Welcome to the Eirball GAA World landing (index) page to the All-Time Results and Tables of Celtic and Atlantic Games. It is an ongoing project.

Celtic Games include Scottish Shinty (a Scottish Gaelic version of Hurling), Welsh Baseball (A traditional Welsh and Liverpudlian version of Rounders or Baseball), Manx Cammag (An uncodified version of Hurling from the third Gaelic region: Isle of Man), Cornish Hurling (An uncodified version of Rugby Football from the small British Celtic region), and the Gaelic Athletic Association regions of Galicia GAA (North West Iberia – Spain & Portugal) and Brittany GAA (North West Gaul – France) where 13-v-13 versions of Gaelic Football are played by the Native Galicians and Bretons.

Atlantic Games include Basque Pelota (the Traditional Handball-like sport of the Native People of Southwest France and Northwest Spain which is played using a curved glove), Calcio Fiorentino (The Renaissance Football Game played in Florence, italy to this day), and British Medieval Football (Ancient and Medieval games of Football with no rules or limits on the number of players on a team: Ba’ Game (Uppies & Doonies) in Scotland and Orkney Islands, Uppies & Doonies in Cumbria, Public House v Public House in Lincolnshire, and Shrovetide Football in Derbyshire and Northumberland.

Scottish Shinty

Shinty is Gaelic Scotland’s traditional version of Hurling. It is one of the forgotten Gaelic, Celtic or Atlantic Games like Basque Pelota and Welsh Baseball, played mostly in Gaelic parts of Scotland like the Highlands and Islands. The game is very similar to Hurling, with a curved stick used to hit a ball through a goal, except there is no point-over-the-bar and less play in the air. The game is 12-a-side as opposed to Hurling’s 15-a-side. The Shinty National League Division 1 was the Second Level of Men’s Shinty from 2004 to 2007. Incuded here is Cornish Hurling and Manx Cammag. See also International Rules:

Welsh Baseball

Welsh Baseball is a version of Rounders played primarily in South Wales, and also in Liverpool, where it is known as English Baseball. It is like a cross between Baseball, Rounders and Cricket. During the latter half of the 19th Century, the famous A.G. Spalding of Major League Baseball fame organised a Baseball Tour of England and Ireland, and in the process played a number of games against English and Welsh Rounders teams, who adopted some of the rules (such as tagging a playerout with the ball and two-handed batting). It kept the poles rather than flat bases and left the diamond in an irregular shape with all four sides unequal in length. Welsh Baseball also has a bat more like a Cricket Bat than a Baseball Bat, and it tapers towards the handle. According to sources in referenced in the articles below, Irish immigrants to Liverpool and South Wales were numerous among the Working Classes playing the game in the 20th Century. It is still played in South Wales and Liverpool but is now mostly a Children’s and Teenagers Game.

Manx Cammag

Cornish Hurling

Every Shrove Tuesday in St. Columb’s, Cornwall, the game of Hurling is played between ‘Town’ and ‘Country’. The night before resembles a ghost town as all the shops are boarded up and shuttered before the game is played the next day. There are no limits to the numbers of players in the game, with each player playing for either the ‘Town’ or ‘Country’. The game kicks off with the words “Town and Country do your best. but in this parish I must rest.”.

Traditionally, the game was played between the men of St. Columb, but is now played by the children. [3] The Game can last a few minutes or it can last hours depending on how quickly the winning team can get the ball to the goal. The winning player who carries the ball to the goal has the option of keeping the ball and paying for a new one by a local craftsman. The ball is constructed traditionally, out of silver with an applewood core, taken from a local orchard.

References: [1] BBC Cornwall (2003) Hurling at St. columb in the 21st Century [Internet] Available from; http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/villages/stories/stcolumb_hurling.shtml [Accessed 7 March 2018]

[3] St. Ives Web Community TV (2013) The St. Ives Feast and the Silver Ball [Internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20130819100810/http://stivestv.co.uk/whatson/feast_day_2013.htm [Accessed 13 June 2019]

Galicia GAA

Within Europe GAA, there are two Countries / Regions where the Gaelic Football is played entirely by Natives in small towns and villages like in Ireland: Brittany (NW France) and Galicia (NW Iberia – Spain/Portugal). These two Celtic Countries both have Men’s and Women’s Leagues played on a weekly basis, rather than in tournaments like in the other World Games Counties.

Brittany GAA

Within Europe GAA, there are two Countries / Regions where the Gaelic Football is played entirely by Native Bretons in small towns and villages like in Ireland: Brittany (NW France) and Galicia (NW Iberia – Spain/Portugal). These two Celtic Countries both have Men’s and Women’s Leagues played on a weekly basis, rather than in tournaments like in the other World Games Counties.

Basque Pelota

Pelota is the Traditional Game of the Basque People of Sourthwest France and North Central Iberia (Spain). Their language is the oldest in Europe, and the only non-Indo-European language left in Western Europe according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and therefore with some justification the Basques refere to themselves as the only Native Europeans. The sport is similar to the GAA and European game of Handball, played with a curved glove which is used to propel the ball off one of two perpendicluar walls on a four-sided court, with the other two sides open (Jai Alai). Another version is played in pairs (Parejas) or singles (Manomanista) with the hand (Mano)

[References: see Encyclopedia Brittanica sections on Indo-European, Celtic, and Afro-Asiatic languages: Encyclopedia Britannica | Britannica ]

Calcio Fiorentino

This is the Eirball – GAA World / Irish North American and World Sports Archive landing page for Calcio Storico Fiorentino, one of the earliest forms of organised football in the world, and which bears a striking resemblance in play to Gaelic Football, as well as a shared Atlantic heritage in a pre-Roman/pre-English, pre-Catholic Rennaisance or Revival. To view results of Calcio Fiorentino just click on the links in red/blue (purple) below the introduction.

Calcio Storico Fiorentino is a Renaissance Football game first played in Florence (Fiorentina), Tuscany in the 1400s by workers on breaks from work in the city. It was the first organised football in the world, rather than the Medieval mob football which preceeded it and where there were no rules or restrictions on numbers playing. It could be seen as part of the wider Renaissance whereby Tuscany’s ancient pre-Roman, pre-Catholic past was brought back.

[References: [4] Calcio Storico Fiorentino Sito Ufficiale (2020) CALCIO STORICO FIORENTINO [Internet] Available from: http://calciostoricofiorentino.it/?q=calcio-storico-fiorentino [Accessed 4 August 2020] and [5] Calcio Storico Fiorentino Sito Ufficiale (2020) Studies & Documentation [Internet] Available from: http://www.calciostoricofiorentino.it/?q=studi_e_documentazione [Accessed 4 August 2020]

Medieval British Football

Ancient & Medieval British Football

According to later legend Celtic Britons played the Romans at a game of Football in Derbyshire on Shrove Tuesday AD 217 after a battle. These games of Football had no formal rules, or numbers per side and are also known as Medieval or Mob Football with the objective usually to get the ball back to a base at either your own teams end or the opposing teams. Variations on the theme include Uppies & Downies (those living up the hill versus those living down the hill) and Town versus Country. These sports are also known in Continental Europe. In Britain these days they are mainly played in the Celtic fringes of England and Scotland: Cornish Hurling in Cornwall, Manx Cammag in the Isle of Man, Orkney Ba Game in the Orkney Islands, Shaking the Hales in Northumberland, Uppies & Downies in Cumbria, and the Shrovetide Game in Derbyshire. Other games include Eton Fives, a version of Handball first played in the Middle Ages by Peasants against the Church Walls at Eton College, with a handrail providing an obstacle down one side.

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