Australasia GAA

Australasia GAA
Irish: Australasia CLG
County colours: Green and gold
Dominant sport: Gaelic football

The Australasia County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Australasian GAA, or Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia is one of the county boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games all across Australasia. It is also responsible for Australasian inter-state matches, primarily conducted in an annual weeklong tournament. The association is made up of the Australian state associations of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and the New Zealand associations of Wellington and Canterbury. A third New Zealand association - Auckland - is presently on hiatus from its membership of Australasia.

History

The first reported games of Gaelic football in Australasia were played in South Australia in the 1840s, and this begins the recorded history of Australasian GAA. Official associations, however, were not formed until the twentieth century.

The first Australasian GAA was formed in Auckland, New Zealand in 1953.[1] Victoria's GAA was formed in 1956, followed by New South Wales. This was followed in 1963 by the formation of a South Australian association and associations in Western Australia and Queensland soon after.

The first interstate championships in both codes were played between NSW, Victoria and South Australia in 1971.

In Sydney in 1974 representatives of state associations met and agreed to form the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australia to administer and promote Gaelic football and hurling on a national level. Subsequently, the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australia joined with the New Zealand associations of Auckland and Wellington to form the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australasia.

The last few years have been a time of expansion in the Association. New initiatives and developments, combined with GAA funding, have seen the number of teams competing in Gaelic football more than double.. The current Australasian secretary is Gerard Roe.

The Australasian championships

The Australasian Championships, commonly referred to as the Australasian Games, are a weeklong tournament staged annually in September/October each year and hosted by one of the member state associations. Tournaments now feature all codes, with hurling played for the first time as part of a championships held in New Zealand in Wellington in 2015, and camogie added full-time in 2012. In most circumstances there is only one side per state per code, but when numbers are low in a code (typically hurling) or in the number of states entered (usually when the tournament is in Western Australia or New Zealand) exceptions to this are made.

The tournament format in each code varies year-to-year depending on the number of entries, but generally involves either a round-robin or pool play format with either two semi-finals or one semi-final with the top qualifier progressing directly to the final. A final is played in each code to determine the champion for the year.

Each association is permitted to name a panel of 22 players in each code for the championships, with unlimited interchange rather than the more traditional substitution rule used for each match. In recent years a 'Visa' rule has been introduced to encourage states to develop their own players. This rule limits the number of players any state may select in any code who are not either Australians or New Zealanders, or have obtained residency in either country.

Hurling

The current Australasian champions are Victoria, who defeated Queensland by 2-11 to 0-12 in Brisbane after losing each of the three previous finals.

Recent years winners are:

Men's Gaelic football

The current Australasian champions are New South Wales, who defended the title they regained in Wellington in 2015 by defeating Victoria 1-07 to 1-05 in Brisbane.

Recent years winners are:

Minor Gaelic football

Victoria, long the dominant force of minor Gaelic Football in Australia, regained the title in 2016 when their Blue side defeated their White team 4-09 to 3-10. South Australia had won the title in 2015, when the minor championships were played in Adelaide rather than in Wellington.

Recent years winners are:

Ladies' Gaelic football

New South Wales won the 2016 title defeating Queensland 1-12 to 3-05 in the final, running their winning streak to four successive titles.

Recent years winners are:

Camogie

Camogie was added to the Championships full-time in 2013 after being played as an exhibition for several years prior. New South Wales are the current champions, beating Victoria by 0-13 to 1-08.

Recent years winners are:

International honours

The Australasia Ladies' football team have won three Women's World Cup competitions (the tournament does not include Irish sides) in 2000, 2002 and 2005.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
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