Can You Make Gaelic Games More Significant World Sports?

[SlickWilly]

The Gaelic Athletic Association was formed around 1884 and governed the following sports in Ireland - Hurling (please Youtube this magnifiucent beautiful ancient fast game if you have never seen it, It's a cross between a mad version of field hockey and lacrosse), Gaelic Football (a made up game a cross between rugby and soccer), Court handball (an ancient Greek game, AFAIK), Rounders (similar to baseball) and track and Field (which it later gave to another organisation or two). Cricket was the national sport at the time and narrowly missed comming under GAA control by 1 vote! The GAA outside of Ireland promoted the 3 main games in the Irish communities abroad and was an important networking organisation for Irish people abroad. I heard it said ice hockey is derived from Irish immigrants in Canada playing hurling on frozen lakes and though the Aussies claim absolutely no links between Gaelic Football and Aussie Rules, they are so similar, there just has to be some shared origins (both play an international crompromise rules game between the 2 codes, which IMO is way better than gaelic football)
Make Gaelic games significant world sports!

[Chookie]

You've just identified yourself as Irish.

Where was your acknowledgement of Camanachd (Shinty to to all youse non-Scots)? Where was the Caber? the Shot? the Hammer? Where were the Ba' games?

Before you go off on one about Hurling being the be-all and end-all of sports, why is it that in the last three years, your Hurling heroes have been handed their heads by Camanachd players in the annual cross-code international?

[SlickWilly]

Chookie, a mhac, I never said hurling was the be all and end all of sports, it's just the most beautiful, my favourite is soccer though!
BTW we like to think we invented the triple jump and the hammer throw.
A bit surprised I have had so few replies on this one!