The Western Divisional Board of the North American Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) colloquially San Francisco GAA is the governing body of

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. 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 p ...

camogie Camogie ( ; ga, camógaíocht ) is an Irish stick-and-ball team sport played by women. Camogie is played by 100,000 women in Ireland and worldwide, largely among Irish communities. A variant of the game of hurling (which is played by men onl ...

, and

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. It is affiliated to the North American Board. Since its inception, its games have been played at various venues throughout the city of

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

on municipal fields rented from the city, such as Beach Chalet playing fields in

Golden Gate Park Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, United States, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. It is administered by the San Francisco Recreation & Parks Department, which began in 1871 to oversee the development ...

, and Boxer Stadium at Balboa Park. From 2009 onward, its games were held at Páirc na nGael, a facility that was renovated and leased by the GAA on

Treasure Island ''Treasure Island'' (originally titled ''The Sea Cook: A Story for Boys''Hammond, J. R. 1984. "Treasure Island." In ''A Robert Louis Stevenson Companion'', Palgrave Macmillan Literary Companions. London: Palgrave Macmillan. .) is an adventure no ...

. The playing season runs from mid-April until late August. Local San Francisco championship winners advance to the NACB Playoffs that take place over

Labor Day Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...

weekend every year. The playoffs rotate between cities like Chicago, Boston, Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco. They were previously held in San Francisco in 1993, 1997, and 2001. The

Continental Youth Championship The Continental Youth Championships (CYC) is an annual weekend tournament of Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie organized by the Gaelic Athletic Association. It is contested by teams from the USA and Canada, and is a separate competition fr ...

s return to San Francisco in 2009 and will be played at Páirc na nGael, as will the adult national finals in 2010.

Clubs

Men's Football *Celts *Michael Cusack's *Sean Treacy's *Peninsula Naomh Padraig / Shannon Rangers *Sons of Ború *Ulster *Young Irelanders / St Brendan's Hurling *Na Fianna *Naomh Padraig * St Josephs *Rovers *Stanford University *University of California, Berkeley *University of California, Davis Ladies Football *Clan na Gael *Fog City Harps *Saoirse *Cailiní Ceilteacha Camogie *Shamrocks Youth *Irish Football Youth League *Éire Óg

Páirc na nGael

Páirc na nGael was opened on Sunday, December 7, 2008 by GAA President

Nickey Brennan Nicholas "Nickey" Brennan (born 3 December 1953) is an Irish former hurler, manager and Gaelic games administrator. He played as a right wing-back at senior level for the Kilkenny county team. More recently, he served as the 35th president ...

prior to the Vodafone GAA All-Star football game starring the top inter-county Gaelic footballers in Ireland. It contains three regulation sized Gaelic fields for hurling and football spanning covering the space of three city blocks. Páirc na nÓg is the name of the youth field further to the east on the island adjacent to the home grounds of the Golden Gate Rugby Club. Páirc na nGael's development was funded by financial and labor donations from the Irish community in San Francisco, and a donation from the GAA in Ireland. A disused adjacent elementary school building was later remodeled to become a community centre and function room and funding for this was secured from the Irish Government.

Clubs

Páirc na nGael

References

External links