When you think of sports in Memphis, ancient Gaelic games certainly aren’t among the first to come to mind, but the traditional Irish sports of Gaelic football and hurling are gaining popularity in the Bluff City.
The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), celebrated as one of the great amateur sporting organizations in the world, is Ireland’s largest sporting organization, with more than 2,000 regional clubs across the Emerald Isle. Irish emigrants brought their national games with them wherever they settled, and today there are about 400 across the world, whose shared mission is to promote Irish sports and culture.
Memphis’ GAA club was founded in 2015 by Jesse Gammons, a research assistant at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, who was an active player in the Nashville GAA club before moving to Memphis.
The co-ed club offers opportunities for all Memphians over the age of 18 to learn and compete in Gaelic football and hurling – Ireland’s most popular sports. Gaelic football, which dates to at least the 1300s, could be described as a combination of soccer, rugby, and basketball, while hurling is the oldest and fastest field sport in the world, with a rich history that dates back more than 3,000 years and is referenced in Irish myths and legends.
“When I moved to Memphis to work for FedEx in 2012, I never dreamed that several years later I’d be playing hurling and Gaelic football in the Bluff City,” said Memphis GAA Club Chairman Dermot Murray, originally from County Westmeath in Ireland. “It’s fantastic to see so many people from various backgrounds embrace Ireland’s most popular sports in Memphis. And it gives this 40-something a reason to get out from behind my desk and keep fit playing the sports that I grew up playing back home in Ireland.”
But you don’t have to have any Irish ancestry to play. One of the Memphis GAA’s main goals is to recruit a diverse pool of players of all ethnicities, genders and walks of life. And they’ve been successful, having recruited players — everyone from college students to doctors to journalists — from backgrounds that include African American, Canadian, Mexican, Scottish and Turkish, to name a few.
Melvin Purdy, a student at the University of Memphis who’s African American, serves as diversity chairman on the board of the Memphis GAA.
“My role is basically player recruiting, focusing on getting a great, diverse group of people to join the league,” he said. “It’s definitely important just to get people together and away from their comfort zone, learning and doing something new…most importantly, I want it to grow around the city as a recognizable organization that gives people something fun to do.”
Memphis GAA, a nonprofit, is sponsored by local pubs and restaurants, including The Brass Door, Celtic Crossing, Majestic Grille and Memphis Made Brewing Co. Adult participants of all ages and skill levels are welcome to join and are not required to have any prior knowledge of Irish sports. And if playing sports isn’t your thing, spectators are welcome and encouraged to attend the matches.
Follow the Memphis GAA’s Facebook page and website to stay abreast of practices, game schedules, and post-game meetups for pints and “the craic” — an Irish term for meeting up with friends and having a great time.
