August New mini-series explores Gaelic Games on film

TG4 is to screen a ground-breaking mini-series exploring Gaelic games on film since the beginning of the 20^th century.

Iománaíocht Hollywood: Cluichí Gaelacha ar Scannán / Hollywood Hurling: Gaelic Games on Film is a two-part programme offering a unique insight into how Ireland, Irish people and our national sports have been depicted in cinema, including in productions from major Hollywood studios and directors such as seminal Oscar-winning Irish-American director John Ford.

An LMDÓC Production for TG4 funded by Coimisiún na Meán, the series is based on the acclaimed  book Gaelic Games on Film: From silent films to Hollywood hurling, horror and the emergence of Irish cinema (Cork University Press, 2019) by University of Galway academic Seán Crosson, who also wrote and is associate producer of the series.

The programme also traces the central role of Gaelic games in the emergence of an indigenous Irish film culture in the second half of the 20th century.

Episode 1 from the series is to be broadcast on September 4^th  at 9.30pm (with repeats on Sept 5^th and 7^th) and episode 2 will be broadcast on September 11^th at 9.30pm (with repeats on the 12^th and 14^th).

Dr Seán Crosson said: “It was a privilege to work with director Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín and TG4 on this series, realising visually and via the extraordinary surviving archive the research I have been engaged with for almost 20 years now. The films (and our many contributors) give us a unique insight into not just the depiction and development of Gaelic games, but also Irish society and culture more broadly from the earliest surviving footage of the 1914 all-Ireland senior football final replay between Wexford and Kerry.”

Series director director Mac Dara Ó Curraidhín said: “As someone who has played our games - I was a decent footballer, but not as skilled at hurling and handball - and who has a a strong passion for archival materials, especially videos and photos - almost all the shows we've produced over the past 31 years have included archival content to some extent - it was genuinely an honour to collaborate on Iománaíocht Hollywood with Seán Crosson and the amazing production team and crew we gathered to turn this challenging subject matter into a series.”

The series features stunning archive footage of Gaelic games and Irish society from the beginning of the 20^th century.

It also carries contributions from a range of leading cultural and academic figures including Professor Paul Rouse, Professor Mike Cronin, Professor Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh, Professor Dermot Keogh, Dr Ciara Chambers, filmmakers Fergus Tighe and Bob Quinn, cinematographer Nick O'Neill, and the late Dublin GAA legend Jimmy Gray, to whom the series is dedicated.

To coincide with the broadcast, a new paperback edition of the book that inspired the series Gaelic Games on Film: From silent films to Hollywood hurling, horror and the emergence of Irish cinema (Cork University Press, 2025) has also just been published and is now available in all good book shops and online from https://www.corkuniversitypress.com/9781782050186/gaelic-games-on-film/

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