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Have you ever wondered how
football (soccer) would look like without offside?
Then try to watch the spectacular
Gaelic games Hurling and Gaelic Football which set their highlights just
when football (soccer) takes its time out: in the European summer. |
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Although the two sports
are also played in clubs, the highlight is the yearly All Ireland Championships
for the 33 county selections.
Ireland is divided in 4
provinces Connacht, Leinster, Munster, and Ulster (which is Northern Ireland).
Those are divided again into an unequal number of counties (Connacht 6,
Leinster 12 (incl. Dublin), Munster 6, Ulster 9).
First the provinces determine
their champions, then those play off the All Ireland Championship.
Those county rivalries are
also a journey into the past for football fans, as passion more than money
characterizes the games. |
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Both sports are said to
be very old, the championships in today's form more than 100 years.
There had been a certain
political element from the beginning, a contraposition against the English
culture, here Rugby and Football (Ireland was occupied by England and became
only independent in 1922).
A tragedy took place in
1920 when English soldiers in revenge for an assault by Irish nationalists
fired into the crowd of a Football game and killed many, known as the 'bloody
sunday'. |
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