VAN ISLE ROVERS
GAELIC ATHLETIC CLUB
WHAT IS GAELIC FOOTBALL?
In simple terms, Gaelic football is an Irish team sport played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the other team's goals (3 points) or between two upright posts above the goals and over a crossbar 2.5 metres above the ground (1 point).
Players advance the football, a spherical leather ball resembling a volleyball, up the field with a combination of carrying, bouncing, kicking, hand-passing, and soloing (dropping the ball and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands).
Positions in Gaelic football are similar to that in other football codes, and comprise one goalkeeper, six backs, two midfielders, and six forwards, with a variable number of substitutes.
WHAT IS HURLING?
One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of players, and much terminology. There is a similar game for women called camogie.
The objective of the game is for players to use a stick called a hurl to hit a silotar, a small hard ball resembling a baseball, into the other team's goals (3 points) or between two upright posts above the goals and over a crossbar 2.5 metres above the ground (1 point).
The sliotar can be caught in the hand and carried for not more than four steps, struck in the air, or struck on the ground with the hurl. It can be kicked, or slapped with an open hand (the hand pass) for short-range passing. A player who wants to carry the ball for more than four steps has to bounce or balance the sliotar on the end of the stick, and the ball can only be handled twice while in his possession.
