UK Forum

Hurling in Edinburgh?

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Has anyone any thoughts on starting a hurling club in Edinburgh?

What exactly is needed besides 15 players and a bit of funding? What competitions could the team play in? Could it encourage teams to start up in Glasgow, Dundee or Aberdeen?

I've lived In Edinburgh for almost 2 years now having played Hurling all my life. I joined Dunedin Connelly's this year and played a bit of Junior Football, having never played for a football club before, but I joined just to be involved with a team and to keep the fitness up. I've met a good few lads over here who are interested in playing Hurling but there's no team. I'm fully confident we have the numbers in Edinburgh to get a team together. My only concern is who would we play against? Being in Scotland, I'm sure we could get a few challenge games in against some Shinty teams to keep us on our toes but I'm guessing we would have to travel a few hours down South to compete in a Hurling competition?

With the way the GAA is trying to promote its games abroad you'd think Scotland would be an ideal location to start up a few Hurling clubs, given it's history with Shinty.

I know the Universities here had teams not too long ago but that seems to have died. I know that people might move on after they finish college but there's plenty still here.

I'm probably going to make a facebook page and try to get some interest going over the next few weeks. Hopefully something will come of it, If not, then maybe a Shinty team near Edinburgh will gain a few eager Hurlers for the coming year.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Puck_it_out (UK) - Posts: 1 - 12/10/2015 20:19:11    1798184

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Ya could follow lead of Yorkshire Emeralds and St Declans Hertfordshire they are county selections so they can pull from the football teams. Have a county selection you'd most prob compete in Lancashire Championship. Lots of travelling involved. Approach lads on county board for advice.

daskip89 (Galway) - Posts: 234 - 12/10/2015 20:47:43    1798200

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Puck_it_out - Two competitions for British clubs - Championship and Shield. Championship is played between the London Intermediate clubs and the best outside of London. Shield is more of a development competition (mainly Midlands and North of England teams) but taken seriously. The closest Shield teams are based out of Leeds (Yorkshire Emeralds), Liverpool (Wolfe Tones). Fullen Gaels (Manchester) also play in the All Britain Championship.

I reckon your best bet would be to link up with the Uni team (numbers for training) and the local Gaelic team in Edinburgh (play under their insurance), I'm sure there are a few hurlers in Glasgow too. Once you start it off it might get going quite quickly. Also worth looking at what the Ladies Football team do in terms of playing in leagues and getting challenges. I can't imagine it's easy but their county team still did well this year.

maninthemoon (UK) - Posts: 5 - 12/10/2015 21:22:03    1798209

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The All Britain Shield competition is your best option for getting games, I wouldn't bother with the Lancashire championship as its very poorly organised, there was has only been one Hurling fixture played this year. As the shield is a development competition teams are allowed to play 11-a-side, 13-a-side or 15-a-side depending on the available numbers of both teams. The competition is organised by the All Britain Gaa Council (you could must likely get a contact name if you message their twitter account (@BPCGaa).

Be prepared to do a lot of travelling though, the teams in this competition are from Liverpool, Leeds, Nottingham, Birmingham, Coventry and Hertfordshire. So best case you would be playing your games in Manchester or Birmingham (unless there is a usable Gaa ground in Newcastle).

My advice would be to approach Dunedin Connelly's and form a hurling team as part of their club, and to show that your serious you will need to get a couple of challenge games organised for the end of the year with one of the teams from the North of England like, Yorkshire Emeralds (Leeds), Liverpool Wolfe Tones or St. Barnabas (Nottingham), I think Liverpool Uni have a hurling team also.

Best of Luck, it would be great to see another hurling team in Britain.

DNFWTGaa (UK) - Posts: 48 - 19/10/2015 11:39:13    1800055

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Hi mate am also in edinburgh, I played for the uni side before it ended. Got a few contacts etc, give me a shout.

SamiPremier08 (Tipperary) - Posts: 177 - 03/01/2016 18:15:59    1814275

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