Asian Sports

Asian Sports played in Ireland include Polo (and versions of Polo such as Polocrosse); Kabaddi and Sepak Takraw.

Polocosse

Polocrosse is a version of Lacrosse played on Horseback. It was invented in Northern Australia in the 1970s and the first World Cup was played in 2003.

Polo

Polo originated in Iran and was introduced to Britain and Ireland by the British Army after it was discovered there.

Kabaddi

Kabaddi is an Indian Tag Game, popular throughout South Asia, whereby a team has to tag players on the opposing team and get back to their own base without being tagged in turn in the time it takes to hold their breath. In order to ensure the players are holding their breath they have to repeat “Kabaddi” over and over again.

Sepak Takraw

Sepak Takraw is a version of Volleyball played with every part of the body except the arms and is Native to Malaysia and Thailand, both of whom claim to have invented it and where the game is a National Sport. It is popular throughout South East and East Asia.

Native American Sports

Ulama (as known to the Mexica (Aztecs) or Pok-ta-Pok (as known to the Maya) is a Native Mexican and Central American Sports using a rubber ball and the hips. It is played in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras. Stickball is a Choctaw Native American Sport similar to Lacrosse.

Ulama Pok-ta-Pok

Ulama is the ancient sport of the Native Aztec (Mexica) and Maya of Central America (Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras). It is played with the hips, with two teams trying to propel the ball past the opposing team and has been played since 1400 BC. It is known as “Pok Ta Pok” to the Maya and “Ulama” to the Mexica.

The Juego de Pelota Mesoamerican Ulamaztli Championship is an Annual Regional Competition in Teotihuacan, Mexico City, the seat of the ancient religious / ritual centre, and where the most impressive ancient Ball Court is to be seen.

The Ulama Mesoamerican Ball Game Tournament is the Annual World Cup basically, bringing together teams from Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.

Choctaw Stickball

Stickball is a Native American Sport similar to Lacrosse.

Ultimate & Alternative

Ultimate Flying Disc Sports

There are two main Frisbee or Flying Disc sports played in Ireland – Ultimate: a team game whereby the objective is to pass the disc into an endzone in your opponents half and catch it without it touching the ground. The second is Disc Golf: similar to Golf but the player must get the disc into a basket in as few throws as  possible, with a course in Co. Wicklow.

below you will find links to the Results and Tables of various Flying Disc sports in Ireland:

Quidditch

Quidditch is a team sport based on the sport portrayed in the Harry Potter books & films, whereby players on Broomsticks attempt to score through a vertical hoop at either end of the pitch.

Below you will find links to the results & tables of various competitions in Ireland:

Roller Derby

Roller Derby, usually only played by Women, is a sport played on Roller Skates, where two teams (called Leagues in Roller Derby), race around an oval track. The object is to score points by overtaking opposition skaters and blocking them also.

Irish Leagues (teams) in Dublin, Limerick and Belfast have been members of the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association over the past four years. The WFTDA is a Worldwide Governing Body for the sport and organises tournaments worldwide,  with Weighed Rankings kept, and the top Leagues competing in end-of-year tournaments.

Below you will find links to various WFTDA Rankings and Tournaments:

Jugger

Jugger is like a cross between American Football and Medieval Combat. It is a team Sport where the objective is to get a skull from the middle of the field into a zone at the opposing teams end. There are five players on each team, four of whom are paired off fightning each other with padded weapons such as swords.

When a player is ‘killed’ in these fights he has to kneel down and is out of the game for that particular round. The Fifth person is the Qwick. His job is to get the skull from the middle of the field past the opposing Qwick into a zone at their opponents endzone. He can only advance the skull once the other teams fighters are all dead. The team which scores the most skull touchdowns is the winner.

Below you will find links to Tournaments involving Irish Teams:

Paintball / Airsoft

Paintball and Airsoft are Team Combat sports where pellet guns are used to ‘kill’ an opponent.

There are usually a number of objectives to be met i each game, which can score points for the team completing the objective. The sport is usually played in a number of scenarios such as World War II Village, Desert Town, Woodlands, Wild West etc.

The main difference in the guns used are paint guns for Paintball and Woodsball, and hard pellets for Airsoft.

Paintball was invented in New England, USA and Airsoft in Japan.

Below you will find links to various tournaments and leagues in these sports:

Laser Tag (Quasar)

Laser Tag games were invented in Texas, USA, and the most recognizable to Irish readers would be Quasar. The sport is one where two teams engage each other in combat in an indoor arena using Laser Guns. Points are scored for ‘killing’ an opponent and meeting objectives such as capturing bases.

Below you will find links to various Tournaments held in Ireland, or involving Irish Teams and Players:

Capture the Flag

International Rules

This is the Landing Page for the eirball.international Archive All-Time Results of International Rules (Compromise Rules Football, Hurling-Shinty, Handball-Pelota, Rounders-Baseball and Rounders-Softball, Hurlacrosse and Poc Fada Golf. The eirball.international Archive is an ongoing project and part of the Eirball.ie – Irish, North American and World Sports Archives

International Rules, also known as Compromise Rules is a term for a number of related sports combining the rules of GAA sports with similar sports from around the World. There is International Rules Football, played between Ireland and Australia, Hurling-Shinty, played between Ireland and Scotland, Handball-Pelota, which is Ireland v Basque Country, as well as Rounders-Baseball and Rounders-Softball (Irish teams v American, Canadian and Britsh teams), Hurlacrosse (Hurling-Lacrosse – Ireland v Iroquois Nationals), and Poc Fada Golf (A Golf Course where players use a Hurl/Hurley to hit the ball into the hole)

Games and Contests

Traditional Games Games covered in Eirball include Card Games, Board Games, Children’s Games, Table Games (Table Football, RPGs and LARPS), Computer Games (Capture the Flag, Robot Football, Console Sports, Fantasy Sports and Simulated Sports), and Party Games

Computer Sports include Capture the Flag (an Ethical Hacking Computer Sport), Robot Football (teams of motorized robots shunt a ball around an Arena towards goals at either end). Console Games (X-Box and Playstation Sports games such as Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer). Fantasy Sports (where players draft real players in a League, and score points based on how well they perform in real matches). Simulation games (where the information for players is inputted into a computer and then a Computer User v Computer User Simulation takes place).

Contests include Quizzes and Mind-Games such as the Maths Olympiad and Spelling Bees; Musical Sports and Games such as The Eurovision Song Contest; Fiddle Contests, Duelling Banjos, Battle of the Bands, Rap Contests; Dance & Cheer Sports such as Ballroom Dancing, Breakdancing and Cheer Sport; TV Sports such as American Ninja; Gladiators; The Crystal Maze; Debating Contests; Talent Contests such as The Rose of Tralee, X-Factor and Ireland’s Got Talent and Body-Building and Beauty Contests.

The Logos and Photos used in this article remain the property of the organisations and individuals which own the copyright and are used here for educational and information purposes only

Traditional Games

Traditional Games Games covered in Eirball include Card Games, Board Games, Children’s Games, Table Games (Table Football, RPGs and LARPS), Computer Games (Capture the Flag, Robot Football, Console Sports, Fantasy Sports and Simulated Sports), and Party Games

Table Games

Children’s Games

Computer Games

Computer Games include Capture the Flag; Console Sports; Fantasy Sports and Robot Football

Computer Sports include Capture the Flag (an Ethical Hacking Computer Sport), Robot Football (teams of motorized robots shunt a ball around an Arena towards goals at either end). Console Games (X-Box and Playstation Sports games such as Madden NFL and FIFA Soccer). Fantasy Sports (where players draft real players in a League, and score points based on how well they perform in real matches). Simulation games (where the information for players is inputted into a computer and then a Computer User v Computer User Simulation takes place).

Capture the Flag

Capture the Flag is Information Security Competitions, a kind of Sport for Computer Combat. There are three common types of CTF Competitions: Jeopardy, Attack-Defense, and Mixed.

Jeopardy Competitions have a number of Tasks (questions) such as Web, Forensic, Crypto or Binary. Teams gain points for completed tasks, the harder the task, the more points.

Attack-Defense is another scenario, whereby teams have their own network (or only one host) with vulnerable services. Teams have a time limit for developing services and developing exploits. Then the organisers connect the competitors and the Wargame starts. Points are gained for Defense (protecting own services) and Attack (hacking opponents services).

Mixed employ both Jeopardy and Attack-Defense scenarios.

Capture the Flag games touch on a number of different aspects of information security, such as Cryptography, Stego, Binary Analysis, Reverse Engineering and Mobile Security.

Robot Football

The USL eCup Rocket League combines Soccer with rocket-propelled cars. Teams use computer-controlled rocket-propelled cars to try to score more goals than their opponents.

Fantasy Sports

Fantasy Leagues started in Baseball in USA. They were popularised in Britain & Ireland by David Baddiel & David Skinner in their Channel 4 Comedy Programme, Fantasy Football, during the European Championships of 1996, which England hosted.

They all follow a format whereby players pick a squad from real-life players and are awarded points for how those players do in real life matches (i.e. points are awarded for Goals & Assists in Soccer, as well as points deducted for the defensive players letting in goals.)

As well as numerous online Fantasy Leagues run by the Major League sporting organisations and Big English Sports Leagues, Newspapers run their own Fantasy Competitions ranging from Football to Golf.

Below you will find links to the Results of various Fantasy Leagues in Ireland:

Contests

Contests include Quizzes and Mind-Games such as the Maths Olympiad and Spelling Bees; Musical Sports and Games such as The Eurovision Song Contest; Fiddle Contests, Duelling Banjos, Battle of the Bands, Rap Contests.

Quizzes & Mind Games

World Handball & Pelota

This is the Landing Page for the Handball.irish Archive All-Time Results of GAA, World, European and North American Handball. The Handball.Irish Archive is an ongoing project and part of the Eirball.ie – Irish, North American and World Sports Archives

GAA Handball

Handball was first played in Ireland according to the World Handball Council website and the GAA Handball website describes it as the GAA’s only real World Sport. It is organised along the same lines as the rest of the Gaelic Games which come under the authority of the GAA – with County, Provincial and All-Ireland Championships, in both Men’s and Women’s, Team and Individual, Boys and Girls and also in Softball and Hardball versions. Some players compete in the European Pro Wallball Tour (Wallball is a unified version of Handball in Europe, bringing together the Handball of Ireland, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Catalonia, Basque Country, Belgium, Wallonia, Flanders and Netherlands. Others play on the US circuit or in Canada and Australia. It is also played in Japan and Latin America.

World Handball Council

Handball is described on the GAA Handball website as the only real GAA World Sport. The World Handball Council says Handball was first played in Ireland, and it is very popular throughout the United States of America and Canada, with the World Handball Players the top Pro Competition, and variations such as Inner City Handball. It is also played in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Central America, Australia and Japan.

European Handball

Handball is described on the GAA Handball website as the only real GAA World Sport, with a high level of Competition in Western Europe (the European Wallball Pro Tour: Euro1Wall) as well as Organisations, each with their own variation on the rules, in the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Catalonia, Basque Country, Belgium (Wallonia-Brussels and Flanders) and Netherlands.

Wallball has emerged in recent decades as a unified world form of Handball, and there is a European Wallball Tour, featuring rounds in England, Spain, Netherlands, Belgium and elswehere.

There are versions of the sport throughout Western Europe, and Irish Players take part in Tournaments worldwide.

Below you will find links to the Results and Rankings of various Tours and Tournaments:

European Team Handball

Confederacion International de Pelota a Mano

Eton Fives

Eton Fives is a variation on the game of Handball, first played in Ireland, and the origins of Eton Fives go back to Medieval Peasants playing the gamea against the wall of the chapel at Eton College, where there is a handrail down one side. The first court was built in Eton in 1840, by the Headmaster, Dr. Hawtrey. In 1877 AC Ainger drew up the first rules of the game.

Cornish Hurling

Every Shrove Tuesday in St. Columb’s, Cornwall, the game of Hurling is played between ‘Town’ and ‘Country’. The night before resembles a ghost town as all the shops are boarded up and shuttered before the game is played the next day. There are no limits to the numbers of players in the game, with each player playing for either the ‘Town’ or ‘Country’. The game kicks off with the words “Town and Country do your best. but in this parish I must rest.”.

Traditionally, the game was played between the men of St. Columb, but is now played by the children. [3] The Game can last a few minutes or it can last hours depending on how quickly the winning team can get the ball to the goal. The winning player who carries the ball to the goal has the option of keeping the ball and paying for a new one by a local craftsman. The ball is constructed traditionally, out of silver with an applewood core, taken from a local orchard.

References: [1] BBC Cornwall (2003) Hurling at St. columb in the 21st Century [Internet] Available from; http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/villages/stories/stcolumb_hurling.shtml [Accessed 7 March 2018]

[3] St. Ives Web Community TV (2013) The St. Ives Feast and the Silver Ball [Internet] Available from: https://web.archive.org/web/20130819100810/http://stivestv.co.uk/whatson/feast_day_2013.htm [Accessed 13 June 2019]

Pelota

Pelota is the Traditional Game of the Basque People of Sourthwest France and North Central Iberia (Spain). Their language is the oldest in Europe, and the only non-Indo-European language left in Western Europe according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, and therefore with some justification the Basques refere to themselves as the only Native Europeans. The sport is similar to the GAA and European game of Handball, played with a curved glove which is used to propel the ball off one of two perpendicluar walls on a four-sided court, with the other two sides open (Jai Alai). Another version is played in pairs (Parejas) or singles (Manomanista) with the hand (Mano)

GAA Poc Fada

This is the Landing Page for the Eirball.irish Archive All-Time Results of Poc Fada. The GAA World Archive is an ongoing project and part of the Eirball.sport – Irish All-Sports Archives

An Poc Fada – ‘the Long Puck’ is a Gaelic Game where players use a Hurley to hit a Sliotar (ball) up the side of a mountain and down the other side in as few pucks or shots as possible.

The sport would have a similar origin to the Scottish Game of Golf. It is mentioned in the myths and legends of Ireland, when Setanta took his Hurley / Hurl and hit his Sliotar all the way from Co Louth to Co. Armagh in one go. The All-Ireland Poc Fada Championships have taken place in the Cooley Mountains in Co. Louth since 1961 in commemoration of the legendary feat.

Links to the Results of the GAA Poc Fada All-Ireland CHampionships from the inaugural Championship in 1961 (Men’s) and 2009 (Ladies) are available at the links in blue (below the picture).

World Rounders

This is the Landing Page for the rounders.world Archive All-Time Results of GAA Irish, British, Australian and World Rounders as well as related sports such as European versions of Baseball – British (Welsh and English) Baseball, Finnish Pesapallo and Swedish Brannboll and American Stickball. The GAA World Archive is an ongoing project and part of the Eirball.ie – Irish, North American and World Sports Archives

Featured Image: Hand holding a rounders ball. Rounders is a bat and ball game between two team that involves hitting a hard leather cased ball with a wooden bat. [Internet] Available from: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hand-holding-rounders-ball-bat-game-277897988 [Accessed 19 February 2022

GAA Irish Rounders

Rounders is an Irish and British version of Softball and Baseball, and thought to be the ancestor of both. It was first codified in Ireland as part of the Original GAA Charter of 1884, but not organised until 1958. It is a Bat and Ball (also known as Safe Haven) sport whereby the batter attempts to hit a ball thrown at him or her by a pitcher or bowler and then attempts to run around the bases back home.

World Rounders

Rounders was first codified by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland and included in the first GAA Charter in 1884. It is also played in England, Wales and Australia and the GAA held its first Alpen Cup in Italy between two GAA clubs in Italy & Switzerland and a local Softball Club.

Below you will find links to World Rounders competitions:

British Rounders

British Rounders is a version of Rounders, first codified in the Original GAA Charter of 1884. It is also similar to the American Sports of Softball and Baseball.

Australian Rounders

Rounders is a bat and ball game involving two teams, each of which take turns batting and fielding. When a team is fielding a ‘Pitcher’ or ‘Bowler’ pitches (throws) the ball at the batter. The batter must strike the ball with his bat and run around the four bases back to home plate where he or she struck the ball, without being caught or run out. This is called a ‘Run’ (point). After a predetermined number of Batters is out, the Batting team and fielding team switch places. This is called an ‘Innings’. After a preset number of Innings the team with most runs is declared the winner. The game was possibly first played in England in the 1500s and was first codified by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland in 1884. Reference: [5].

In Australia it is primarily played in Schools.

References: [5] Rounders (2022) Rounders [Internet] Available from: https://www.rounders.com/ [Accessed 19 February 2022

European Baseball

Versions of Baseball and Rounders are played throughout Northern and Northwestern Europe. Other than Rounders played in Britain and Ireland, Welsh Baseball (also known as English Baseball in Liverpool or British Baseball) is like a cross between Baseball, Rounders and Cricket. It is primarily played in South Wales and Liverpool. Other versions of Baseball include Pesäpallo, which is Finland’s National Sport and Brännboll, a traditional game of Sweden.

Welsh Baseball

Welsh Baseball is a version of Rounders played primarily in South Wales, and also in Liverpool, where it is known as English Baseball. It is like a cross between Baseball, Rounders and Cricket. During the latter half of the 19th Century, the famous A.G. Spalding of Major League Baseball fame organised a Baseball Tour of England and Ireland, and in the process played a number of games against English and Welsh Rounders teams, who adopted some of the rules (such as tagging a playerout with the ball and two-handed batting). It kept the poles rather than flat bases and left the diamond in an irregular shape with all four sides unequal in length. Welsh Baseball also has a bat more like a Cricket Bat than a Baseball Bat, and it tapers towards the handle. According to sources in referenced in the articles below, Irish immigrants to Liverpool and South Wales were numerous among the Working Classes playing the game in the 20th Century. It is still played in South Wales and Liverpool but is now mostly a Children’s and Teenagers Game.

Scandinavian Baseball

Scandinavian Baseball (Pesäpallo, Brännboll) are Baseball games that are closer to Rounders than the Modern American Sport, and although Pesapallo (Finland’s National Sport) has been modernised a great deal, the other Scandinavian versions of the sport (e.g. Brännboll) are very much still traditional sports like Rounders and would undoubtedly have the same roots.

Finnish Pesäpallo

Pesäpallo is the Finnish version of Baseball and is their National Sport. It has an unusual form of pitching and players run zig-zags through bases. There is a game played on their National Holiday every year at the Finnish Embassy in Ireland.

Here is a Video of the sport from the New York Times, as shared by the Irish-Finnish Society on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IrishFinnishSociety/posts/1326676680678956 [Accessed 27 June 2019]

Swedish Brännboll

Brännboll is a traditional Swedish game similar to Baseball and Rounders. The Brännboll Cup, sometimes known as Brännboll World Cup is held every year at the Brännbollsryan Music Festival at Umea, the largest Music Fesitival in Northern Sweden.

Shinty

Featured Image Picture Credit: INVERNESS CITY, SCOTLAND – 18 OCTOBER 2014: This is a scene from within the International Shinty-Hurling match between Scotland and Eire at Bught Park, Inverness, Scotland on 18 October, 2014. By JASPERIMAGE / shutterstock.com [Internet] Available from: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/inverness-city-scotland-18-october-2014-225347293 [Accessed 2 June 2021]

Manx Cammag

Manx Cammag is an uncodified versions of Shinty or Hurling played in the small Gaelic Celtic Island country of the Isle of Man (Ellan Vannin in Manx Gaelic)