One of the few GAA clubs around the world without a single Irish member.
Most GAA clubs formed in various parts of the world outside of Ireland have a similar back story.
In most cases, clubs are formed by Irish ex-pats keen to establish an outlet for their interest in the GAA in their new home.
As well as allowing them to play Gaelic Football and hurling abroad, it gives them a platform to meet people from back home and hopefully encourage a few locals to take up the sport as well.
The GAA club in Darmstadt, a town just south of Frankfurt in western Germany, is rare for GAA clubs outside of Ireland in that it was neither founded by an Irish person nor does it currently have any Irish members.
The club was founded a little over a year ago as part of a university sports programme, with the idea of promoting the game in Germany and encouraging locals to take up GAA.
Made-up entirely of players under 26, the club is young both from an administrative sense and on the pitch and while they don’t pretend to be at the same level as some of their European counterparts just yet, they’re getting there, finishing in third place in the annual Chris Hennessey Cup in Dresden in October.
Club founder Jakob Feldmann, who discovered GAA on a student exchange to Ireland in 2008/2009, told us a little bit about what it’s like to be a member of a GAA club with not a single Irish member and gave us an insight into the characters in the dressing room while he was at it.
Focus on Darmstadt GAA Club
Club: Darmstadt GAA
Year established: 2014
Number of members: Approximately 20 at the moment; the numbers are always changing.
Biggest rivals: Dresden Hurling (on a friendly basis).
Biggest representation from a club/county in Ireland: None! We have no Irish players yet. Our club was founded entirely by locals interested in the sport.
Most memorable moment in the club’s history: That one time where we almost (almost!) beat Dresden in June 2015.
Most eye-catching scoreline in the club’s history: I’d have to say our 10-14 – 1-0 loss against the reigning European Champions, Belgium GAA. It’s clearly not our biggest achievement but it’s the most “eye-catching scoreline” for sure.
Player who makes the longest commute to training: Nobody has to travel that far actually. On the other hand, our shortest journey to a competition yet was an eight-hour bus ride!
Most dedicated club person: Jakob Feldmann: Club-founder, coach and maid-of-all-work. Got in touch with the “world of Gaelic Games” while on a student exchange in Ireland in 2008/2009 and never let go of it.
Player who could have made it big if love/career/drink didn’t get in the way: Steffen Kausch. I don’t know if he could have made it big but a lot certainly got in the way.
Loudest in the dressing room: David Eckel, especially when expressing frustration.
Number of romances that started in the GAA club: None so far… that we know of. Lucio López Dolz tried really hard but managed to scare off the only female member so far thanks to his antics in the club’s Telegram group (more on that below).
Duck to water award – Best new player who had never played GAA before: This should be called ‘Best player’ for us because none of us had ever played GAA before.
Some pick it up easier than others though. Eric Langner, for example, just asked how to hold the hurl and was almost ready to play instantly!
Most annoying person in the club WhatsApp group: Lucio López Dolz. The only Spanish player in the team, he likes to express himself in the club’s Telegram group, posting clips of himself singing, reciting poems and all sorts of nonsense.
Most annoying thing about playing hurling in Germany: The typical response. “Ah yeah, I have heard of it. Don’t you play that with brooms on ice?”
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