It didn’t take long for players to become well acquainted with the field.
The leaders of Philadelphia’s Gaelic Athletic Association were always convinced it was going to happen.
On Saturday, after planning and tireless fund-raising for more than 10 years, the GAA’s long-awaited Limerick Field hosted its first games of football and hurling. They started at midday, and went on for hours, men’s teams, women’s teams, Irish football and hurling, all played with the usual intensity—and maybe a bit of pride of ownership.
This marks the GAA’s long-awaited departure from the athletic field at Cardinal Dougherty High School in the Olney section of Philadelphia, where the league has played for about 20 years.
Nothing against Dougherty, says Philly GAA President Sean Breen. “They were always very good to us. But a regulation field is what we needed.”
Sean Breen
In Ireland, hurling and football are played on fields a minimum of 130 to 145 meters long, and 80 to 90 meters wide. Rounded out, that would be roughly 140 yards by 85. The field at Dougherty is 130 by 65.
In the past, when out-of-town teams who played on regulation fields would face off against Philly teams, Breen says, “They’d be used to the bigger field, but the local boys wouldn’t.”
The new field, in the shadow of the Limerick cooling towers and the fluffy clouds of steam that hang over them, is nothing short of perfectly flat, with none of the ruts and holes the players contended with before. Even though the day started out rainy, the field was mostly dry by game time. Good drainage was an essential part of the planning for the new facility.
And this is just the start.
The 11 acre-property, Breen says, will have two fields and an 80- by 50-foot building, with four changing rooms, showers and a ballroom. The GAA will rent out the ballroom for receptions and parties, which should defray the costs of the facility. All of this comes at some considerable expense, in the neighborhood of $2.5 million, much of which came from local fund-raising, with a considerable contribution from the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. “That was a big help,” says Breen.
“We’ll have to keep raising money. There’s going to be a big golf outing in the spring, and we’re looking for a sponsor,” he says.
The showers and changing rooms in particular will offer a marked improvement over the field at Dougherty, where players changed in their cars in the parking lot, and under trees along the sidelines.
The North American GAA’s Gareth Fitzsimons was on hand for the opening games. The new facility, he says, is about more than football and hurling. “When this is completed, it can only help grow Irish culture here in Philly.”
And it’ll do a lot for the GAA in the States, too, he says.
“In the last 15 years, there’s been a big push to promote our games to Americans. Having a place you can call your own can only help promote the GAA, and it will give the GAA new life.”
We have more photos than you can shake a hurley at.
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