Police Service of Northern Ireland GAA, also known as PSNI GAA, is a

Gaelic Games Gaelic games () are a set of sports played worldwide, though they are particularly popular in Ireland, where they originated. They include Gaelic football, hurling, Gaelic handball and rounders. Football and hurling, the most popular of the s ...

club based in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. The club was set up in 2002 for members of the

Police Service of Northern Ireland The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI; ; Ulster-Scots: '), is the police service responsible for law enforcement and the prevention of crime within Northern Ireland. It is the successor to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) after it ...

, with the intent to allow serving police officers to play Gaelic games following the abolition of

Rule 21 Rule 21 of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) was a rule in force from 1897 to 2001 which banned members of the British security forces from membership of the GAA and thus from playing Gaelic games. The affected organisations included the Brit ...

, which had prohibited them from doing so. They are based at

Newforge Lane Newforge Lane is a private-members' country club for members of the RUC Athletic Association, located in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It hosts multiple sports facilities, principally the football stadium, which serves as the home ground of the Po ...

in Belfast alongside other teams affiliated with the RUC Athletic Association. They are affiliated with

Antrim GAA The Antrim County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association () or Antrim GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The county board is also responsible for t ...

and play in their Inter-Firms League. On 18 October 2019 they capped off their most successful year with a win of the Tom Langan trophy for the first time in their history.

History

Prior to 2001, the

Gaelic Athletic Association The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA; ; CLG) is an Irish international amateur sports, amateur sporting and cultural organisation, focused primarily on promoting indigenous Gaelic games and pastimes, which include the traditional Irish sports o ...

had rule 21 in its statutes, stating that members of the British security services or police forces were not permitted to be members of the GAA. This precluded police officers from the

Royal Ulster Constabulary The Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) was the police force in Northern Ireland from 1922 to 2001. It was founded on 1 June 1922 as a successor to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Richard Doherty, ''The Thin Green Line – The History of the ...

(RUC) from being able to play Gaelic games. In 2001, the ban was lifted, despite five of the county boards of the six counties of Northern Ireland voting against lifting it;

Down GAA The Down County Board () or Down GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland, and is responsible for the administration of Gaelic games in County Down. The County Board is responsible for preparing th ...

voted in favour. The RUC reconstituted itself as the PSNI and in 2002, set up its own GAA team which they were able to do following the abolition of rule 21. On 30 October 2002, PSNI played their first

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

match against

Garda GAA Garda GAA is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in 1922. They are the GAA representative team of the Garda Síochána. Garda have won the Dublin Senior Football Championship on six occasions in 1927, 1929, 1933, ...

in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. The match was played in secret with the players' names not being revealed despite the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland attending. This would become a regular fixture with the two police forces playing for the McCarthy Cup, named after Thomas St George McCarthy who was an RUC policeman and founder of the GAA. In 2006, PSNI GAA set up a

hurling Hurling (, ') is an outdoor Team sport, team game of ancient Gaelic culture, Gaelic Irish origin, played by men and women. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goa ...

team. In 2007, the PSNI joined the Antrim Inter-Firms League despite warnings that PSNI players at other clubs wanted to remain discreet about their careers after playing for PSNI in challenge games. For security purposes, PSNI players' names are not disclosed when they play. In 2011, the PSNI played Garda at the headquarters of the GAA,

Croke Park Croke Park (, ) is a Gaelic games stadium in Dublin, Ireland. Named after Archbishop Thomas Croke, it is referred to as Croker by GAA fans and locals. It serves as both the principal national stadium of Ireland and headquarters of the Gaelic At ...

. PSNI have also played in the Police Gaelic Football Tournament against teams from the

New York Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

and the Metropolitan Police.

References

{{Antrim GAA clubs Gaelic games clubs in County Antrim Gaelic games in Northern Ireland Police Service of Northern Ireland Police sports clubs and teams