GAA supporting Heritage Week 2025
Kerry defeated Donegal in the 2025 All-Ireland SFC Final. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The GAA is proud to participate in the National Heritage Week festival which officially runs from August 16 – 24.
GAA Clubs, by their very existence, are promoting Ireland’s intrinsic heritage through the playing of our national games and the promotion of our language and our culture through Scór.
The theme for Heritage Week 2025 is ‘Exploring Our Foundations’ and invites us ‘to delve into the building blocks of our heritage; not just the structures, but the landscapes and cultural activities that have shaped us.’
At national level the GAA will participate in Heritage Week with a special focus on the clubs that have signed up to restart, revive or in some cases resurrect hurling and camogie in their communities.
Clubs can easily get involved too.
Some ideas for clubs looking to get involved could be:
OPEN DAY: Have an open day at your clubrooms. Invite members of the community to come and bring along items or objects related to the GAA. This can be everything from hurls to medals to jerseys to autographs. Participants will be invited to tell each other the story of their object. Have the open day aimed at those that are new to the community and/or not regular GAA followers to showcase all the sports of the GAA and its history.
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT: Invite the ICAN network to come to a club to collect oral history about the club, the parish, important games the parish club participated in and stories from those games. Why not follow the advice of the GAA Generations project and encourage younger members to record the oral history of older members of the club and community to strengthen the bond of identity and connection.
PHOTO EXHIBITION: Invite club members and the community to submit photos from activities in the club and at games and display as part of a photo exhibition.
HOST A TALK: Invite a local historian or club historian or local library to speak on the history of the GAA in your area of your county. The heritage of local clubs, and how the game developed in your area. Why does your club wear those colours? What’s the story behind your club name? Where did it play its first matches? Who founded the club?
SCÓR: Have a Scór concert with a focus on local traditional songs or songs about the GAA club. Include Irish dancing, poetry recitals and novelty acts. https://www.gaa.ie/thegaa/cultur-agus-gaeilge/scor
START A CLUB HISTORY AND ARCHIVE: This can be done as a digital project. Invite members of the club to explore the club history and create a presentation that can be recorded as a video or presented live. Consider the Heritage Council Community Heritage Grant Scheme for this and other ideas. Start a club archive by exploring and bringing together minute books, old documents, plans etc related to the club. Invite old and young members of the club to explore this new archive. Link it to the oral history project above.
PLAY GAMES. Nothing celebrates the GAA more than the playing of games. Poc fada, cic fada, Dads and Lads, Gaelic4Mothers&Others. Social hurling and camogie. Walking indoor football for senior citizens. Wheelchair hurling demo. GAA For All inclusion activities. All of these offer the opportunity to get people out, get people involved and get people active and celebrate the GAA and our cultural heritage.