Article of the Week - Gaelic Football

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Gaelic Football
Ireland's most popular spectator sport
involved two teams of 15 players each

Gaelic football (Irish: Peil, Peil Ghaelach, or Caid), commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It is, together with hurling, one of the two most popular spectator sports in the Ireland.

Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by kicking or striking the ball with the hand and getting it through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their team-mates.

Statistics show the game drawing significantly more spectators than any other sport in the Ireland recently; 2005 ESRI figures indicate that it draws 34% of total attendances at sports events in Ireland, with the closest rival, hurling drawing 23%.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Gaelic Football"