‘It’s a Cultural Pull for the Irish Abroad’: Gaelic Games and the Irish Community in Twentieth and Twenty-first Century London

Abstract

ABSTRACT The GAA essentially performs two key roles in London: on the one hand, functioning as a familiar institution providing opportunities to take part in activities with a tangible link to ‘home’; on the other hand, representing a marker of identity. An examination of the role of Gaelic games in London is timely as various academic fields are increasingly focusing upon the role of cultural practices, such as sport, as identity and community markers in a diaspora. This article contributes to the growing body of work considering the role of sport for members of the Irish diaspora. Drawing on qualitative research in the form of a survey and interviews with members of the GAA in London, it seeks to make sense of the lived experience of being Irish in London and the role that the GAA and Gaelic games play in the lives of different Irish people living in the city, including Irish emigrants and their descendants, the second-generation Irish.