By John Harrington

Young Melbourne GAA club have come up with an innovative way of promoting Gaelic Games among schoolchildren in the Australian city.

They’ve reached an agreement with RMIT University to sponsor the first ever GAA scholarship programme in Australia.

This will see a student in RMIT's physical education college receive a bursary which would enable them as part of their year in University to go out to schools and promote gaelic games.

“The selection process will begin shortly and the successful candidate will begin a Gaelic Football coaching and development program focussed on secondary school students in Melbourne in 2022 with the ultimate goal of increasing participation in our games by native born Australians,” says Young Melbourne President and founding member, Carl Walsh.

“The Young Melbourne GAA Club scholarship was inspired by one of the pioneers of GAA scholarships, Noel Walsh, who first introduced them to the GAA in Munster in the late 1990s in his role as Munster Council Chairman.”

Young Melbourne GAA club were only formed this year and sprung from the highly popular Kids GAA Melbourne initiative which started in 2016.

You can read more about their impressive growth and ambitious plans for the future HERE.