September and October Review

October 27, 2024

September & October Review

September 2024 brought with it an influx of new and returning members to the region, with cooling Middle Eastern climates allowing for increased outdoor activities on pitches all around the region as our clubs got back to work following the summer break. Competitive tournament action in the 2024/25 Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce Middle East League took place over 4 consecutive weekends between September and October, with Friday evening scheduling utilised to avoid the lingering summer heat. In total, over 200 competitive games took place in Round 1, representing the culmination of a lot of organisation and hundreds of hours of training sessions held all around the Gulf region by our clubs. We offer our thanks to the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce, and in particular to Secretary-General and CEO Ahmad Younis, for the continued and generous support of Gaelic Games in the Middle East region.

Handball

Our season began indoors, with the inaugural Middle East Handball League competition, held in Ras Al Khaimah on September 21^st. This represented the fruition of the dedicated efforts of a small number of individuals and clubs in the region to build a handball community over the last number of years, and Middle East GAA were delighted to be in a position to facilitate the creation of a league competition for the season ahead as a direct result of their efforts. On the day, hosted by local club RAK Ropairí, 13 players came together for an exciting morning and afternoon of competition, featuring competitors of all levels of experience. Round 1 tournament honours went to David Walsh (Senior Cup), Gearoid O’Muireadhaigh (Senior Plate), Turlough Lardner (Intermediate Cup), and MJ Farrell (Intermediate Plate). We look forward to the continuation of this competition over the remainder of the season and hope to see more participants as the year progresses.

Hurling & Camogie

The following week, on September 28^th, Round 1 of the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce Hurling and Camogie leagues took place in Abu Dhabi, hosted by local club Abu Dhabi na Fianna. A total of 20 teams travelled from all over the UAE, and from Qatar, to contest for honours across Senior and Intermediate divisions in a sunny Zayed Sports City. This competition featured the debut of a Kerry Middle East hurling team in competition, highlighting the continued development of the club. We were also delighted to welcome Dave Moore, Second Secretary at the Embassy of Ireland, Abu Dhabi, to the competition. On the evening, Senior tournament honours went to Dubai Celts, who completed the double by winning both Hurling and Camogie Cup competitions. Our Intermediate competitions saw two more double wins, with Oryx na hÉireann take the spoils with the Camogie Cup and Hurling Plate, and Al Reem Shamrocks with the Hurling Cup and Camogie Plate. Congratulations and well done to all involved on the night.

Senior and Intermediate Football

October began with great excitement, with the hosting of our Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce Round 1 Senior and Intermediate Men’s and Ladies’ football divisions on Friday October 4^th. These games were played at The Sevens Stadium in Dubai, organised by local club Dubai Celts, and saw 31 teams and almost 400 players come together from within the UAE, and from Qatar and Bahrain, for a busy evening of competitive action. It was a notable evening for Abu Dhabi na Fianna, who enjoyed success across a number of different divisions; for Al Reem Shamrocks who reached a first Ladies’ Senior Final; for Kerry Middle East who had a good first outing in the Ladies’ Senior ranks and took home a Plate win; and for Qatar GAA who won a Plate on their return to the Men’s Senior division after a number of years. Congratulations to all of our tournament winners on the night:

Ladies’ Senior Cup – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Men’s Senior Cup – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Ladies’ Senior Plate – Kerry Middle East
Men’s Senior Plate – Qatar GAA
Ladies’ Intermediate Cup – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Men’s Intermediate Cup – Dubai Celts
Ladies’ Intermediate Plate – Sharjah Gaels
Men’s Intermediate Plate – Kerry Middle East

Junior Football

Our final tournament of Round 1 of the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce league took place for Junior A, B, C, and D divisions for Men’s and Ladies’ football, hosted by Abu Dhabi club Al Reem Shamrocks at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, on Friday 11^th October. On the evening, we were delighted to welcome our Irish Ambassador to the UAE, Her Excellency Alison Milton, to the competition, and to thank her for her continued support of Gaelic Games in the Middle East. This was a busy and enjoyable tournament, catering for almost 60 teams and 800 players across 6 different pitches. Teams travelled from within the UAE, and also from Oman, Qatar, Saudia Arabia, and Bahrain, to attend. Following 106 fixtures, and no shortage of entertainment and drama, our Round 1 tournament winners were crowned. It was a notable evening for many teams, in particular for Donegal Dubai who were competing in their first competition following their recent formation; for Laocha Gael who continued their progress through the Ladies’ divisions; for RAK Ropairí who returned to the Northern Emirates with a Cup after being the last team to finish on a late night of competition; for overseas teams from Naomh Alee who returned to Saudi Arabia with a Ladies Cup win and a number of new male players involved from Jeddah; and for our other overseas team Clann na hOman, who won their first ever Men’s tournament Cup. Congratulations and well done to all of our winners on the evening:

Ladies’ Junior A Cup – RAK Ropairí
Ladies’ Junior A Plate – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Men’s Junior A Cup – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Men’s Junior A Plate – Dubai Celts
Ladies’ Junior B Cup – Laochra Gael
Ladies’ Junior B Plate – Abu Dhabi na Fianna
Men’s Junior B Cup – Jumeirah Gaels
Men’s Junior B Plate – Dubai Celts
Ladies’ Junior C Cup – Naomh Alee
Ladies’ Junior C Plate – Kerry Middle East
Men’s Junior C Cup – Donegal Dubai
Men’s Junior C Plate – Laochra Gael
Ladies’ Junior D Cup – Donegal Dubai
Men’s Junior D Cup – Clann na hOman

Juvenile Sections

Elsewhere, away from our competitive adult action, our Juvenile sections continued to scale up in preparation for the first dedicated juvenile event of the season, to be held in Bahrain on November 16^th. Huge efforts are taking place at club level all around the Gulf region to continue the development of our future stars.

In Muscat, Clann na hOman Óige returned at the end of October for a continuation of fun-filled activities for juvenile members for the season ahead. In Abu Dhabi, juvenile members and parents gathered together for a number of weeks of activities at the 321 Sports Dome in Al Hudayriat Island. In Riyadh, the Naomh Alee juniors held a number of training sessions throughout Semptember and October to ensure the continued development of their members. In Doha, juvenile activities began at the Sports Dome in Al Ghafaraa and quickly picked up pace throughout the month of September, with numbers continuing to grow. In Manama, juvenile Gaelic Games offered by Arabian Celts was complemented by a very enthusiastic Mothers & Others group.

Lastly, in Dubai, activities steadily progressed at Al Habtoor Polo Club over a number of weeks, culminating in a special event before the mid-term break when Dubai Éire Óg held what was likely the final Cúl Camp of 2024. This event brought together a large number of juvenile members and parents for a jam-packed schedule of events which took place at Al Habtoor Polo Club. Evening and morning sessions were regularly punctuated by water breaks to keep our juvenile members hydrated as they progressed through a number of fun and exciting games-based activities across all codes of Football, Hurling and Camogie.

Well done to all involved in our juvenile units!

Gaelic Games Education

Off field, Middle East GAA ran a busy schedule of Coach and Referee education in September, supported significantly by our World GAA twinning partner, Leinster GAA.

We welcomed Ciaran Mac Eochaidh, Games Development Coordinator with Longford GAA, to the region to run a number of Introduction to Coaching Gaelic Games courses across Qatar, UAE, and Oman. These courses came in addition to, and as a result of the success of, our previous Introduction to Coaching Gaelic Games courses which were held in Riyadh, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha last year.

On this occasion, our coaches progressed through online learning modules via the GAA learning platform “Tobar”, and also attended an in-person workshop which was held in Doha on September 21^st, Muscat on September 22^nd, Abu Dhabi on September 23^rd, and Dubai on September 25^th. Our coaches focused on a number of relevant learning modules including “How to Coach”, “Being a Coach”, “Who are you coaching?”, “Movement in Gaelic Games”, “Skill Development”, “Introduction to Our Games”, and “Preparation and Planning”. In addition, Ciaran kindly facilitated some coaching workshops, specific to juvenile games, for the benefit of our coaches and players in the region. Thank you to all who have been involved in this initiative over the last 12 months. We are delighted to note almost 150 initial registrations to this course from coaches around the region, which bodes well for the continued development of our games for the future. We look forward to working to complete coaching certifications for the current participants and offering additional educational opportunities in the future for both new and current coaches.

Elsewhere, we also welcomed Referee Tutor Finbar Gaffney from Dublin, who ran a Referee Foundation course In Abu Dhabi on Saturday, September 29^th. Similar to the Introduction to Coaching Gaelic Games Course, participants in this course also completed a number of online modules via Tobar before attending the in-person workshop. Following completion of the in-person workshop, participants also completed an online rules test before being awarded their Referee Certification. We were delighted to offer this opportunity to upskill our members, continuing on the path of developing more local referees to officiate at our tournaments throughout the season. Thank you to all participants who took part and to our clubs and members for their continued support to our referees. Middle East GAA was delighted to note a total of 9 local referees in action at the Junior tournament hosted on October 11^th, a record number for the region! We look forward to the continued development of referees for this season and beyond.

Breast Cancer Awareness

October is the month of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this is an issue that is close to the heart of many of our clubs and members in the Middle East region. Throughout the month of October, a number of our clubs and members came together to wear pink at their training sessions to raise awareness.

Looking ahead

We look forward to a busy month of November, with Round 2 of the Arab-Irish Chamber of Commerce bringing Gaelic Games activity to the following locations:

Dubai – Saturday, November 2^nd – Hurling & Camogie, hosted by Dubai Celts
Bahrain – Saturday, November 9^th – Senior and Intermediate Men’s and Ladies’ Football, hosted by Arabian Celts
Al Ain – Friday, November 22^nd and Saturday, November 23^rd – Junior A, B, C and D Men’s and Ladies’ Football, hosted by Al Ain GAA

We also look forward to a large juvenile event which takes place on Saturday, November 16^th in Bahrain, bringing together hundreds of juvenile members and their parents and guardians for what promises to be a fun-filled day of games and activities.

Off-field, with the assistance of World GAA, we will conduct officer upskilling sessions, scheduled to be held at the end of November in conjunction with our clubs. Middle East GAA will also be in attendance at GAA Special Congress, to be held in Croke Park on November 30th.

Finally, thank you to all of our host clubs and committees for their dedicated and tireless work behind the scenes in organising such fantastic events which cater for so many people; and to our players, coaches, referees and supporters for travelling to events and for making them such a special occasion to be a part of. We welcome spectators to all of our events and if you have not yet found a club, or would like to get involved in any capacity, please feel free to get in contact.