REMEMBER ROUNDERS? A new GAA strategy hopes to grow the sport and get more than 2,000 people playing by 2016.
The bat-and-ball game, which is in the 1884 charter as one of the Association’s four official sports, is currently played in 21 clubs and 100 schools around the country.
Speaking yesterday at the launch of the three-year plan, GAA President Liam O’Neill stressed the potential for Rounders to become one of Ireland’s top recreational sports.
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“Anywhere I’ve gone in the past year and mentioned it, particularly with ladies, most people have played it at primary school at some level so there is a familiarity with it.
But because it has never been actively promoted by the GAA as a body, it has never taken off.
“Another difficulty is that the reason it has remained at such a low participation level is that it is probably played too competitively. There’s no fun in a game that’s technically competitive so people don’t engage as much.
“We’re trying to say, ‘look, if we lighten up a bit, relax the rules and be inclusive, we could certainly have great fun with it.’”
To help boost participation numbers the GAA has pledged to buy a bat for the first 1,000 clubs who sign up to play in 2014.
“All you need is one person to organise a game of Rounders and everybody can be included,” O’Neill said.
There are serious possibilities but we know that the resources aren’t in the Rounders Association to get bats out there. That’s why we’re saying that we will help with that.
“It will be our hope that the first 1,000 will be taken up immediately and we’ll ship out more after that. If we got to that stage we’d be delighted.”
Yeah we did too- in front of the street lamps. Our road was on an incline. There was one lefty on our road and everyone wanted her on the team- cos she’d belt it down the road and you’d be guaranteed to win!
It is interesting, considering the GAA’s historical ban on foreign sports, that a game that was played as early as the Tudor times in England, found its way onto their official books in 1884.
Loved rounders as a child. It was so sociable. All the kids in the neighbourhood would gather at the green in the summer evenings and divide into teams all ages boys and girls. Really great way for kids to make friend and get exercise
Well spotted Paddy and great comment about the fabled county :) One of me boys only asked the other day what was the car registration letters for Navan. Not many cars from there he said!
This is great for the GAA and may help boost the Baseball and Softball communities here in Ireland as well.
Teams could combine males and females as well, making it a social sport.
Rounders, a great way to start a fight, did a game ever actually finish ? On a plus note I now have a valid excuse for carrying the baseball bat in my car, Garda I’m on my way to a rounders match…. Promise.
I played it years ago, i think the main difference with baseball was, that you had to throw the ball upwards to the batter, like a bowling ball throw instead of the 90mph baseball throw? I maybe wrong on this.
Would be great to have a rounders Summer league like Tag Rugby. Nice way to spend a social evening. Can imagine it would be an attractive sponsorship opp also.
Remember playing this at Irish college in ballybunion years ago and knocking the teachers tooth out with a Hurley by accident. The whole lot of the boys were looking for his tooth on the pitch… It never turned up. Great laugh
We were reared on the game of rounders and handball,I can remember playing rounders in the 1950s,a game very similar to baseball,and when every community also had a local outdoor handball alley,those games were part of the fabric of the country for many years but for some reason were eventually looked on as poor mans sports and did not promoted like other sports,i would love to see those games given recognition and played once again.
Rounders is great fun, it was the only sport I really enjoyed at school. But, and I don’t quite know why, it strikes me as strange that rounders is part of the GAA while Camogie and Ladies Football are not.
The GAA were the first organisation to formally draw up rules, but from what I see it’s not exclusively Irish.
“The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called “base-ball” by John Newbery.”
It has shared popularity and history throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Can anyone share what makes it exclusively Irish?
It doesn’t matter, I was just asking if anyone had a historical perspective.
What does is increasing people’s participation in sport and healthy activities.
Football, even the “Gaelic” variety, isn’t exclusively Irish. Neither is handball (another GAA sport).
The English game is very different though – they use polls for bases and have awkward rules about holding the bat. The Irish game is more like US baseball, which was codified earlier.
A brilliant game. Lads from our hurling club were entered into the community games Rounders competition. None of them had ever played Rounders before. – but you should have seen them ‘bat’. A joy to watch, they had no clue of the rules or the subtleties of the game, but their hurling skills made them look awesome, and they hammered several rounders teams before loosing out to the dedicated rounders “clubs”.
I actually tried to start a rounders club earlier this year but when we recieved the information from the rounders officials all my team pulled out unfortunateley.
Love this game. Maybe the only sport I enjoyed as a young fella. Have wanted to see it promoted properly by the GAA for a long time. Really hope this takes off – think I’ll even contact my local club and see if they’re looking for people.
3 rounders teams in Westmeath but none at all in Offaly or in the parts of Meath that border us (Enfield/Clonard Athboy/Kells etc)
Can we claim players from there so?
Might be the only way we ever win an All-Ireland in something…
Is that where all the baseball bats are coming from these days?
Remember they used them quite often in NI?
When I was a kid we used the bottom part of the pole (probably electricity pole) as the “stumps”. The bat might have been a cricket bat or even a roughly hewn piece of wood. A tennis racquet would have sent the ball too far as we usually used a soft tennis ball.
The GAA certainly did not introduce it to us! (early 1950s).
Playing Rounders for a long time now(last18 years or so), it’s an easy game to play and it’s for everyone regardless of size or fitness. Delighted to see it getting more press.
As an all Ireland winning captain i would urge people to play this game. The satisfaction and passion that goes with rounders is brilliant! Changed my life!!
A member of an organisation that is bi-est agains sex, religion, colour, ethnic background, social status, race, sexual orientation. Just to name a few. No, sorry not for me.
This for real? Fair enough. Interesting history too. An old English game that was adopted by the Americans to become a national pastime now called baseball which is huge in south america and japan and has no time limit to play. Be curious to see the GAA take on it.
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What a game!!! Although we used a tennis racket instead of a bat!
Yeah we did too- in front of the street lamps. Our road was on an incline. There was one lefty on our road and everyone wanted her on the team- cos she’d belt it down the road and you’d be guaranteed to win!
Can’t wait for the International Rules series against the Sri Lankan cricket team.
If you ever wanted to represent your county- now is the time before the competition for spots increases!
News to me as well,but any sport that gets kids away from xbox and ps3 has always to be welcomed.
I never knew that was a GAA sport.
It’s more of a “English” sport, The GAA just formalised rules first.
It is interesting, considering the GAA’s historical ban on foreign sports, that a game that was played as early as the Tudor times in England, found its way onto their official books in 1884.
Loved rounders as a child. It was so sociable. All the kids in the neighbourhood would gather at the green in the summer evenings and divide into teams all ages boys and girls. Really great way for kids to make friend and get exercise
I see Walterstown is located in the fabled 33rd county, Navan
Well spotted Paddy and great comment about the fabled county :) One of me boys only asked the other day what was the car registration letters for Navan. Not many cars from there he said!
This is great for the GAA and may help boost the Baseball and Softball communities here in Ireland as well.
Teams could combine males and females as well, making it a social sport.
And Sinn Fein has a large number of bats to support the game
While FG/Lab/FF are well used to racquets
not fair !!
their bats were decomissioned many years ago thanks to General De Chastelain
Rounders, a great way to start a fight, did a game ever actually finish ? On a plus note I now have a valid excuse for carrying the baseball bat in my car, Garda I’m on my way to a rounders match…. Promise.
In America they call it baseball.
It’s Rounders yeh gimp.
I played it years ago, i think the main difference with baseball was, that you had to throw the ball upwards to the batter, like a bowling ball throw instead of the 90mph baseball throw? I maybe wrong on this.
Like Softball?
And no sissy gloves!
Would be great to have a rounders Summer league like Tag Rugby. Nice way to spend a social evening. Can imagine it would be an attractive sponsorship opp also.
I’d be up for joining a rounders team. Loved that game!!
Remember playing this at Irish college in ballybunion years ago and knocking the teachers tooth out with a Hurley by accident. The whole lot of the boys were looking for his tooth on the pitch… It never turned up. Great laugh
We were reared on the game of rounders and handball,I can remember playing rounders in the 1950s,a game very similar to baseball,and when every community also had a local outdoor handball alley,those games were part of the fabric of the country for many years but for some reason were eventually looked on as poor mans sports and did not promoted like other sports,i would love to see those games given recognition and played once again.
Jaysus next I’ll find out curbs is a GAA game, I might get an all Ireland medal yet.
Rounders is great fun, it was the only sport I really enjoyed at school. But, and I don’t quite know why, it strikes me as strange that rounders is part of the GAA while Camogie and Ladies Football are not.
camogie is ladies football isnt
The GAA were the first organisation to formally draw up rules, but from what I see it’s not exclusively Irish.
“The game of rounders has been played in England since Tudor times, with the earliest reference being in 1744 in A Little Pretty Pocket-Book where it was called “base-ball” by John Newbery.”
It has shared popularity and history throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Can anyone share what makes it exclusively Irish?
Does it matter?
No, it doesn’t matter. anything that gets people out playing sport is a good thing.
What makes it exclusively Irish is the fight it inevitably leads to.
It doesn’t matter, I was just asking if anyone had a historical perspective.
What does is increasing people’s participation in sport and healthy activities.
Football, even the “Gaelic” variety, isn’t exclusively Irish. Neither is handball (another GAA sport).
The English game is very different though – they use polls for bases and have awkward rules about holding the bat. The Irish game is more like US baseball, which was codified earlier.
Could they not try and promote handball a bit better? A great sport with very little promotion from the GAA and there are already thousands involved.
A brilliant game. Lads from our hurling club were entered into the community games Rounders competition. None of them had ever played Rounders before. – but you should have seen them ‘bat’. A joy to watch, they had no clue of the rules or the subtleties of the game, but their hurling skills made them look awesome, and they hammered several rounders teams before loosing out to the dedicated rounders “clubs”.
I actually tried to start a rounders club earlier this year but when we recieved the information from the rounders officials all my team pulled out unfortunateley.
Love this game. Maybe the only sport I enjoyed as a young fella. Have wanted to see it promoted properly by the GAA for a long time. Really hope this takes off – think I’ll even contact my local club and see if they’re looking for people.
3 rounders teams in Westmeath but none at all in Offaly or in the parts of Meath that border us (Enfield/Clonard Athboy/Kells etc)
Can we claim players from there so?
Might be the only way we ever win an All-Ireland in something…
softball
You’ve obviously never been hit in the face by a sliotar.
and you´ve obviously never been hit with a softball Oliver …
Might want to change Co.Navan lads….
Is that where all the baseball bats are coming from these days?
Remember they used them quite often in NI?
When I was a kid we used the bottom part of the pole (probably electricity pole) as the “stumps”. The bat might have been a cricket bat or even a roughly hewn piece of wood. A tennis racquet would have sent the ball too far as we usually used a soft tennis ball.
The GAA certainly did not introduce it to us! (early 1950s).
Americans get annoyed when ya tell them our girls play their famous baseball in school, but we call it rounders
Playing Rounders for a long time now(last18 years or so), it’s an easy game to play and it’s for everyone regardless of size or fitness. Delighted to see it getting more press.
As an all Ireland winning captain i would urge people to play this game. The satisfaction and passion that goes with rounders is brilliant! Changed my life!!
Do it one of the greatest games in the world :)
Great game, but this is just another money making racket by the GAA. There will be official bat and ball that everyone will have to have to play….
Cathal. Are you a member of a GAA club ? I doubt it.
A member of an organisation that is bi-est agains sex, religion, colour, ethnic background, social status, race, sexual orientation. Just to name a few. No, sorry not for me.
How is it a money racket for the gaa?
You don’t know much about the gaa then.
This for real? Fair enough. Interesting history too. An old English game that was adopted by the Americans to become a national pastime now called baseball which is huge in south america and japan and has no time limit to play. Be curious to see the GAA take on it.
Pretty much identical to baseball but without the mitts and bowling is under-arm only.
Nothing like baseball. More like softball but better.
Money making racket. Lol good one.