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Rarely seen GAA footage to be screened in Dublin

The material was shown at an event at the Irish Film Institute, to mark the publication of a new book
The material was shown at an event at the Irish Film Institute, to mark the publication of a new book

Rarely seen footage showcasing the evolution of hurling and football over more than a century has been screened in Dublin. 

The material was shown at an event at the Irish Film Institute, to mark the publication of a new book which examines the manner in which Gaelic games have been portrayed in films, on video and on television. 

Starting with the earliest recorded GAA footage, of the 1914 All Ireland Football Final, the book traces the way coverage has changed over the decades, as well as looking at the different ways hurling and football were depicted by Hollywood studios throughout the 20th Century. 

The book 'Gaelic Games on Film' is the culmination of over a decade of research by NUI Galway academic Seán Crosson.

His journey has brought him to the US and around Europe, as he tracked down rarely seen footage and catalogued its origins. 

Dr Crosson says that as well as showing us how rules changed and games evolved, the video archives also shine a light on the way Irish society shifted and altered over the same period. 

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But the material also reveals the constants that surround Gaelic games. Footage from the 1914 All Ireland shows a section of the 20,000 strong attendance in Croke Park on the day, smiling and waving at the camera, while the Kerry victory was greeted by a pitch invasion.

The surviving footage gives no indication as to whether stewards on duty tried to prevent this from happening or if there was a pre-cursor to the famed 'Plan B' approach, that came to typify big match days in Croke Park almost a century later.