Former President of the GAA, Sean Kelly MEP has called on the GAA, the Ladies Gaelic Football Association and the Camogie Association to set up an International Gaelic Games Federation.

Speaking last night at the Annual General Meeting of Belgium GAA, of which he is Honorary President, Mr Kelly stated that in order for our games to grow abroad, an international federation needs to be set up.

The AGM was held in the European Parliament, hosted by Mr Kelly.

"As it stands, our games have no international status and therefore no legal status in countries such as Belgium, France or Germany. This means in practical terms that clubs based in these countries can not apply to local authorities for free use of public sports facilities, as our games are not seen as sports per se.

"The lack of recognition is hobbling the development of our games on the ground. Our clubs in Units such as Europe have to go to great expense to hire private pitches, while other sports can access public facilities for free.

"Therefore I call on the three associations running our games to come together and found an International Federation and affiliate it to the European and International Olympic Committee, the gold standard for recognition of Sports.

"Gaelic Games can then be strongly represented in the newly developing EU Sports Forum, which may well open up funding streams for future development", he added.

"A cursory glance at some of the sports which have international federations and therefore have a strong voice on these bodies, such as the "International Bandy Federation" or the "International Casting Federation" shows that Gaelic Games, some of the greatest games on the face of the planet, should have a voice and international status in these forums," he concluded. Tweet

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