Gaelic Football Provence 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 based in

La Fare-les-Oliviers La Fare-les-Oliviers (; oc, La Fara deis Oliviers) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. Located in the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, it had a population of 8,666 in ...

in the south of France.

History

The club was founded on 24 January 2015 by a group of enthusiasts living in the

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (; or , ; commonly shortened to PACA; en, Provence-Alps-French Riviera, italic=yes; also branded as Région Sud) is one of the eighteen administrative regions of France, the far southeastern on the mainland. Its pref ...

region. The first training sessions were held in July 2014 on a pitch in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...

; the majority of players come from the Pays d'Aix. As is often the case, the founders had played Gaelic Football elsewhere in France and abroad, bringing their prior knowledge of the game to the Aix-Marseille area. Since the establishment of the club, Gaelic Football Provence has played friendly tournaments (in Paris and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

) and has competed in the French federal (national) championships. After a first season ending with a 4th place finish in Division 3 of the French championship at

Guérande Guérande (; br, Gwenrann, ; french: label=Gallo, Geraundd) is a medieval town located in the department of Loire-Atlantique, and the region of Pays de la Loire, Western France. The inhabitants are referred to as ''Guérandais'' (masculine), and ...

in June 2015, GFP participated in its first full season in 2016, even organizing its first official tournament (the 1st point-scoring competition of the year) on 26 March in

. After the 3rd federal tournaments, the club qualified for the Division 2 finals in

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label=Auvergnat (dialect), Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and Communes of France, commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regions of France, region, with a population ...

where it deservedly finished in 5th place (beating Lorient, Guérande and regional rivals Azur Gaels).

References

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