FORTY-TWO teams from across the GCC will showcase their Gaelic football skills today in the 14th edition of the Bahrain Gaelic Games at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club (BRFC).
Seven teams from Bahrain will be among the competing sides in one of the biggest sporting and social annual occasions on the BRFC calendar.
“It’s going to be a memorable event,” Arabian Celts GAA club chairman, Brendan Galvin told the GDN. “Both men’s and women’s teams will take part in the tournament, which starts at 8am, and there will be plenty of post-match entertainment to liven up the evening after the final.”
The Arabian Celts GAA club is hosted by the BRFC in order to help Gaelic sports grow in Bahrain.
Gaelic football, an amateur Irish team sport, is played by teams featuring 15 players each on a rectangular grass pitch. Players can score either by punching the ball into their opponents’ goal, which fetches three points, or between two upright posts above the goal and over a crossbar, more than eight feet above the ground, which nets one point.
Players can take the ball up the field by carrying it, bouncing it, kicking it, passing it by hand or soloing – which involves dropping the ball and then toe-kicking it upward.
Points are awarded for kicking or hand-passing the ball over the crossbar and a goal is signalled when the balls is kicked under the crossbar into the net.
“Apart from providing some quality Irish sporting competition, the day also features some amazing Irish entertainment,” Galvin said. “We’ll have a couple of extremely popular Irish musical acts performing after the final and a police band will kick things off earlier. It makes for a perfect family occasion.”
The Gaelic Games are part of the Bahrain Irish Festival, which first took place in the mid-1990s. After more than a quarter-century, the festival features the largest gathering of Gaelic sports teams in the Middle East.
Apart from featuring prominently in their home tournament, the Arabian Celts also travel across the region to take part in competitions in other countries, Galvin added.
“The Celts also take part in the Middle East Gaelic Football League,” he explained. “While all competitions feature amateur players – because that’s the nature of this game – the fixtures can be quite competitive too, in addition to being a lot of fun.”
The first match of the Gaelic Games today will kick off at 8am with the semi-finals and final scheduled to take place in the evening.
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