{"id":549920,"date":"2026-07-14T22:08:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/549920\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T22:08:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T22:08:12","slug":"hundreds-in-waterford-for-gaa-world-games-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/549920\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds in Waterford for GAA World Games competition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hundreds of GAA players from across the world are in the South East this week as part of the GAA World Games competition.<\/p>\n

Over 100 teams are taking part, with over 30 countries represented.<\/p>\n

It is being held for the fifth time and is now a triennial event.<\/p>\n

“It’s basically grown organically over the last couple of decades. So, we’re trying to keep up to what’s happening all around the world, and we are trying to provide meaningful games for everybody for all our 560 clubs,” said Charlie Harrison, the GAA\u2019s international manager.<\/p>\n

The event is taking place on the grounds of SETU in Waterford.<\/p>\n

\"GAA
\nOver 100 teams are taking part in the GAA World Games competition<\/p>\n

“We’ve 113 teams taking part from all over the world. We’ve 43 teams from Europe here. We’ve 29 teams from USA, So, from everywhere, we’ve 2,000 participants coming to play our games, and they’re really looking forward to it,” said Mr Harrison.<\/p>\n

“This event isn’t just about what happens on the field, it’s a cultural event too,” he said.<\/p>\n

It is very much an international affair. Out of the 2,000 players and coaches taking part, it is estimated 80% of them were born outside Ireland.<\/p>\n

Allie D\u2019Amico is from Texas and is playing for the southern states of the US. It is her 12th season playing GAA.<\/p>\n

\u2018When I moved to Dallas, I needed to meet new people and the craic was good,\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n

A more recent convert is Giovani Teixeira from Paraguay.<\/p>\n

\"Charlie
\nCharlie Harrison said the competition is a ‘cultural event’<\/p>\n

“We started over the last year, so we\u2019re pretty new to the sport,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We excited to be here. One year after picking up the sport, being at the World Games, is pretty exciting.”<\/p>\n

That pointed echoed by Nana Kim from South Korea.<\/p>\n

“I love it. I love Ireland but the sport makes it love it even more,” she said.<\/p>\n

One team taking part this week that many are backing is the Sables Shamrocks from Zambia.<\/p>\n

They were set up just six months ago.<\/p>\n

For the players, their daily lives are often lived in challenging conditions.<\/p>\n

This tournament represents a break for them, it is their first time out of their home country.<\/p>\n

\"Moses
\nMoses Sakwiza is one of the athletes competing in the GAA World Games competition<\/p>\n

Moses Sakwiza took an instant like to Gaelic football when he first gave it a go in January.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s a physical sport,” he said, comparing it to a mixture of volleyball, basketball, and soccer.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s my first time in Ireland \u2026 I love the place. The way it\u2019s always green. You have the wind, the oceans and the mountains.”<\/p>\n

On the pitch, Zambia have yet to be defeated.<\/p>\n

The tournament is running until Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hundreds of GAA players from across the world are in the South East this week as part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":549921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-549920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=549920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/549920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/549921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=549920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=549920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=549920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}