East Belfast GAA ( ga, CLG Oirthear Bhéal Feirste) is a

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ga, Cumann Lúthchleas Gael ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional ...

club located in east

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. The team currently plays in the Down Senior County League. The team is noted for its cross community inclusion which differs from other GAA teams in Northern Ireland where the majority of followers are usually derived from the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

community. East Belfast GAA have been a cross-community team since its inception with the inclusion of both Unionists and Nationalists personnel, and actively promotes friendship and cooperation between both sides of the political divide. It is the first GAA club to be based in East Belfast since St Colmcille's was formed in the 1950s but folded at the beginnings of

the Troubles The Troubles ( ga, Na Trioblóidí) were an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland that lasted about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998. Also known internationally as the Northern Ireland conflict, it is sometimes described as an "i ...

History

The club was formed in May 2020 by cross-community worker and former

Carryduff Carryduff ()Northern Ireland Placenames Project
is a small ...

GAA player Richard Maguire, and former London GAA player

David McGreevy David Martin James McGreevy nicknamed "Bonzo" (born 24 October 1985) is a former Gaelic footballer who played for Kingdom Kerry Gaels and London GAA as a corner back. He is originally from Teconnaught, County Down, and moved to England in 200 ...

who had moved back to Northern Ireland in late 2018. They were joined by Irial O'Cealliagh, Kenny Caldwell and David Doherty, when the five held the first meeting at Bunscoil Mhic Reachtain, Belfast to create the club. After decades long absence of a GAA club in the historically

Loyalist Loyalism, in the United Kingdom, its overseas territories and its former colonies, refers to the allegiance to the British crown or the United Kingdom. In North America, the most common usage of the term refers to loyalty to the British Cro ...

East Belfast, McGreevy initially hoped to set up a boys U12 team, and put out a message on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

asking for help setting up a GAA club. The club crest was revealed on 16 July 2020. It features primarily an outline of the

Harland and Wolff Harland & Wolff is a British shipbuilding company based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It specialises in ship repair, shipbuilding and offshore construction. Harland & Wolff is famous for having built the majority of the ocean liners for the W ...

cranes which is an iconic symbol of the area, a shamrock, a thistle & a

red hand Red hand may refer to: People *Owain Lawgoch (Eng translation: Owain of the Red Hand), the title given to Owain ap Thomas ap Rhodri, a Welsh soldier who led a Free Company fighting for the French against the English in the Hundred Years' War and a ...

, along with the club's motto "Together" written in the three languages of Northern Ireland;

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

''("Le Chéile")'' and Ulster-Scots ''("Thegither")''. The crest was designed by creative director Rory Millar. On 5 August 2020, there was a hoax bomb alert at the team's training ground of Henry Jones Playing Fields which was believed to have been aimed at East Belfast GAA. The incident was condemned by all local politicians on both sides of the divide including the unionist DUP's Gavin Robinson MP & nationalist

SDLP The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) ( ga, Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is a social-democratic and Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. The SDLP currently has eight members in the Northern Irela ...

's Lisnasharragh Councillor Séamas de Faoite. On the 19 September, the senior camogie team had its first win, beating

St Enda's GAC St Enda's G.A.C, Glengormley. is a Gaelic Athletic Association club from Glengormley, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. They cater for gaelic football, hurling and camogie. History Founded in 1956 by local gaels, Edward Sherry, Tony Colaluca ...

reserve camogie team 7-11 to 2-2. This is the club's first win since forming the GAC.

References

External links

* * {{cite news , url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/oct/18/ive-never-had-so-much-craic-gaelic-games-come-to-loyalist-east-belfast , title='I've never had so much craic': Gaelic games come to loyalist east Belfast , first1=Anna , last1=Cafolla , work=

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

, quote=Founded in May, and explicitly designed to be non-sectarian, a community club has already attracted 1,000 members , date=2020-10-18
A video interview with one of the co-founders of East Belfast Dave McGreevy about East Belfast GAA
2020 establishments in Ireland Gaelic games clubs in County Down