Gaelic football catches on in Fairfield

Gaelic football may be the fastest-growing sport in Fairfield -- a dizzying mix of soccer, rugby and lacrosse that caught on in Ireland 500 years ago.

The evidence? The St. Patrick's Gaelic Football Club of Fairfield County, which formed in 2003 to promote the sport in this area, has doubled its membership over the past year to 65 players. The club, which just two years ago was considering folding, now has the personnel to field five teams -- for males and females, ages 5 to 50-plus -- who train and compete up to eight months a year.

The club had its most successful campaign yet in 2009. The under-12 squad advanced to the finals of the New York Gaelic Athletic Association's Division final at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, and the under-8 team captured the Donnelly Cup, held over Father's Day weekend, at Tomlinson Middle School.

The game is played with a ball slightly smaller but heavier than a soccer ball. Teams field 15 players a side who scramble about the "pitch" -- which is about 50-percent larger than an American football field Players punt, punch, bounce or "solo" (hold) the ball with the aim of scoring on the opponent's goal.

If the ball is fired -- by fist or foot -- into the soccer-like net, the team earns three points. If it's shot through the rugby-like uprights, the team earns one point.

The club costs just $1 to join and welcomes new members at any point in the year. And with St. Patrick's Day coming on Wednesday -- and with the first official training session for the spring campaign on March 27 -- now's as good a time as any to join, according to club officials.

"It's a free sport to play, a good, competitive, disciplined sport, so come and try it," said Niall O'Neil, the club's current chairman. "If you don't like it, it's no harm done. But anyone who has come so far has signed up."

"Everything just came together in 2009," said Paddy Coyle, a founding member of the club. "It was just great to see 50 to 60 kids showing up for practice, week after week, when only a few short years ago St. Patrick's was just an idea shared by four friends."

The friends, coincidentally, were all named Patrick.

"Each week our players brought along a friend or two from school or their neighborhood and soon we had enough membership to field teams from children through adults," Coyle said.

Over the past year, the club also launched a Web site -- www.stpatricksgfc.org -- a golf tournament and a dinner-dance in November, which officials hope will become an annual event. And this Wednesday, players will march in the Bridgeport St. Patrick's Day Parade for the first time.

"Look for the lads in green and black, the club's official colors," O'Neill said.

On Wednesday night, several members of the club's board met at The Field Bar and Restaurant, 3001 Fairfield Ave., for a board meeting. O'Neill and board member Tom Quinn -- two of The Field's owners -- were on hand.

Also present in the bar was Oliver Newman, 60, a friend of the group, who perched at bar, nursing a stout.

"Tis very good," he said of the club's growth, with noticeable excitement in his voice. Newman grew up in County Meath, Ireland, and moved to America 25 years ago. "This what it's all about, getting the kids involved. I could see this coming into something big."

For more information on the sport, visit: www.stpatricksgfc.org/ and www.gaa.ie.