Groningen’s Gaelic Football Team Win Big in European Tournament

Groningen’s first and only Gaelic football team took home all the trophies at this year’s European tournament in Cologne. Competing against teams from Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, the men's and women's teams won, with the women’s team not conceding a single goal to their opponents. What keeps the players coming back is not only their dedication to the sport, but also the community they built. 

The Groningen Gaels were first founded in 2018 by Irish students who wanted to continue playing their national sport while living abroad. Since then, the club has grown to over 80 members who compete in international tournaments and attend weekly training sessions. 

“The training is like a slice of home for an hour and a half,” says Paddy O’Rourke, one of the coaches. O’Rourke has recently joined the team’s committee and has been playing since he first moved to Groningen in 2022.

"It's nice to know that there's this small and welcoming community. It's not just Irish people, we accept anybody that wants to participate,” he told The Glass Room.

“The training is like a slice of home for an hour and a half.”

Jenna McCance is one of the new members who has been welcomed into the club since she arrived in August. She has been playing Gaelic football since she was a child and knew she wanted to play for the Gaels before moving.

She finds the relaxed, social attitude of the Gaels a nice contrast to how “pressurized” the sport can be back home. “Back home, it's all about winning and making it to every training session, or else someone will be knocking on your door. But here it is so much more relaxed.”

Her girlfriend plays for another Dutch Gaelic team, Nijmegen GFC. She says that getting the chance to compete against her in Cologne was “a lot of fun.”

According to McCance, the Gaelic teams in the Netherlands are a lot more accepting than those of her hometown. “Gaelic and being gay don't mix back home. I’m from a very catholic place with traditional views, so it feels great that there are no ties to religion here.”

When it comes to the facilities for Gaelic football in the Netherlands, O’Rourke said that clubs can sometimes face difficulties. The team rents a football pitch once a week, but there are no Gaelic nets available, or any fixed clubhouse.

The winter season is apparently the most challenging for the club. “It’s raining outside, you need to study for exams and then there are only 10 people who reply to your messages,” he says. “It’s hard for us as a committee to offer things to our members.” 

Nevertheless, he is enthusiastic about the upcoming months and the sense of community and fun that the club can provide first-year students. “I’ve been in their shoes and I would love to have had this when I was in my first months here,” O’Rourke says.