Holland Ladies' Team winners of the Luxembourg Tournament May 26th 2007
Back row L to R: Andrea O'Brien, Liz Hilton (Player of the tournament), Jenny Samuels (vice-capt), Barrijean Walsh, Grainne Tallot & Maria Murtagh
Front row L to R: S Smith, Rosie Finnegan, Michaela Duffy (captain) & Fiona McDermott
About:
Den Haag Ladies footballers play as "Holland Ladies" in the European Championship.
Holland Ladies’ Gaelic Football team was founded in February 2006 on the back of a very successful year where ladies footballers from the Den Haag GAA club and Amsterdam GAC having joined forces became European Champions 2005. Becoming “Holland Ladies” made perfect sense as Den Haag and Amsterdam lie close to each other in the Raanstad in the province of Holland Zuid. Holland Ladies were runners up in the 2006 European championship.
With a Dutch chairperson at the helm, Holland ladies are determined to make 2007 another successful year. Our squad boasts six different nationalities and prides itself on bringing Gaelic football to all in Europe.
European League winners in 2005, runners up in 2006...what does 2007 hold
for the Holland Ladies?
The Holland Ladies comprise women from both the Amsterdam and Den Haag GAA Clubs. We are an assortment of nationalities, abilities and personalities that all combine to produce a real winning formula.
The motto "play hard, party hard" suits us well and 2007 should be no exception with Ladies tournaments to be held in Luxembourg, Copenhagen, Munich, Paris, Maastricht and Barcelona.
We train with the Amsterdam GAC Club on Tuesday nights in Amstelveen (www.amsterdamgac.nl) and on Wednesdays in Den Haag.
We are always looking for new players of any ability so if you feel up to the challenge and you want to be part of "the best looking team in Europe!" contact Sile Mooney on SMooney@crh-eur.nl
Player's point of view:
Liz Hilton, a native of Australia living in Den Haag. Liz is the Vice Captain of the Netherlands Ladies Gaelic Football Team, European Champions 2005
Why did an Australian join a Ladies Gaelic Football team?
I love sports and when I moved to Den Haag I was looking to join some international sport’s club and that's when I discovered Gaelic Football. I have to say I love it! I found it easy to pick up gaelic football, but it does requires a mixture of skill, speed, stamina, strength and courage to try to master it fully.
Is Ladies Gaelic Football a popular sport?
I understand that it is the fastest growing sport in Ireland at the moment, but it is, sadly, difficult to recruit new players for Ladies Gaelic Football in Holland, which is such a shame, because if they realised what a great sport it was, they would wonder why they didn't start earlier!
So, why should people in the Netherlands take up Gaelic Football?
From a fitness point of view, it is a great sport to help you get fit and build up your stamina. The training sessions can be tough, especially leading up to a tournament, but it's always worth it in the end. Plus it's a really enjoyable sport to play. From a social point of view, Den Haag GAA club has got a great group of people as members. Travelling to tournaments throughout Europe are always great trips and the nights out always great craic!
Gaelic memoirs of a Dutch girl
- Maaike Boerkamp
Chairperson, Holland Ladies GAA
I started playing Gaelic football in The Hague just over two years ago. I was working for an international company at the time and a German colleague (big fan of anything Irish!) told me about this Irish sport. I’d never heard of it before but it sounded interesting. He said they could always use more girls so I should check it out. I was still a bit hesitant but he said that the Irish are very friendly and would welcome me to the group so no excuses.
So I went to have a look. The training was very hard, I got knocked over and my whole body was sore. However, I loved it! It was great fun, very relaxing (mentally). I have been playing since and try to make it every week. The German was right, the Irish are very friendly and I felt very welcome from the moment I started. They explained the game and involved me with everything.
Because I was so enthusiastic about the game I started telling everybody about it. I thought I could easily recruit some more players. However no Dutch person I know had ever heard of the game. I find it hard to convince people to come out and try it. I am not exactly sure what the problem is. They think it is too rough or they think they won’t fit in, I don’t know…
Playing Gaelic Football actually helped me to get a new job!
I will continue spreading the word and hopefully my enthusiasm too. I think the Dutch should know about this great game!
Kan je omschrijven wat Gaelic Football inhoudt? Ik denk dat de makkelijkste manier om Gaelic Football te omschrijven is om je een
sport voor te stellen dat een combinatie is van voetbal, rugby en Aussie rules!
Gaelic Football wordt gespeeld met een ronde leren bal, die lijkt op een voetbal, maar dan zwaarder. De spelers verplaatsen de bal over het veld door middel van vasthouden met de handen, schoppen en overspelen naar team leden.
De puntentelling is hetzelfde als bij Hurling, dat wil zeggen, 1 punt bij een score over de horizontale legger en 3 punten, een goal, bij een score onder de horizontale legger in het net. Het is een snel spel met hoge scores en ontzettend populair in Ierland. Zo erg dat je zelfs een Gaelic Football spel kan kopen voor op je Playstation!
Lijkt het op Voetbal?
Het lijkt op voetbal. De bal is ongeveer even groot en een hoop vaardigheden kunnen gebruikt worden in beide sporten. Gaelic Football is anders, omdat er vier spelers meer in een team zitten, ze hebben niet de offside rule, het scoresysteem is anders en het veld is 2 en een half keer zo groot als een voetbalveld (140-150m x 80-100m tegenover 100m x 60m). Het is snel, vaardig en een spel met hoge scores!
Moet je Gaelic Football in Ierland hebben gespeeld om het in Europa te spelen?
Zeker niet! Spelers van verschillend niveau zijn welkom en beginners zijn helemaal welkom. Zeker de helft van de club leden heeft nog nooit eerder Gaelic Football gespeeld. Het is een makkelijk en leuke sport om te leren en we bieden training aan op verschillende niveaus.
Is Gaelic Football voor dames populair?
Ik heb begrepen dat het de snelst groeiende sport in Ierland is op het moment, maar jammer genoeg is het moeilijk om nieuwe spelers te vinden voor het dames team in Holland. Dat is echt jammer, want als ze zich zouden realiseren wat een fantastische sport het is, dan zouden ze zich afvragen waarom ze niet eerder zijn begonnen!
Dus, waarom zouden Nederlanders op Gaelic Football moeten gaan?
Vanuit een conditioneel oogpunt, is het een goede sport om fit te worden en je uithoudingsvermogen te verbeteren. De training sessies kunnen zwaar zijn, helemaal als er een toernooi aan komt, maar aan het eind het is het zeker waard. Daarbij is het ook een hele leuke sport om te spelen. Vanuit een sociaal oogpunt: Den Haag GAA heeft een leuke groep mensen als leden. Het reizen naar de toernooien door heel Europa zijn altijd leuke ondernemingen en het uitgaan ’s avonds is altijd “great craic”!
Message from Eileen Jennings, Chairperson Europe GAA and member of Paris Gaels GAA CLub
In the county of Europe, there are in total 13 ladies teams with approximately 150 women playing for teams in different countries including France, Luxembourg, Spain, Holland, Guernsey, Austria and Germany. There are teams in Paris, Munich, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Den Haag/Amsterdam and Guernsey. In the region of Brittany in the west of France, there are a total of 5 ladies football clubs, who are currently developing and are all hoping to participate in the European Championship in 2007. In Spain there are ladies teams in Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid. As in Brittany, ladies football is developing here at a fast rate thanks to the indigenous population who are showing a keen interest in the sport. All of these teams are however not fully integrated with the European GAA County Board but aim to be so in 2007.
In both France and Spain, there are a growing number of schools integrating Ladies Gaelic Football in their school curriculum. In October of 2006, a school from my own home town in Mayo travelled to Barcelona to play against the local ladies team there, the Barcelona Gaelettes were victorious in this meeting. This can only demonstrate the high standard of competitive ladies football there is on the continent.
Unfortunately, there is currently only one active camogie club in Europe and that is in Zurich, we are hoping to develop this more in 2007, where other clubs as well as schools in the different countries are interested in developing it as a school sport. Currently in Europe mixed teams are formed to play in hurling competitions, hopefully we will see the growth in this area with the view to fielding a Camogie tournament sooner rather than later.
As anticipated, ladies football in the European league produced several exciting games in 2006, since the the first round of the Gaelic Gear Ladies European Football Championship hosted by Maastrict in March. The well deserved winners of this year’s title were Luxembourg, the oldest club on the continent, founded in 1978. The runners-up were the Holland Ladies team, with Paris Gaels taking the third place spot. It has to be said that the ladies teams in Europe are going from strength to strength and European championship is full of skilful, competitive and determined teams where each team is faced with staunch competition at each round.
The level of ladies football has increased dramatically in the past year this I personally feel a lot of credit is due to the European Coaching Officer’s commitment in organising training sessions around Europe where those teams who took part in these sessions benefited immensely. The LFA in Ireland in particular President, Geraldine Giles, CEO Helen O’Rourke, Fiona and Paula and all the other office staff have been very helpful. Their tangible support in supplying qualified inter-county referees has helped to bring the games to a new level. Another factor in this increase in standard is the growing commitment of all the ladies teams to travel to all of the tournaments which made 2006 an enjoyable year in ladies football. Each team should be congratulated in their willingness to participate in each round of the competition, 2007 was a long year with 7 rounds in total but never the less each team battled it out to the last round in Barcelona to bring the year to a exciting showdown and a deserved victory by the Luxembourg ladies. The European ladies team look forward to competing in the International Tournament in 2008.
