The United States County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or USGAA, is one of the 3 county boards of the

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 ...

(GAA) in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, and is responsible for

Gaelic games Gaelic games ( ga, Cluichí Gaelacha) are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

(except for the

New York metropolitan area The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...

, which is administrated by the New York GAA). The county board is also responsible for the United States county teams.

History

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 ...

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 ki ...

have been played in

ever since Irish immigrants began landing on North American shores. The earliest games of hurling in North America were played in St. John's, Newfoundland in 1788, and there are records of football being played in Hyde Park (now the site of the Civic Center) in San Francisco as early as the 1850s. There are established clubs in the cities that traditionally have a large Irish population, such as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

, and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. When the North American county board was formed it included Canadian clubs in its area of control. However these clubs are now under the control of the Canadian county board. In recent years, hurling has started to enjoy support in several other U.S. cities, as evidenced by the establishment of the Milwaukee Hurling Club in 1995 and later the Twin Cities Hurling Club (MN). Other clubs include the Indianapolis Hurling Club, the St. Louis Gaelic Athletic Club, the

Denver Gaels Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

, the

Greenville Gaels Greenville is the name of several places: Canada * Laxgalts'ap, British Columbia, formerly named Greenville * Greenville, Nova Scotia, in Yarmouth County * Greenville Station, Nova Scotia, in Cumberland County * Lower Greenville, Nova Scotia, in ...

, the Orlando Hurling Club and the

Seattle Gaels Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of ...

. Hurling is also starting to gather support at the club level at some universities, such as at

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

since 2005,

California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

since 2006, and

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant uni ...

since 2008. Interest in Gaelic Football has also developed amongst universities in America.

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a private Jesuit university in Philadelphia and Lower Merion, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851 as Saint Joseph's College. Saint Joseph's is the seventh olde ...

is the first school to have an officially recognized program after running independently since 2011.

Boston College Boston College (BC) is a private Jesuit research university in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. Founded in 1863, the university has more than 9,300 full-time undergraduates and nearly 5,000 graduate students. Although Boston College is classified ...

's program has been running since 2011, while two other Philadelphia-area institutions,

Villanova University Villanova University is a private Roman Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1842 and named after Saint Thomas of Villanova. The university is the oldest Catholic university in Pennsy ...

and

Drexel University Drexel University is a private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony J. Drexel, a financier and philanthropist. Founded as Drexel Institute of Art, ...

, hope to launch club programs soon. As of 2017 more than 51% of registered players in the United States were born there. This number is an underestimation as many clubs do not register all players that select to play only local games.

Early 21st century

The GAA in North America became the victim of two major developments in the early 21st century. One was the security clampdown that followed the

9/11 terrorist attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerci ...

, and the other was the massive growth in the Irish '

Celtic Tiger The "Celtic Tiger" ( ga, An Tíogar Ceilteach) is a term referring to the economy of Ireland from the mid-1990s to the late 2000s, a period of rapid real economic growth fuelled by foreign direct investment. The boom was dampened by a subseque ...

' economy. These two factors led to a reduction in the number of people travelling from Ireland to the U.S., and it became difficult for many Irish people to stay in the country illegally. Additionally, many Irish emigrants returned to Ireland, where they enjoyed a high standard of living that wasn't available to earlier generations. These factors reduced the number of people playing GAA in larger U.S. cities. The trend was partially offset by growth in smaller cities. With the onset of economic crisis of the late 2000s the flow of emigrants back to Ireland and into America has changed once again but current U.S. immigration policies have meant that the number of Irish that used to go to America is not now the same. Grassroots development is taking on a life of its own. Youth programs are springing up across the country and in particular are experiencing huge growth thanks to the success of 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 ...

Competitions

USGAA Finals

Each year on Labor Day weekend, the USGAA holds a championship between the clubs in all U.S. cities where there are GAA-affiliated clubs (except for New York city). Playoffs are held between the

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 ...

and

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 ...

champions of the different regions in the

, to determine the USGAA champions. Play off locations: *2019 Mid Atlantic Division (Leesburg, VA - DC Area) *2018 Philadelphia *2017 San Francisco *2016 Seattle *2015 Chicago *2014 Boston *2013 Cleveland *2012 Philadelphia *2011 San Francisco *2010 Chicago *2009 Boston *2008 Boston *2007 Chicago *2006 Philadelphia *2005 Philadelphia *2004 Denver *2003 Boston *2002 Chicago *2001 San Francisco *2000 Boston *1999 Chicago *1998 Rockville, MD (near Washington DC) *1997 San Francisco *1996 Boston

Grades

The championships are divided into different grades. *Men: ** USGAA Senior Football Championship ** USGAA Intermediate Football Championship ** USGAA Junior A Football Championship ** USGAA Junior B Football Championship ** USGAA Junior C Football Championship ** USGAA Junior D Football Championship ** USGAA Senior Hurling Championship ** USGAA Junior A Hurling Championship ** USGAA Junior B Hurling Championship ** USGAA Junior C Hurling Championship ** USGAA Junior D Hurling Championship *Ladies: ** USGAA Senior Ladies Football Championship ** USGAA Intermediate Ladies Football Championship ** USGAA Junior A Ladies Football Championship ** USGAA Junior B Ladies Football Championship ** USGAA Senior Camogie Championship ** USGAA Junior Camogie Championship

The Continental Youth Championships

The Continental Youth Championship (CYC) began in 2004, hosted by the New York GAA. This is an annual weekend tournament that takes place in various cities from year to year. The most recent CYC was held in August 2018, contested in

Canton, Massachusetts Canton is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 24,370 at the 2020 census. Canton is part of Greater Boston, about 15 miles (24 kilometers) southwest of downtown Boston. History The area that would beco ...

, and hosted by the

Boston GAA The Northeast Divisional Board is a division of the United States GAA (USGAA) covering the Boston Metropolitan Area. It is the largest division of the USGAA, which in turn is affiliated to the Gaelic Athletic Association in Dublin, the governing bo ...

. CYC involves under age teams from all three of the GAA jurisdictions in North America playing football, hurling, ladies' football, and camogie at all ages from Under 8 to Under 18.

Clubs

In 2015 in the USGAA area, there were 116 adult clubs and 14 Youth clubs playing Football, Hurling or Camogie in the US outside New York City. These clubs participated in Divisional Championship competitions to qualify for the USGAA Finals in their respective sport and grade of competition. As of 2017, Gaelic games were being organized and played in over 60 cities across the US, including: *Akron, Allentown PA, Albany, Albuquerque
Atlanta
Austin *Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Burlingame *Charleston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Coastal Virginia (Norfolk/Virginia Beach), Columbia, Columbus *Cayman Islands *Dallas, Denver, Detroit *Fairfax VA *Greenville, South Carolina *

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, Huntington Beach, Houston *Kansas City, Kalamazoo, Knoxville *Indianapolis *Los Angeles, Louisville *

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States Place names * Madison, Wisconsin, the state capital of Wisconsin and the largest city known by this ...

, Memphis, Milwaukee *Nashville, Naperville, New Hampshire, New Orleans *Oakland, Orlando *Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Portland ME *Richmond VA, Rochester, Raleigh NC *San Antonio, St. Louis, St. Paul MN, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, South Bend, Syracuse *Tampa FL
Tacoma
Twin Cities *Waukesha, Washington DC, Worcester, MA, Winston-Salem NC

List of clubs

''See List of GAA clubs in North America''

References

External links

USGAA

The Continental Youth Championships

* ttp://www.mensfitness.com/sports_and_recreation/athletes/9 Hurling, Men's Fitness Magazine {{GAA bodies