Waiting to Launch: The Untapped Global Potential of Gaelic Games

Gaelic games have been played outside of Ireland since before there was a GAA to regulate them.  Yet while other games such as soccer, rugby and cricket went on to become globalized sports played by millions of people and watched by billions, hurling and Gaelic football did not.  They remain largely confined to one country with only a small following elsewhere, chiefly among communities of Irish emigrants.  How did this happen?  This book is in three parts.  Part I is a personal account of the author's attempt to bring hurling to a broader audience in the United States. Part II is an examination of how today's globalized sports came to their dominant position after having been codified in England, and compares their fortunes to those of Gaelic games. Part III makes the case that the GAA needs to change its approach to the worldwide dispersal of Gaelic games in order to be more ambitious, and includes a series of radical proposals aimed at achieving a more globalized audience that is not limited to small communities of Irish emigrants or their descendants.