Gaelic Football

gaelic-football Gaelic football resembles a combination of basketball and soccer, and is similar in appearance to Australian Rules football with the exception that the ball is the shape of a soccer ball but is slightly smaller and harder.

Unlike certain other sports, the rules are intentionally designed to keep the game moving quickly and to keep any stoppages short without sacrificing any skill element. Therefore there is no offside rule except for the fact that an attacking player must not be in the goalkeeper's area before the ball.

Gaelic Football is played on a pitch approximately 137m long and 82m wide. The goalposts are the same shape as on a rugby pitch, with the crossbar lower than a rugby one and slightly higher than a soccer one.

The ball used in Gaelic Football is round, slightly smaller than a soccer ball. It can be carried in the hand for a distance of four steps and can be kicked or "hand-passed", a striking motion with the hand or fist.

After every four steps the ball must be either bounced or "solo-ed", an action of dropping the ball onto the foot and kicking it back into the hand. When played by men, the ball may not be picked directly from the ground.

You may not bounce the ball twice in a row. To score, you put the ball over the crossbar by foot or handfist for one point or under the crossbar and into the net by foot or the handfist in certain circumstances for a goal, the latter being the equivalent of three points.

Physical contact is allowed, shoulder to shoulder. Free kicks are taken either off the ground or, as is more commonly the case, directly out of the hands right away.

Goalkeepers may not be physically challenged whilst inside their own small parallelogram, but players may harass them into playing a bad pass, or block an attempted pass.

Teams are allowed a maximum of five substitutes in a game. Players may switch positions on the field of play as much as they wish but this is usually on the instructions of team officials.

A goal is signalled by raising a green flag, placed to the left of the goal. A point is signalled by raising a white flag, placed to the right of goal. A '45'/'65' is signalled by the umpire raising his/her outside arm. A 'square ball', when a player scores having arrived in the 'square' prior to receiving the ball, is signalled by pointing at the small parallelogram.

Each team consists of fifteen players, lining out as follows: One goalkeeper, three full-backs, three half-backs, two midfielders, three half-forwards and three full-forwards.