Na Gael Aeracha, Is Ireland Ready to Accept First Explicitly Queer-Inclusive GAA Team by Connor Biggins

Catching up with Caoimhe Baxter, the secretary and co-founder of Na Gael Aeracha (The Rainbow Gaels): Ireland’s first explicitly queer-inclusive GAA team.

by Conor Biggins

Remind us, Caoimhe, what is Na Gael Aeracha?

Na Gael Aeracha is the first-ever GAA and LGFA club that has been built on the purpose of being inclusive to the LGBTQ+ community. We are welcoming to all members from all walks of life, but the main idea behind it is the concept that it is non-discriminatory.

Did you face any challenges this year?

We did face some challenges when it came to actually setting up the club officially and getting some members registered.

It is very rare that football clubs get set up out of nowhere, and the fact that we were setting up this club on principle as opposed to within a parish, led to some difficulties. Also, we had a little bit of push-back from outsiders on the fact that we are building it on the basis of being LGBTQ+ - inclusive.

This meant that we were not able to get our men’s team up and running, but, fortunately, we were able to get our women’s team up and running and have been quite successful on the front and we can only really go forward from here.

Na Gaeil Aeracha Ladies Team. Photo by Conor Biggins.

Outsiders, you say?

At the beginning of setup, there was some hate coming from online. The usual sort of social media ‘naysayers’. You know, homophobic backlash from people on twitter and against some articles. However, regarding all that, it was easy to overcome those when we saw the support we received from most of the public.

Why has the men’s team not been able to be registered when the women’s team has?

It is just down to administration. The GAA as a whole was undergoing a big turnover and a big change in the way they register players in general, so that was a big difficulty for everyone, not just our club. The fact that we were starting up from scratch during a pandemic made it all the more challenging.

We had an amazing amount of support from the LGFA, which meant that we found it a little bit easier to get the ladies team up and running. It is not down to lack of numbers or anything. In fact, we have at least a hundred men who want to join the team and play this year. It was just down to admin problems; we really were running the club on a skeleton committee.

We were running two clubs with about five people on a committee when, realistically, there should have been fifteen people on the committee, so it was very difficult in terms of resources and people just to get things up and running.

Has the kit been finished?

Yes! We designed a gorgeous kit with the help of McKeever’s Sport. They sponsored our first set of jerseys for the ladies’ team. McKeever’s were very supportive of us because we had some specific requests. We wanted to have the inclusive pride flag on the jersey and all the merchandise, and they were very willing to help us achieve that.

We are hoping to expand the kit as it comes, even though it has had a great response. We have had people who aren’t in the club or even the country ordering it because they love the idea of it and they love the thought behind it.  What has gone right for you this year?

Well, we have had a massive level of support from people of all different walks of life, globally. The fact that the women’s team were able to get registered, train weekly and play matches competitively was a massive win.

Also, despite not being able to register the men’s team, we were able to get a group of men from the LGBTQ+ community in contact with each other who wanted to play socially so they could organise their own social kickabouts.

We had our first AGM there recently and we were able to vote on a full committee which we believe can only mean better things coming in the future because we will have more manpower and more support in registering for the 2022 season.

Any update on a home pitch?

We are still looking into a home pitch, we are hoping to get one for our 2022 season, it has been tough having to rely on the hospitality of other clubs for matches. We have been able to train in the Phoenix Park, which is good, but we are still looking for a place to call home.