GAA Oral History Project

Every club has its own unique stories, personalities and experiences. The GAA Oral History Project aims to make sure that the club’s history is recorded so that future generations will know the contribution that the club and individual members in the locality have made to the GAA.

Take this opportunity to be involved in the largest sport’s history project in the world today and to have your story preserved in a new archive at the GAA Museum in Croke Park.

The GAA Oral History Project aims to record the fullest possible picture of what the GAA has meant to the Irish people, in their own words. The project will record face-to-face interviews with thousands of people in Ireland and internationally, including GAA members and supporters, current and former players, managers, officials and administrators, jersey washers, stewards, drivers – anyone who has ever had any involvement with the GAA.

This is not just a story about the famous players and famous matches, but about the grassroots who are responsible for keeping the Association alive. This project aims to be a representative survey of attitudes to and experiences of the GAA among Irish people – be they good or bad.

This project will capture accounts, not only of matches and teams, but also the social life around the GAA – where people stop to have a picnic on the way to or from a match, how people travel to matches, the types of homecoming celebrations and commiserations that take place and the fundraising and social events that are organised. We are also hoping to collect records and minute books from counties and clubs, posters, letters, songs, poems and even prayers relating to the GAA. We want to record the experiences of people involved in all types of Gaelic games, not just football and hurling, therefore we are encouraging people from handball, rounders, camogie and ladies football to get involved. This project will celebrate the grassroots of the organisation by recording and preserving their efforts and achievements over the last 125 years.

How YOU can get involved:

Visit the website www.bc.edu/centers/irish/gaahistory/   and enjoy stories already recorded and learn more about the project.

Become a volunteer – Tell us your storey – Without your help, the story of the club and county will not be told.

Donate photographs, documents and recordings.

If you would like to take part please give me a ring or contact any committee member.