County colours (Gaelic games)
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The county colours of an Irish county are the colours of the kit worn by that county's representative team in the inter-county competitions of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the most important of which are the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Championship. Fans attending matches often wear replica jerseys, and wave flags and banners in the county colours. In the build-up to a major match, flags and bunting are flown or hung from cars, buildings, telegraph poles, and other fixtures across the county, especially in those regions where GAA support is strong.
Where a county's jersey is multi-coloured, these are the county colours. Where the jersey is a single colour, the colour of the shorts is also included. Shorts were formerly always white, but some counties adopted coloured shorts from the 1960s, such as Dublin's now familiar navy blue.
In the early years of the All-Ireland championships, each county was formally represented by the club which won its county championship; players from other clubs within the county were soon added to reinforce the squad, and gradually from 1900 county committees took over the selection of the team. At that date most inter-county teams still wore the kit of the champion club, but by 1910 some counties had adopted a standard strip.[1] The 1913 GAA Congress passed a motion proposed by P. D. Mehigan and seconded by Harry Boland, "That a distinctive county colour be compulsory for inter-county, inter-provincial and All-Ireland contests, such colours to be approved of by the Provincial Councils concerned and registered with Central Council."[2]
Flags
While each county council has a coat of arms, there are no official county flags. Flags with the GAA county colours serve as de facto county flags. However, there are no standardised formats for these, except Kildare whose flag, like their kit, is all-white. Typically, flags are formed as vertical bicolours or tricolours. Usually, the major colour is nearer the hoist. Moreover, horizontal stripes are used by some individuals. (This is common in County Offaly, where vertical county colours might be mistaken for the flag of Ireland; however other Offaly fans deliberately exploit this double significance.)
Flags with checkerboard, repeating stripes, and other patterns are also found. In recent years, flags have been commercially produced which feature the county's GAA logo on the flag. These logos are sometimes based on the official county coat-of-arms, but some have been replaced with unrelated designs. Fans may also wave other flags of the appropriate colours. For example, among the red-and-white flags used by individual Cork GAA supporters have been the flag of Canada and the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy. As Cork is nicknamed the "Rebel County", its fans have also flown the Rebel Flag of the American Civil War. With the Blue and Gold flags used by individual Tipperary GAA supporters, there has been the Flag of Sweden and the Flag of Ukraine. Mayo fans have used the flags of Italy, Portugal and Bangladesh. Kerry supporters have been seen to wave Brazilian flags due to the similar colours and fact that Brazil have always dominated soccer while Kerry are considered the "Brazil of Gaelic Football" due to their enormous success at the sport.
Connacht
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Galway | Maroon and White |
 |
Leitrim | Green and Gold |
 |
Mayo | Green and Red |
 |
Roscommon | Primrose and Blue |
 |
Sligo | Black and White |
Leinster
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Carlow | Green, Red and Yellow |
 |
Dublin | Navy Blue and Sky Blue |
 |
Fingal | Purple and White |
 |
Kildare | All White |
 |
Kilkenny | Black and Amber |
 |
Laois | Blue and White |
|
Longford | Blue and Gold |
 |
Louth | Red and White |
|
Meath | Green and Gold |
 |
Offaly | Green, White and Gold |
|
Westmeath | Maroon and White |
 |
Wexford | Purple and Gold |
|
Wicklow | Blue and Gold |
Munster
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Munster Council | Blue and Navy |
 |
Clare | Saffron and Blue |
|
Cork | Red and White |
|
Kerry | Green and Gold |
 |
Limerick | Green and White |
|
Tipperary | Blue and Gold |
 |
Waterford | White and Blue |
Ulster
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
Antrim | Saffron and White |
 |
Armagh | Orange and White |
|
Cavan | Blue and White |
|
Derry | Red and White |
|
Donegal | Green and Gold |
 |
Down | Red and Black |
|
Fermanagh | Green and White |
|
Monaghan | White and Blue |
 |
Tyrone | White and Red |
Britain
The British Provincial Board is responsible for seven areas of Britain that are treated as "counties" by the GAA. Their representative teams naturally have standard kit colours like the Irish counties.
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Gloucestershire | Gold and Green |
|
Hertfordshire | Green and Yellow |
|
Lancashire | Blue and Yellow |
|
London | Green and White |
| Scotland | ||
|
Warwickshire | Black and White |
|
Yorkshire | Blue and White |
Other
The New York County Board is responsible for Gaelic games in the New York metropolitan area, recognised as a "county" by the GAA.
| Flag | County | Description |
|---|---|---|
 |
New York | Red, White and Blue |
See also
- List of Irish counties' coats of arms. These are the coats of arms of the county councils; the GAA counties have separate crests, often based on the county council's.
References
Sources
- "County colours". GAA. Archived from the original on 5 July 2014.
Citations
- ^ Cronin, Mike; Duncan, Mark; Rouse, Paul (2011). The GAA : county by county. Cork: Collins Press. p. 6. ISBN 9781848891289.
- ^ Maher, Jim (1998). Harry Boland. Mercier Press. p. 18. ISBN 9781856352369.; "Agenda for 1913 Congress". Centenary. GAA. p. 2, Motion 15. Retrieved 9 August 2018.