Need a footy fix?

[IddyBiddy]

The Australasian Gaelic Football Champs are being held in SA this year, the week beginning 29 September. Free entry to all the mid week games, $10 for the finals on the weekend.

Def worth a look.

http://www.gaelicfootballsa.com.au/adelaide08/index.html

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] 2008 Australasian Championships[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Monday 29th September to Sunday 5th October[/FONT]​

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] Westminster School, Alison Ave, Marion[/FONT]​

The annual Australasian Gaelic Football & Hurling Championships are being held in Adelaide at the picturesque grounds and excellent facilities of Westminster School in Adelaide's south-western suburbs.​

400 players in 17 teams from around Australia and New Zealand will be competing in 4 codes, including Men's, Women's and Minor (U19) Gaelic Football, and the ancient Irish game of Hurling, the fastest field game in the world.​

The venue is first class, only 20 minutes from the city of Adelaide and 10 minutes from the Adelaide's seaside suburbs including Glenelg. The playing fields and player and spectator facilities are superb. There is a modern pavilion offering excellent views overlooking the two pitches; an indoor sports and swimming centre with a 10 lane 25m pool; tennis courts; a dining room for meals daily from breakfast through to dinner; plenty of parking; and some great accommodation options on the property (already booked out by some teams). There will also be a BBQ running all day, and a licensed area close to the main pitch in addition to the Jarman Room (pavilion). Merchandise will be available. There will be a grandstand alongside the main pitch, in addition to several marquees and some other touches to create a sports carnival atmosphere. The website for the venue is www.westminster.sa.edu.au (check out the Facilities tab).​

Games will commence on Monday 29th September, with finals to be played over the weekend of Sat 4th and Sunday 5th October. Entry will be free during the week, and only $10 on the weekend (with kids under 16 free).​

 

[toddflanders]

The Australasian Gaelic Football Champs are being held in SA this year, the week beginning 29 September. Free entry to all the mid week games, $10 for the finals on the weekend.

Def worth a look.

http://www.gaelicfootballsa.com.au/adelaide08/index.html

i reckon i could have my own hurling competion in the early hours of sunday morning...

 

[Seanason]

Handball needs to be played at the same time.

People need to sort this out.

 

[IddyBiddy]

i reckon i could have my own hurling competion in the early hours of sunday morning...

Nobody hurls like the Irish....

 

[IddyBiddy]

Just for those that are interested, SA Men easily defeated Wellington today and SA Women easily accounted for QLD (who were early fancies), haven't heard the minor scores, but hopefully the young boys got up today too. Based on today's results its looking good for SA making the semi's in all levels for the weekends.

 

[IddyBiddy]

South Australia continued its winning ways yesterday with both the men and women’s team winning their games. Impressively the men defeated NSW, the team that beat them in last year’s grand final, convincingly although the NSW Irish county ring-in players aren’t due to arrive in Adelaide until the end of the week. Given NSW were beaten by QLD on the opening day, it will make it very difficult for NSW to now make the finals. After years of playing Irish backpacking and flying their best players down for the finals, it seems this year the ploy may have backfired.
The women continued their impressive run with an easy victory over Victoria, pressing further SA’s claims for taking both senior titles for the first time ever. The real test for the SA women will come when they face the impressive WA team, but the girls would have taken heart from their impressive display against the fancied Queenslanders on Monday.
Exciting stuff, get out to Westminister to watch this week or weekend.

 

[IddyBiddy]

The king is dead. NSW looks to be officially out of the Mens comp after losing today to Wellington. SA and WA mens teams fought out a draw, with SA securing the draw after looking all but gone with only a few minutes left. SA Women lost to the giant of women's galeic in WA. A couple of key SA girls were missing today and hopefully a full strenght SA will have the measure of WA in the finals come the weekend. The minor comps (u18) begin tomorrow with SA looking to preserve an impressive minor history over the last ten years. I believe the minors will play twice tomorrow. SA men take on QLD in what should be a tight game and the women take on Victoria. I'll update again tomorrow (i'm sure you can't wait ).

 

[IddyBiddy]

Interesting day yesterday at the champs, which has set up what is likely to be a fascinating day on Saturday. SA women were beaten by their bogey team NSW with the last kick of the game, regardless of today's result the women appear certain to meet NSW in the Semi on Saturday, providing an intriguing rematch and a replay of the semi's from the last champs played in Adelaide in 2000. Should the SA women get past NSW, a team they have never beaten, they will more than likely find themselves in the final against a WA team who defeated them earlier in the week. SA rested a few key defenders for that game, so should they get through they will be confident of making a real show of it.

SA men continued on their their merry way yesterday with a convincing victory over an up and down QLD team. Today SA will meet Victoria, who are ranked number 1 so far. SA looks set to rest much of its team given its number 2 spot is sewn up.

Unfortunately it was a tough day for SA'sminor team who were narrowly defeated by Victoria and easily accounted for by WA, who appear to have a team a cut above this year. A victory against Victoria in the semi's will give the young SA boys another crack at WA.

Saturday will be a great day, with both SA senior teams looking set for mid afternoon game (2pm onwards), so get down and have and support the teams. I think most of you on here will find GAA a facinating sport, and there are plenty of ops to meets people involved with the local 9 a side and full team comps if you are interested in playing this summer.

$10 entry for a full days of games that kick off at 9am.

 

[IddyBiddy]

Saturday saw both the SA Men’s and Women’s team come up against tough opposition in the semi-finals of the Australasian Gaelic Football Champs in Adelaide. SA women were up first against a NSW team that had beaten them earlier in the week with the last kick of the game. The girls killed off the game in the first 15 minutes with a fluid free flowing high scoring game plan that left the NSW defence struggling to cope. For whatever reason, NSW kept their best player and possibly one of the best female footballers to grace the game in this country, up forward starved of opportunities. In the end it was an easy victory for the SA Women, who would go on to face WA in the final on Sunday.
Later that Saturday afternoon, the SA men played out a bruising encounter with a an impressive Queensland outfit. The Queenslanders had the better of a blustery first half, leaving the SA men with a good deal of work to do in the second half. SA came out a different side in the second and blew away the Queenslanders with a solid performance across the team. It would be the first time in the history of the Champs that both SA Men and Women would be there on the final day.
The Women’s Gaelic grand final was the first game up, but earlier in the day Victoria had beaten the highly fancied WA in the Hurling final. The standard of Hurling at the Champs this year was incredibly impressive. Once the women hit the field against the benchmark team of the past 5 years in WA, everyone knew it would be tough for the girls to get up. WA started well, kicking away early to put the pressure on SA. The girls rallied and slowly made their way back into the game. A couple of late goals gave the girls a 1 point lead at half time. WA came out in the second half and got two early points once more to take the lead. SA was struggling to score and as the game went into the final ten minutes it looked as though WA had control. A sickening clash between two players going for the same ball saw SA lose a player with a knee injury but the break in the game seemed to rejuvenate the team. After the injury break the SA team dominated and had plenty of scoring opportunities in a five minute period of domination. The women quickly leveled the scores back and peppered the goals for a period as it looked as thought eh game would be sent into extra time. With 5 minutes to play SA went up and the big crowd at Westminster held their collective breaths. The girls held on in the end to make history, with SA winning their first crown since the 1970’s and the women the first Championship ever .

The scene was set for an SA double that had much of the crowd salivating. The men were to face a Victorian team primarily made up of Irish tourists, possessing a skill for the game that can only come with having grown up with the roundball game. In the last 5 years SA, a team of Australian converts to the game, had made the final 3 times, only to be denied. As the game began, SA got off to a flying start kicking an early point and then a quick goal to bring the crowd into the game early. The Vic’s got a point back as the physicality on the ground lifted. A clearly taller Victorian team found their run and were dangerous on the counter attack. SA made hard work o of the game early and were badly hurt by a Victorian team that took their chances when they presented. A couple of luck goals from Victoria put pressure on SA going into half time. The feeling around the ground during the half time break was one of hope, but early into the second the Vics put pay to what little hope of an SA comeback there was. A deflated SA played out the game to the final whistle but in the end were easily beaten by an ultra impressive Victorian team who were the stand out team of the championships.

Well played to all the teams that took part, but a special mention to the SA teams who continue to highlight just how strongly the local comp is performing. The new SA season is about to start, those guys or girls interested in playing should contact the SA GAA, all are welcome.