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TOWARDS THE END OF SUMMER 2020, Karl Shannon sent out a tweet, asking if any LGBTQ+ GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) players based in the Dublin area would like to come together for a game. While he expected some kind of response, he never anticipated it snowballing in the way that it did.
Within hours it had blown up, with almost 2,000 people engaging from across Ireland and beyond. “I thought maybe I’d get a few likes, a couple of retweets,” he says. “But suddenly my DMs were flooded with people wanting to join. I thought it would be a social thing of, like, 10 people. But now it’s turned into something very official, very fast - for good reason.”
Less than two years on, Shannon’s post has sparked more than just the “casual social kickabouts” he first envisioned. The result is Na Gaeil Aeracha, Ireland’s first ever fully inclusive GAA club. Encompassing a team of 46 players (there are over 140 people registered with the club), it sees young queer people and
