Australasia GAA#Camogie

{{multiple issues|

}}

{{Infobox Gaelic games county board

| name = Australasia GAA

| crest =

| irish =

| province =

| nickname =

| county colours = {{color box|00843D}} {{color box|FFCD00}} Green and gold

| grounds =

| dominant sport = Gaelic football

}}

The Australasia County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), or Australasian GAA, or Gaelic Football & Hurling Association of Australasia is one of the county boards of the GAA outside Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games all across Australasia. It is also responsible for Australasian inter-state matches, primarily conducted in an annual weeklong tournament. The association is made up of the Australian state associations of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia, and the New Zealand associations of Wellington and Canterbury.

History

=Gaelic football in Australia =

In 1840, in Sydney's Hyde Park, games of Hurling and Football were played by Irishmen.{{cite news|date=27 May 1840|title=THE QUEEN'S BIRTH DAY.|volume=X|page=2|newspaper=The Sydney Herald|issue=995|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12864669|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}} During Adelaide's St Patrick's Day celebrations in 1843, families native to Ireland played a football game "in genuine Irish style".{{cite news|date=18 March 1843|title=THE AGRICULTURAL AND HORTICULTURAL SHOW.|page=4|newspaper=South Australian Register|location=South Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27444196|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}} The game started at 2pm and was played in honour of Saint Patrick.{{cite news|date=17 March 1843|title=Advertising|volume=VI|page=3|newspaper=Southern Australian|issue=400|location=South Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71616441|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}} In 1846, there was controversy when an Irish gathering sought to "play an old Irish game" in Sydney's Hyde Park.{{cite news|date=23 July 1846|title=IRISH ORANGEISM.|volume=III|page=2|newspaper=The Australian |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article37154364|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}}

In 1859, there were mentions of arrangements to celebrate "Gaelic games" in Geelong.{{cite news|date=3 January 1859|title=THIRD GRAND ANNUAL GATHERING OF THE COMUNN NA FEINNE.|page=2|newspaper=Geelong Advertiser|issue=3,836|location=Victoria, Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article150074840|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}}

In 1864, an article in the Freeman's Journal of Sydney wrote about celebrating a holiday by renewing "some of our old national customs, our old manly games and exercises, hurling [and] football".{{cite news|date=23 January 1864|title=No title|volume=XV|page=4|newspaper=Freeman's Journal|issue=1010|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128803828|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}}

In 1887, the Freeman's Journal in Sydney, a Catholic publication, printed the GAA's revised rules for Irish football.{{cite news|date=12 February 1887|title=THE IRISH FOOTBALL RULES.|volume=XXXVIII|page=19|newspaper=Freeman's Journal|issue=2238|location=New South Wales, Australia|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article115447374|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}}

=Hurling in Australia=

In December 1860, a hurling match was played in the state of Victoria, an event which attracted a large attendance of Irishmen.{{cite news|date=27 December 1860|title=CHRISTMAS AMUSEMENTS.|page=5|newspaper=The Argus|location=Melbourne|issue=4,546|url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5696120|via=Trove|access-date=19 September 2021}}

=Early governing bodies=

The first Australian GAA was formed in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1953.{{cite web|url=http://www.aucklandgaa.co.nz/page.php?5 |title=The History of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Auckland |access-date=2008-09-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014083447/http://www.aucklandgaa.co.nz/page.php?5 |archive-date=14 October 2008 }} Victoria's GAA was formed in 1956, followed by New South Wales. This was followed in 1963 by the formation of a South Australian association and associations in Western Australia and Queensland soon after.

The first interstate championships in both codes were played between NSW, Victoria and South Australia in 1971.

In Sydney in 1974 representatives of state associations met and agreed to form the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australia to administer and promote Gaelic football and hurling on a national level. Subsequently, the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australia joined with the New Zealand associations of Auckland and Wellington to form the Gaelic Athletic Association of Australasia.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

State associations

= Australia =

= New Zealand =

Wellington
Canterbury
Auckland

Australasian championships

The Australasian Championships, commonly referred to as the Australasian Games, are a week-long tournament staged annually in September/October each year and hosted by one of the member state associations. Tournaments typically feature all codes, with hurling played for the first time as part of a championships held in New Zealand in Wellington in 2015, and camogie added full-time in 2012.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

In most circumstances, there is only one side per state per code, but when numbers are low in a code (typically hurling) or in the number of states entered (usually when the tournament is in Western Australia or New Zealand) exceptions to this are made.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

The tournament format in each code varies year-to-year depending on the number of entries, but generally involves either a round-robin or pool play format with either two semi-finals or one semi-final with the top qualifier progressing directly to the final. A final is played in each code to determine the champion for the year.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

Each association is permitted to name a panel of 22 players in each code for the championships, with unlimited interchange rather than the more traditional substitution rule used for each match. In recent years,{{when|date=September 2019}} a 'visa' rule was introduced to encourage states to develop their own players. This rule limits the number of players any state may select in any code who are not either Australians or New Zealanders, or have obtained residency in either country.{{fact|date=February 2025}}

International honours

The Australasia Ladies' football team have won three Women's World Cup competitions (the tournament does not include Irish sides) in 2000, 2002 and 2005.{{citation needed|date=September 2019}}