News

Spanish mountain association plays Gaelic football

05.06.2019

The Association for Mountain Studies (CRYOSANABRIA) has organized the first training of a newly established Gaelic football team in the mountainous Sanabria region of northern Spain. The workshop was led by two professional instructors from neighbouring Galicia’s Gaelic football league. More than 20 people showed up to participate in the training to start a new, mixed-gender team.

CRYOSANABRIA is a Mountain Partnership member that aims to expand the knowledge and conservation status of the mountain's cryosphere of the Sanabria region as well as the cryosphere of other mountains in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. The association also seeks to maintain and recover the natural and cultural heritage of mountain peoples of the Iberian Northwest. CRYOSANABRIA organizes events, such as documentary screenings and cultural talks, and provides other services such as mountain guide trainings and road sign repairs.

Gaelic football is a team sport which is popular in places with Celtic origins, such as the Sanabria region. The Sanabria mountain range is located in western Spain, and is most notable for the Sanabria Lake. The lake is the largest Spanish lake of glacial origin, and is surrounded by the Sanabria mountain range.

Though Gaelic football has evolved other the centuries, it is still played today. Galicia has an official Gaelic football league recognized by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), Ireland’s largest sporting association. Galicia also has a women’s Gaelic football league with nine teams, and the league is even eligible to participate in international matches.

In 2013, one team chose to have a mixed-gender team to support gender equality in Gaelic football. This team is known as Liga Gallaecia: the first mixed-gender league of Gaelic football in the world. The Sanabria team plans to join Liga Gallaecia in supporting gender equality in sports by establishing this new, mixed-gender team.

Photo by CRYOSANABRIA/Daniel Boyano Sotillo