A history of Gaelic football - Jack Mahon

Gaelic football is the most popular spectator sport in Ireland. Championship matches regularly attract crowds ranging from 35,000 to 65,000 peple.;The game of Gaelic football was codified in the 1880s on the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association. Prior to that, a series of local rough and tumbles, usually known by the generic name of caid, had been played throughout Ireland. The new codified game, played with a round ball that could be both handled and kicked, contains elements of soccer, rugby and Australian rules. At its best it provides a thrilling spectacle of high catching, long kicking and clever interpassing.;This history traces the rise and fall of different powers in the game since the 1880s. Probably the most consistent of all counties has been Kerry, which has never failed to win at least one All-Ireland senior championship in every decade of the 20th century. But teams from every part of the country have dominated at one time or another, and this history deals impartially with them all.