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PARIS GAELS GAA CLUB - BRIEF HISTORY (page 1/2)
In 1994 a number of Irish expatriates living in Paris were in the habit of getting together to play Hurling and Gaelic Football (Ladies included) on a regular basis and organising matches with the Irish communities in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Germany and France as well as other social events around Paris. The success of their efforts generated great interest amongst the Irish and French communities and ultimately led to the founding of the Gaelic Athletic Association, Paris (France) being formally established as a non-profit making association in April 1995, under the 1901 Law. The club (Paris Gaels GAA) is in fact the first affiliated GAA club in mainland Europe.
To date Paris Gaels GAA has over fifty active members each paying an annual membership of 150 FF. Matches are organised on a regular basis throughout mainland Europe, these are mainly tournaments and friendly matches which take place on an annual basis and are always very competitive. Players from almost all counties in Ireland play with the club along with some French nationals. Training takes place on a Rugby pitch in the north of Paris every Monday evening.
The club is also involved in coaching children and giving demonstration sessions of Gaelic Football and Hurling. In 1997 some underage teams from Swords travelled to Paris to play a team from Ozoire La Ferriere, which is a town twinned with Swords. One of the supporters at the game was Mr. Joe McDonagh who travelled to Paris to strengthen the links with this town and to advise how we could improve the promotion of our national games in France. Paris Gaels is also the major link for teams starting up in France, they contact Paris to help them in any possible way, ie. through sending them video tapes of Gaelic Games, Rules in English and French, organising demonstration games in their homegrounds, etc. The club have helped Brest, Lyon, Tours, Poitiers to name but a few of the main cities in France, to start up their own GAA club.
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