The Club

The GAA has over 2,500 clubs in Ireland alone. The playing of Gaelic Games is based on the GAA Club, and each of the 32 Counties in Ireland have their own Club competitions, culminating in County Winners in championship and league. Club units outside of Ireland have their own league and championship competitions with the format dictated by the number of players and clubs available.

Clubs are generally based in a specific geographic area (usually a parish), and draw their players from that area. In certain cases, e.g. universities, the club will represent an organisation or institution and will draw their players from the members of that organisation.

Clubs will field one or more teams at various levels, and will play in their county's leagues, cups and championships. Most clubs will have both hurling and football teams, but some clubs will concentrate exclusively on one or other of the two Gaelic Games.

The winner of the County Championship will go forward to represent that county in the Provincial Club championship, and should they win that, to the latter stages of the All-Ireland Club Championship, the finals of which are played in Croke Park on St Patrick's Day (17^th March).

Inter-county teams are selected from the best players from the clubs in every county.