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Gaelic football is one of the world's oldest games. It is one of the most played games in Ireland and is also commonly played in other countries. One of the first records of football in Ireland comes from 1308, when John McCrocan, a spectator at a football game at Newcastle, County Dublin was charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard. Gaelic football, commonly referred to as "football", "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland. It is, together with hurling, one of the two most popular spectator sports in Ireland today. It is also steadily increasing in popularity in other countries around the world, often played by members of the Irish diaspora. Teams from both London and New York compete in the annual All-Ireland Senior Football Championship, the highest level of the game. The hybrid sport of international rules football, whose showpiece is played biannually between Ireland and Australia and which is played in various locations throughout North America and the Caribbean, Europe, Asia, and Australia and New Zealand between fledgling Australian rules football and Gaelic football clubs, is based partially on Gaelic football and on Australian rules football. Gaelic football is played by teams of 15 on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by kicking or striking the ball with the hand and getting it through the goals. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. Players advance the ball up the field with a combination of carrying, soloing (dropping and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands), kicking, and hand-passing to their teammates. Football is one of four Gaelic games run by the Gaelic Athletic Association, the largest sporting organization in Ireland. It has strict rules on player amateurism and the pinnacle of the sport is the inter-county All-Ireland Football Final. The game is believed to have descended from ancient Irish football known as caid which dates back to medieval times, although the modern rules were not set down until 1886.

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