Gaelic games to be exhibited to 100,000 at Verona's Tocatì Festival 

By John Harrington

The profile of Gaelic games in Europe will be raised significantly by the 2026 Tocatì Festival in Verona which takes place from September 18-20.

The free-entry festival, recognised by UNESCO as a Good Practice for Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage, draws over 100,000 people annually to the Italian city.

Its mission is to showcase traditional games and sports and the communities that keep them alive, and this year they’ve made Ireland their guests of honour.

“The Tocatì Festival is run by the Associazione Giochi Antichi (AGA) who reached out to me six months ago,” says Gaelic Games Europe’s Head of Operations, Chris Collins.

“With Ireland holding the EU presidency they were keen to ensure that Ireland were there and so Gaelic Games Europe are going and will be showcasing all of our games as part of the festival.

“We'll have Gaelic football, we'll have Ladies football, camogie, hurling, handball, rounders and there will also be other traditional Irish games on display as well.

“The whole idea around Tocatì is it translates into 'it's your turn to play', so it's a fun family festival.

“We’ll have a road bowls exhibition, a Poc Fada competition, Kerbsies, Conkers and traditional Irish skittles exhibition as well as some Irish revival games such as stick fighting and collar and elbow wrestling.

“We’ll also be bringing traditional games you’d see in GAA clubs and pubs like darts, rings, and traditional card games like 25.

“There will also be Irish culture, language, music and demonstrations around Irish cooking, the Celtic harp, Uilleann pipes, knitting and dry stone walling. We will have about 50 traditional Irish musicians that are going to be making their way to Verona from all the corners of Ireland and some from across Europe. Glenullin GAC in County Derry are bringing their Scor performers and taking the Italian audience into their club with a very special documentary screening about a traditional rural Irish GAA club and community.

“We have a very special group of Italian Irish dancers from Milan who are going to be performing in Ireland square also. My hope is that for people attending the festival, it'll feel like a fleadh back at home.”

The Tocatì festival will also be the catalyst for a significant legacy piece for Gaelic Games Europe – the establishment of a new GAA club in Verona.

A number of people in the city have already agreed to drive it, and the festival will act as a recruitment ground for new members and players.

Gaelic Games Europe have done significant work to form working relationships with the University of Verona, Verona and Sommacampagne City Councils to ensure the club will be built on very solid foundations.

The Mayor of Verona, former Roma and Italy footballer, Damiano Tommasi, is taking a personal interest in the project and giving it his full backing.

“There's a lot of curiosity and excitement about what this club could look like but we're very much keeping things open at the minute,” says Collins.

“We're hoping it's going to be football, hurling, camogie, handball and rounders and as the kids and the young people come to play and participate in our games, there'll be a QR code at each station at the festival where people can sign up as being interested in taking part in a new club.

“What is important for us from a legacy piece is working with the municipality of Verona, working with the University of Verona which has a sports course. It has given us real scope now to see how we can engage with people that don't really understand what our games are about.

“We're going to showcase our games, our culture, the craic and just the energy that comes with having the GAA in an area like Verona and bringing our games to the streets of Veronetta.

“We're hoping then that they'll support us with access to facilities, access to sports students from the University of Verona that can help by playing our games and, in time, hopefully coach, so it's an interesting project for us.

“Damiano Tomassi, the Mayor of Verona, is a great character and has taken a big interest. He's very keen to have the GAA present and I'm hoping when the festival is over that he and others will help us really establish a club in Verona.

“Having the different stakeholders, particularly the university and the city council, on board before the club starts, is an important piece for us moving forward.

“From an Italian perspective we've got a club in Rome and we've got a club in Milan and this club in Verona will hopefully connect those two geography-wise. So that point of it is interesting and it will strengthen the association in Italy.”

Attendees at the Tocatì Festival won’t just be able to see exhibitions of Gaelic games, they’ll also have the chance to witness the cut and thrust of real championship action.

“The festival takes place in our Central East region so we’re going to hold our Central East Finals as part of the festival on the Saturday,” says Collins.

“We're intending to bring 150 players from across that region of Europe to play in their finals competition which will give the people that are attending the festival an opportunity to go and view a real game, what it's like, how it's played and I suppose view the craic and the competitive side of that.”

The fact that the Tocatì Festival is recognised by UNESCO is also a major positive from a GAA point of view.

Hurling and Camogie have already been added to the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and in July this year the GAA and LGFA also submitted an application for official recognition of Gaelic football.

“It’s very timely for us,” says Collins. “They're aware of hurling and this is an opportunity for us to showcase Gaelic football and the community aspect of the GAA.

“The GAA is obviously in every community across Ireland and we have 6,000 members at the minute across Europe.

“We're steadily trying to grow that in a sustainable fashion and I think our games are only one aspect of it. The community and cultural element very much runs parallel with the games and it's equally as important, everyone at the festival will get a really good feel for that over the course of the weekend..

“We all know of stories that people have gone away to cities all around the world, not just in Europe, where the GAA club is the first port of call because we do a lot of the work that the consulates and the embassies do in connecting people and bringing them together as a community whether they play at GAA at home or not.

“So I think that piece around UNESCO and about our application being live at the minute with Gaelic football is very timely.

“Jarlath Burns will be attending and will give a keynote presentation as part of the UNESCO piece. Hopefully at the end of this festival the wider audience will see the cultural value that the GAA has as well as our incredible games.”

Anyone interested in joining Gaelic Games Verona can go here - https://www.gaelicgamesverona.com/