Sligo to honour Oman GAA Friday
A team from Oman is travelling to Ireland for the GAA World Games and they will visit Sligo on 5th August, where there will also be a reception at County Hall.
Arrangements for their trip are being coordinated by IT Sligo and will include a game against a local club in the GAA’s Centre of Excellence Strandhill Road.
The Cathaoirleach Hubert Keaney will hold a reception at County Hall will take place at 4pm on Friday 5th August.
Oman GAA was established in July 2012 and is the second Gaelic Football Club in Muscat.
Oman GAA is focused on introducing non- Gaelic players to the sport, in particular Omanis. To date the club has welcomed over 20 different nationalities as registered players, with Omanis being the majority of recent joiners.
Oman G. A. A. is open to all levels, male and female, and the club’s 2015/ 201 season objective is to introduce its members of all nationalities to Gaelic football and Irish culture in the Gulf.
In an effort to enhance cross- cultural links between Ireland and Oman through sport; the club will be facilitating the introduction of Omanis, studying in Ireland, to Gaelic Football at clubs and institutes in their county of study.
Oman G. A. A. have successfully represented Oman now in Al Ain, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Qatar, Barhain, at the Asian games in Kuala Lumpur, and even in Oman for the last four seasons, growing from strength to strength continuously playing against teams of predominantly Irish nationals.
To date, Oman GAA have grown from five Omani members in Season one to approximately 20 Oma- ni nationals playing in season four.
The club has approximately 60 members in total.
Nationalities include Egyptian, Pakistani, Sudanese, Canadian, American, British, Irish, Kiwi, Palestinian, Polish, Korean, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Indian, Nigerian, Kenyan, Moldavian, Australian, and Sri Lankan.
Since its founding, Oman GAA has competed at the ‘ Social’ level and has been promoted to the Intermediate level.
Additionally, both the second men’s team and ladies joined the newly formed Junior League in 2015.
Oman G. A. A. remains committed, competitively and culturally, to the growth of Gaelic football in Oman among Omanis and other nationalities and plans to introduce other Gaelic Games as the organisation grows.