If you've landed on this page, it's probably because you're thinking about joining a GAA club and you're either LGBTQ+ or LGBTQ+-adjacent and you want to know what you're walking into. This is the short, practical, no-sales-pitch version.
What do we mean by "LGBTQ+ GAA club"?
Two different things, in practice:
- Dedicated LGBTQ+ GAA clubs. Founded specifically for queer players. Na Gaeil Aeracha in Dublin is the obvious one — the world's first — and is currently the only dedicated LGBTQ+ GAA club on the island. They field men's and ladies football teams with hurling/camogie and beginners streams.
- Inclusive mainstream clubs. Ordinary GAA clubs that have explicitly welcomed LGBTQ+ members, often via the Rainbow Laces campaign, a welfare officer, or a culture that's grown out of a particular generation of players. There are hundreds, but they're not always obvious from outside. Our directory lists the ones we know about.
Both routes are good routes. Which one suits you depends on you.
Which should I pick?
A few questions that usually sort it out:
- Have you played GAA before? If not, or not in years, Na Gaeil Aeracha's beginners stream is extremely hard to beat. The club has more never-played-before adults in its beginners group than any club in the country.
- Do you live in Dublin or visit often? If yes, Na Gaeil Aeracha is a realistic option. If not, a local inclusive mainstream club is more likely to fit your life.
- How important is it to you that the dressing-room is explicitly queer? For some people it's the whole point. For others it's nice-to-have. For others it doesn't matter at all — they just want to play.
If you're anxious about a mainstream club, two notes. One, the generation of GAA players running dressing-rooms now is, overwhelmingly, the generation that voted Yes in 2015. Two, one out player on a mainstream panel changes the temperature of the whole room. You can be the first.
What do I actually need?
Less than you think:
- Runners or moulded-stud boots. For the first training session, runners are fine. For matches on grass you'll want moulded studs eventually (not metal — most adult clubs ban metal studs at non-championship levels).
- Shorts and a t-shirt. The club will supply a training top if you join properly.
- Gumshield. Mandatory at all grades of Gaelic football and hurling/camogie in training and matches. Boots Ireland and any sports shop sell boil-at-home moulding ones for about €8.
- Helmet (hurling/camogie only). Mandatory. Most clubs have loaners for beginners' first few sessions.
- A water bottle. Non-negotiable at any training.
If you're coming to hurling or camogie, the hurl itself is often something a club will lend you for your first month or two while you work out what size suits your hand. If it's not loaned, expect to spend €25–€40 on a beginner hurl.
What happens at the first training session?
Roughly:
- Warm-up, 10–15 minutes. Light jog, dynamic stretches, some passing.
- Skill drills, 20–30 minutes. Beginners get pulled aside if the main panel is doing something advanced. Na Gaeil Aeracha, specifically, has a dedicated beginner group every session.
- Game or match play, 20–30 minutes. At beginner level this is usually a small-sided conditioned game — one touch only, hand-pass only, backs-vs-forwards.
- Cool-down, 5 minutes. Usually a chat more than a stretch.
- Tea or chips after. Often optional but highly recommended — it's how you meet everyone.
The first session should feel welcoming and slightly disorganised and mildly terrifying and fine. If it doesn't, that's information. Try a second session before writing a club off — first sessions are statistically the hardest.
What about coming out at the club?
Your call and your pace. A few patterns we see repeatedly:
- Na Gaeil Aeracha: no "coming out" conversation is ever needed. Everyone there is LGBTQ+-adjacent by default.
- Inclusive mainstream club: most people tell one or two team-mates first, then a welfare officer if they want one, then the wider panel when (or if) they feel like it. You are not obliged to make a speech.
- If a coming-out conversation goes badly somewhere, the county welfare officer, LGBT Ireland (1800 929 539), and Sporting Pride are all places to go next. Our resources page has the full list.
A few last honest things
You do not need to be sporty. You do not need to be fit when you start. You do not need to know the rules. You do not need to be out to your family. You do not need to be out to yourself. All of that is fine.
If you come from a hostile background — a club you left because of how you were treated, a family that's wary, a school experience of being the one who wasn't safe in the changing-room — the first few weeks of a new, welcoming, queer-friendly club are genuinely strange. It can feel wrong. The strangeness fades. Give it a month.
Look at our directory first. If there isn't an obvious fit, email us — we can often put you in touch with a player at a club near you who'd be happy to have a cup of tea before you show up to training. hello@gga.ie.
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