GAA Handball

GAA Handball Ireland
Liathróid Láimhe C.L.G. na hÉireann

Formation	1 November 1884 (1884-11-01)
Type	Sports organisation
Purpose	Primarily the managing and promotion of Gaelic handball
Headquarters	Croke Park, Dublin
Region served	Ireland
Official language	Irish language
Leader	Walter O' Connor
Parent organization	The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)
Staff	Limited full time staff
Website	http://www.gaahandball.ie

GAA Handball Ireland (Irish: Liathróid Láimhe C.L.G. na hÉireann)is the Irish governing body for the sport of Handball. Its headquarters are located in Croke Park and its current president is Walter O' Connor. Handball is one of the four Gaelic games organised by the Gaelic Athletic Association.

History of Irish Handball

During the 60's, 70's and 80's, handball was very popular among the Irish republic, It was cheap, fun and easy to play but as years went by, handball lost it's popularity to other GAA sports such as football and hurling and of course to "foreign" sports such as soccer and rugby. In recent times however there has been a surge in popularity of the sport. This is due to the rebranding of the sport as GAA Handball and the ongoing promotion of the sport and especially One Wall handball by the organisation. In 2012 Ireland will host the World Handball Championships in venues yet to be officially announced. Due to the huge popularity of One Wall handball it is hoped it will become an Olympic sport soon.

Television coverage

In late 2010, GAA Handball announced that it was to launch a new tv show on TG4 featuring highlights of the biggest competitions that were held over the last couple of months. In mid to late December of that year, TG4 premiered the first ever edition of the GAA Handball show and it was followed by a six part series that was broadcast in January, 2011. It was a huge success and following the broadcast of the six episodes, through a new association with TG4 as GAA Handball Ireland's media partner, this has been doubled with 12 episodes now to come, commencing in October 2011. This will begin with 6 episodes, again every Monday night, on TG4, commencing on Monday 24th October 2011 and will then be followed by a further 6 new episodes to come in January 2012, with those episodes again taking place every Monday night, commencing on Monday 2nd January.

National & International Competitions

Irish Competitions There are many handball competitions that are run in Ireland. In 40x20, the main competitions are County, Province, and All-Ireland Championships plus the 40x20 Irish Nationals. In 60x30 Softball and Hardball, the main competitions are County, Province, and All-Ireland Championships. In 2011 GAA Handball Ireland launched the 60x30 Nationals and this competition will was held in July. In One-Wall handball, the main competition in Ireland is the Irish One-Wall Nationals, and this is now held in Breaffy House, Castlebar. There are also many competitions during the year held by various handball clubs around the country.

International Competitions As with the Irish competitions, there are many international one-wall and 40x20 competitions, the main one being the World Handball Championships which are run every 3 years. In 2012, the 'Worlds' will be held in Ireland, in venues yet to be announced. The two codes of handball played in the World Handball Championships are 40x20 small court and One-Wall.

National Handball Centre

Following a lot of planning issues, GAA Handball Ireland were granted planning permission in August 2011 to build a brand new 'state of the art' €9 million National Handball Centre at Croke Park.