GAELIC SPORTS WORLD Issue 35 – October 6, 2015 | Page 12

ville on the 28th of November. The next objective
is to play in a European tournament.”
Not happy with just that, Eire Og wanted
more and so last year also started a Youth GAA
club section with games coming up against
other clubs next month.
“This is important to get the next generation
playing and hopefully some of the local kids will
catch on. Costa Gaels and Madrid are coming
up to us at the end of November to play a juvenile invitational tournament.”
SECURE FUTURE
One of the biggest challenges that Eire Og have faced, and
indeed any other GAA club be it in Spain, across Europe,
Asia, the US or anywhere else around the world, is the issue
of finding a place to train and call home.
Because GAA sports have no international and sporting
recognition as in being part of a body like the International Olympic Committee, it’s very difficult for clubs to
attain practice facilities. As has been the case in Europe
because GAA clubs lack an international sporting status they cannot avail of free public facilities but have to
pay for private locations. Needless to say this hampers
any GAA club and especially so for young clubs trying
desperately to build for the future. Eire Og have encountered this issue and without the aid from other sporting
bodies they would be in severe difficulty.
“We just relocated to new facilities. A local Rugby club
have offered to put up with us for the near future. We´ve
only trained there three times but they have been very
friendly and helpful and we´ve no problem with booking
the pitch for games or training,” the club chair explained.
“That was our biggest problem up till now, we aren’t a

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recognised sport in Andalucía or Spain so getting a decent pitch without paying an arm and a leg was impossible.
“Our economic agreement wi