BERMUDA’S Gaelic Football League kicks off on Saturday featuring four teams packed with fans of a game best described as a cross between soccer and rugby.It’s attracting both Irish expats steeped in the game and interested novices from all nations — some of whom are already showing huge promise.

Organiser Gary Brady said: “A lot of people have showed interest. It’s going pretty strongly. It’s grown every week with more coming out and people are going out of their way to help us.”

Training is every Tuesday at Somersfield Academy from 7-9 p.m. with around 40 players typically turning up.

Games kick off on Saturday at 5.15 p.m. involving four sides with suitably Gaelic/Bermudian sounding names — Devonshire Wolfe Tones, the Hamilton Gaels, Eire Og Warwick and Na Fianna Paget.

Planning has been in the works since October with another newly-arrived Irishman Brian McAtasney helping Brady.

A hunt for pitches began in earnest in February run by a committee of 11.

The balls, slightly smaller and heavier than a footballs, have been imported from Ireland especially although at the moment the goals are borrowed rugby posts strapped to soccer posts.

Brady said: “The game is a kind of a cross between rugby and soccer. The nearest example would be Aussie Rules, it’s quite similar.”

Just like rugby the posts are H-shaped but with a soccer goal at the bottom defended by a goalkeeper.

Smash the round ball past him and you get three points, punt it over the bar like a rugby conversion and you will get one point.

The ball can be kicked around or thrown but not carried like rugby, unless the player drops the ball and kicks it back to himself on the run, a technique known as soloing. A runner can also bounce it.

“It’s a contact sport. There is no problem with throwing in a shoulder against another shoulder,” said the 24-year-old Brady who has been playing since he was four.

The teams also boast a scattering of inter-county stars from Ireland including Colin Keane from Waterford and Darren Martin from County Louth.

“There’s a lot of boys who haven’t played the game before but they have picked up the rules pretty quickly. There’s some quite talented players who have never played it before which is a bonus.”

They include Englishmen Richard Keegan and Richard Brown.

“There’s quite a few nationalities — English, Bermudians, Australians — there’s a French guy there and a couple of Scots and a Canadian.

“The Aussie boys have taken to it really well — having played Aussie Rules before they are kind of natural. The only thing this is a round ball compared to an oval ball but they are good. There’s Andrew Holmes who looks like he has been playing Gaelic all his life.”

There aren’t the numbers for the usual 15-a-side so games might involve only seven or ten players on each side with the time shortened from the 70-minute inter-county standard to around an hour.

“It involves a lot of movement — a lot of short sprints. When you are sprinting and trying to control the ball it’s quite difficult but it is something we work on all the time in training — the ball is always there.

“Everyone is really enjoying it once they get used to the rules.”

The game, which has been around for well over a 100 years in Ireland, is now spreading said Brady.

“It’s quite big in to America and Australia. And it is picking up in Britain, mainland Europe and Asia.”

International tours could be a possibility. “There’s an established league in Cayman. We have had contact with them.

“For a lot of the Irish it makes us feel less far from home. It’s such a great setting to play it here.”

[obox]If you are interested in playing email to bermudagaa@gmail.com for more details.