Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Young Palestinians are taught hurling skills. 'The young hurler’s father said: I'm glad my son's name will live forever' Timmy Hammersley and Cathal Ó Gaillín on the impact of GAA in Palestine. 9.01am, 29 Mar 2025 Share options Paul Fennessy PLAYING GAA has traditionally been perceived as a political act. The sport’s original aim, after all, was to promote Irish culture, and it has always been closely associated with Irish nationalism. Rule 42, for instance, famously prohibited the playing of non-Gaelic games in GAA stadiums. Yet, in the 21st century, the sport’s hierarchy have looked to broaden its international audience. Clubs have been established worldwide, and Palestine is the latest country to come on board. GAA Palestine has been established to help “children and young people in the West Bank to feel connected to Ireland and the Irish people, as well as fostering new technical skills and developing teamwork and resilience”. It was set up by London-Irish man Stephen Redmond, who visited the West Bank in January 2024. The initiative has since garnered significant support. The original idea was to teach hurling to various community leaders at the Excellence Centre in Hebron and the Am’ari refugee camp in Ramallah. Joining Redmond on a trip this January were Claire Liddy, a social care worker from Clare, and Cathal Ó Gaillín, an Aberdeen-based architecture student from Donegal. The Moataz Sassour GAA Club in Ramallah, where they had been coaching, now has 28 members. Local men Khaled and Shaher have also been managing the team. They have taught themselves basic skills by watching videos on the internet, coupled with in-person support from Liddy and Ó Gaillín. Clubs across Ireland have donated equipment like hurleys and sliotars to their Palestinian counterparts — who plan to tour the country this summer, visiting Dublin, Cork, and Clare. Liddy says nearly 40 children attended one session alone in January, with the participants’ average age eight to 10 years old. The plan is to expand the initiative, with a large fundraising effort underway and new clubs in Bethlehem, Tulkarem and Al-Khalil (Hebron) set to be established. Ó Gaillín says his trip to Palestine was an eye-opening experience. “It’s one thing when you can read about it or when you watch on TV,” he tells The 42. “But we are faced eye to eye with the soldiers who are everywhere with their guns around the chest, and you see the massive infrastructure at the checkpoints, the cameras and all that. “It is frankly terrifying. I’m a young man, so I don’t remember the checkpoint system in the North. But even talking to parents and stuff, it’s the same kind of fear, but amplified, because the severity and the barbarity of the apartheid system is so much worse.” This sense of worry was counteracted by the positive elements of the trip, particularly interacting with the Palestinian people. “I cannot speak higher of every single person in that camp as a part of the community,” Ó Gaillín says. “It was like the romanticised ideas of Irish villages: everyone knows each other, everyone is shaking hands. “And it’s not: ‘Hello, how are you, what’s the craic, do you want a pint?’ It’s ‘salam alaykum,’ and you’re offered a coffee. “But it’s the same feeling. People are asking who you are, where you’re from, and what you are doing here. ‘Thank you for coming to see our country, and I hope you enjoy it.’ “I was made to feel a part of the community straight away. And I think it’s a massive thing, how a community treats outsiders; it says a lot about them.” A group of young Palestinian GAA players. Ó Gaillín was well aware of the escalating violence levels in the region and admits to feeling some anxiety, but adds: “Being European-looking helps you. That’s the horrible reality of it.” He found the notion that Palestinian people have a sense of solidarity with the Irish rings true. Advertisement “They very much carry an appreciation for Ireland and the work that people do. I know the Occupied Territories Bill was quite disgracefully voted down. But people say: ‘Oh, your government does a lot.’ “Maybe, if you’re on the streets of Dublin, you’re inclined to believe we don’t do enough. “But they say: ‘Your people do a lot, and government does a lot. We appreciate you’re different from the rest of Europe.’ “So that Ireland-Palestine connection is not just an idea, it is very tangible.” The introduction of GAA is consequently a natural extension of this special relationship. “Especially when [Palestinians’] childhood is defined by fear and trauma, it is like a portal between Ireland and Palestine, this kind of cultural person to person connection. “The club is named after a young man, Moataz Sassour, one of the original people involved. After Claire left [during a visit last July], he was martyred by the occupation, 17 years old, shot dead, so we went to meet the family, to give thanks for letting us use the son’s name and offer condolences and stuff like this. “And the young hurler’s father said: ‘I’m glad my son’s name will live forever as a link between my country and yours because this is a battle of memories.’” Such moments serve as a reminder of the power of sport, with its ability to bring different cultures together. “With the history of GAA, as our form of cultural resistance, which has this poetic meaning to it, and what the [Palestinian] guys are calling it is ‘the freedom sport’. “They say: ‘No, this is our thing. This is our life. This is one of the tools that we’re going to use to get freedom. And I would say that sport unites us all. “And I have to say, it’s not a party political project. But in a sense, it’s ordinary people taking a stand and doing something that connects them with outside the world.” And as gratifying as it is for Ó Gaillín and other volunteers to see the pure enjoyment these youngsters get from participation, there is also a dark side to the job. “We know any day you could get a call that one of the kids has been kidnapped or injured or worse. “And that’s the reality of it. Another one of the initial club volunteers, a young journalist, named Maher Haroun, he’s 24, same age as myself, in university, same as myself. But he’s currently sitting in an Israeli jail, Gilboa prison, which is notorious, and he’s looking at up to 18-24 months in jail. “Look at the state of the prisoners that get released. They come out with skin diseases, malnourished, injuries, everything else. And I’m the same age as him, but I’m free and walking about, and whatever issues I have over here pale in comparison. “To be sitting in his father’s house with his parents and brother, and sitting below the family portrait and thinking: ‘How is the world like this?’ It’s a brutal, grim reality of apartheid and the occupation.” GAA Palestine members pose for a picture. But as desperate as the situation has become, among Palestinians at least, a sense of optimism remains. “Hope is not the right word,” he adds. “It’s an absolute conviction that they will return to their homeland. There’s no doubt. “I’ve never, ever met people like it. And if it’s not them, it’s going to be their children. They will walk in their cities again. They will go back to their homes, and they will take the keys as we pass down through their families and open back up their houses. “These aren’t a people who just take it lying down. Every setback they’ve had the last 76 years, they’ve built, and they’ve thrived, and they found a way to struggle on. And they will keep doing that. “And I think what speaks to that is seeing the half million people in northern Gaza, after it being wiped out for 15 months, returning to their homes. And as I say, existence is a form of resistance.” Many sports personalities and other high-profile people have tended to shy away from speaking out on matters relating to Israel and Palestine, but Timmy Hammersley is one notable exception. The 37-year-old, who won an All-Ireland title with Tipperary in 2010, is involved with GAA Palestine and went on a trip to the West Bank in 2015. “There are parallels between the Irish struggle and the Palestinian struggle,” he says. “I do feel like people in continental Europe find it hard for that reason to grasp. Because if you are England, or if you are Germany, your country was the country who occupied others. “Whereas the Irish were the occupied, and even though we might not realise or appreciate it, in our psychology, I think that’s why the majority of Irish people are very sympathetic to the Palestine cause, even though it’s so far away.” It is 10 years since Hammersley made the trip to Palestine, but the experience is one he will never forget. “A good way of describing occupation is that I have more rights when I go to the West Bank than a Palestinian who has lived there forever.” The former Tipp hurler was based near Ramallah and stayed with a man named Mohammed, along with his family. “They were as apolitical a family as you could ever come across,” he recalls. “But I stayed about a week and a half. He brought me through checkpoints, they were living in a refugee camp. Mohammed dreamt of going to Europe, to college, and trying to better himself. “In 2016, he was picked up by the Israelis at a checkpoint and spent the next three years in administrative detention. “No charge, and no reason other than because he fits the demographic they want to target. He’s young, he’s male, and he’s energetic. They picked him up one day at a checkpoint, and three years of his life were gone. “And so, a story like that’s an everyday reality. There are [thousands of] Palestinians in administrative detention at the moment. They can keep you in indefinitely, without any charges.” Timmy Hammersley is a former Tipperary hurling player.James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO Hammersley was also fascinated by the checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, with the two places only a couple of kilometres apart. He recalls: “Palestinians cannot go into Jerusalem because the West Bank is separated from Israel by the separation wall. It’s like if you were living in Blanchardstown, you couldn’t come into Dublin [city centre]. You couldn’t cross the M50 to what traditionally was your economic hub, your kind of area, and so on. “But a load of Palestinians have permits that they can go into work. And generally, it’s men going to work on construction sites. And for two reasons — Israel requires the Palestinians to come in and work for cheap labour. And the economy of the West Bank is so poor that Palestinians have to come in and make some kind of an earning from it. “And I was at a checkpoint between Bethlehem and Jerusalem at 3.30am, and the checkpoint is not a small gate, it is electronic shutters. It’s like a slaughterhouse. You have to walk in and walk out. “It’s a big operation, and it feels like hundreds have been crowded into these shutters and gates at 3.30am. And I waited until 6.30 was when they opened the gates to allow him in to Jerusalem. And why that is, because they play with him. Some days, they might let him in and say the only time you are allowed in is at 3.30. ‘You have to go now.’ They don’t know when they’ll allow him in, and they know that they could keep him there for hours, or they could allow him in in 10 minutes. “That’s what occupation is. It’s every day. It’s not always being killed or being attacked.” Hammersley continues: “And the other variable, another family I was living with asked me to shower for 20 seconds. It was all I could shower for in their place. “Because Israel [controls most of] the water reserves, which is in the West Bank. Israel take it out of the West Bank and use it for its population. “Water shortage for an area that is huge and has huge resources — I think they only access to [a small percentage] of the water that they have built.” Hammersley has been impressed by the work being done by volunteers who are introducing the sport of GAA to young Palestinians. But whether he will attend any in-person training sessions himself soon is uncertain. “I do want to go back to coach on the ground there. But if I try to go back, there is a good chance that I won’t get in. Or I will get to Tel Aviv airport, they do one Google search, and they’ll see I’ve been active, and there is no hope they’d allow me in. “There are a lot of stories of people being abused in the airport. “They keep you in the airport. They take everything off you and they send you back on flights. There are regular stories of [it happening].” You can donate find out more information about GAA Palestine here, and donate here. Paul Fennessy Viewcomments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “'The young hurler’s father said: I'm glad my son's name will live forever'”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “'The young hurler’s father said: I'm glad my son's name will live forever'”. 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