The ‘thunderbolt moment’ where Gaelic football in New York changed forever  

The ‘thunderbolt moment’ where Gaelic football in New York changed forever  

As part of an exclusive documentary produced by Her Sport; Simon Gillespie, Rosie O’Reilly, Margaret Brady, Nollaig Cleary, take us through the epic journey of women's Gaelic football in New York and the creation of the NY LGFA. 

It all started in the 1980s when 25 thousand Irish women immigrated to New York to escape the Irish recession. From that point, a drive to establish women's Gaelic Football began to pick up momentum.

Initially, women only had exhibition slots for an hour a week to play and were dismissed and treated as a 'joke', but after persistence and some support from the New York GAA manager, 7 new clubs were established.

These were so popular that over 200 girls joined to learn the sport, some of whom had never even played before.

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NY Ladies GAA logo

NY Ladies GAA logo

Soon, the first ever Ladies Gaelic Football Championship and League took place in the famous City.  

However, the lack of funding and support from the NY GAA slowed their development. The team had to set up their own pitches and fight to be recognized amongst their male sporting peers. Despite this, membership grew year on year until they finally made it to their first All Ireland final.

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‘There was a big rift, the men accepted Camogie because Camogie was big in Ireland and then when we started the football, they were like what's this?!’ says Rosie O’Reilly as she takes us through the backlash she faced as a competitive player.  

From their first training session to their wins and losses in major leagues, watch this feature for captivating insight into the development of the sport and why the slogan "if they can do it why can't we" carried this movement to an international playing field.  

This documentary and coverage of the New York Ladies Gaelic Football Association is brought to you in partnership with Gym + Coffee.

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