like but may not bounce the ball twice in a row.
To score, the player can kick or hand-pass the ball over the crossbar for one point or kick the ball under the crossbar and into the net for a goal which equals three points. Each team consists of 15 players. Tackling is allowed in the men’s game but not in the ladies, it can be robust but not as much as in rugby.
Laochra GAA club was founded in June 2011 and thanks to our sponsors The Wolfehound Irish Pub, Haeundae, we have grown extensively since then. The club was set up to give the people of Busan an opportunity to play a new sport, meet new people and to bring the Irish culture to this dynamic city.
After taking a much deserved break after an exceptional 2012 season, Laochra are back. The 2013 season is about to kick off and Laochra are looking to recruit new players who are interested in playing. Laochra Busan consists of both a men’s and a women’s team and all interested players of all levels and abilities whether you have played before or not are more than welcome!!! It is an excellent sport and a fantastic way to keep fit, meet new people and have the Irish ‘Craic’. The 2012 squad boasted players from Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, Canada, America, Australia and Korea and hopefully we will add more nationalities to this years squad.
The Club trains at Samryak Park in Sasang at 12 noon every Saturday, the first training will be held on Saturday, the 9th of March.
The season consists of four tournaments in Korea. One tournament is hosted by each of the three Gaelic football clubs, Laochra Busan GAA (June), Daegu Fianna (May) and Seoul Gaels (July) and then the Korean Gaelic Games will be held in Busan in September. In October, the Asian Gaelic Games will be held in Kuala Lumpur again this year. Last year, Laochra sent a team to the AGGs for the first time and were very unfortunate not to return with silverware. Lets hope were more successful this season.
Laochra Abú!
How to find us…
Laochra Busan GAA Website - Here
Contact Us by Email – busangaa@gmail.com
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Laochra Busan 2012 Season
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