Handball in Ireland
Handball in Ireland: GAA Handball and its provincial and county boards, clubs by province, alleys, and the Irish-language words for the game.
Links marked ↗ open in a new tab. We write our own description of each link. Listing a page is not an endorsement, and we do not run these sites.
Links on this page were checked on 2026-11-02.
Organizations: National governing bodies (2)
- Ard Comhairle (opens in a new tab) (GAA Handball national committee (Ard Comhairle)) Official
The page on the GAA Handball site describing the Ard Comhairle, the national committee that runs handball within the GAA. It is part of the site's section on structure and governance.
- Liathróid Láimhe CLG (opens in a new tab) (GAA Handball) Official
The home page of GAA Handball Ireland, the Gaelic Athletic Association's handball body. It covers competitions, clubs, playing rules, coaching, news and the national centre.
Our pick: The governing body for Gaelic handball in Ireland: competitions, clubs, rules, coaching and the national centre in one place.
Organizations: Regional, state, provincial and county associations (3)
- Boird Chontae (opens in a new tab) (GAA Handball county boards (structure page)) Official
A page on the GAA Handball site describing the role of county boards in Irish handball. It names no individual boards, so it works as an explainer rather than a directory.
- Comhairlí Cúige (opens in a new tab) (GAA Handball provincial councils (Connacht, Leinster, Munster, Ulster)) Official
A single page on the GAA Handball site describing the four provincial councils of Leinster, Munster, Connacht and Ulster. None of the councils has a separate site linked from it.
- Wexford GAA Handball (opens in a new tab) Official
Website of the Wexford county handball board. It covers championships and leagues in softball, four-wall and wall ball, and hosts Leinster fixture PDFs.
Rules and officiating: Current official rulebooks (4)
- Competition Regulations (GAA Handball PDF) (opens in a new tab)
PDF of the GAA Handball competition regulations, covering court dimensions, ball specifications, grading, entries and fixtures.
- GAA Handball playing rules (opens in a new tab)
The page on the GAA Handball site that holds the official playing rules for its handball codes. It links to the rule documents rather than reproducing them here.
- Playing Rules: 4-Wall, Wallball, 60x30, Softball, Hardball (GAA Handball PDF) (opens in a new tab)
PDF of the GAA Handball playing rules covering four-wall, wallball, 60x30, softball and hardball play.
- Rules and Regulations (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
Rules and Regulations page on the GAA Handball site. It links the Playing Rules and the Competition Regulations as PDF downloads; it has no one-wall rules document.
Our pick: Where the official GAA Handball playing rules and competition regulations are published.
Rules and officiating: Referee guides and certification (3)
- Become a Referee (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
Entry page on the GAA Handball site for people who want to referee. It links to the Bronze award, the referee pathway and the playing rules.
- Handball Referee Bronze Award (GAA learning portal) (opens in a new tab)
GAA Handball Referee Bronze Level Certificate page on the Tobar learning portal: the first step of the referee pathway, an online exam of about 45 minutes that leads to the local referees panel.
- Referee Zone (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
Referee Zone page on the GAA Handball site. It sets out the Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum referee levels, how each is earned, and that courses are led by national tutors.
Our pick: Sets out the GAA Handball referee levels and how each is earned; the starting point for Irish officials.
Events, tours and results: Results, draws and rankings services (3)
- GAA Handball (Eirball) (opens in a new tab)
The GAA Handball landing page of the Eirball website, with a link to an all-time results archive. Eirball is mostly a gridiron archive site, and its operator is not named on the page.
- handball.irish (opens in a new tab)
An independent archive of results for Irish GAA handball, World Handball, wallball and pelota, with rankings and a roll of honour. It is not run by a GAA body and describes itself as part of the Eirball network.
- KnowTheScore.ie (opens in a new tab)
Online handball draws, fixtures, live scores and results, made in Galway and linked to the Handball Scoreboard app. It is run by a company, not by a handball body.
Courts and places to play: Building and specifying courts (3)
- 4-Wall Court Specification 2019 (GAA Handball PDF) (opens in a new tab)
GAA Handball PDF titled as a 2019 four-wall court specification, giving court construction guidance.
- One-Wall Facilities Development (GAA Handball PDF) (opens in a new tab)
GAA Handball PDF on developing one-wall facilities, covering court sizes and construction advice for clubs.
- Wallball Facility Development 2026 (GAA Handball PDF) (opens in a new tab)
GAA Handball PDF from 2026 on developing wallball facilities, current court-building guidance.
Learning and coaching: Coaching programmes and courses (2)
- Coaching (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
Coach education page on the GAA Handball site, with in-service sessions for schools and clubs and coaching awards led by national tutors qualified through Coaching Ireland.
- Third-level handball (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
The GAA Handball page for its third-level programme, covering handball at universities and colleges in Ireland. It sits in the coaching and development section of the site.
History, halls of fame and archives: Libraries and archives with handball holdings (2)
- History (GAA Handball) (opens in a new tab) Official
History page on the GAA Handball site, tracing Gaelic handball from early stone-wall games, through records such as the 1527 Statute of Galway, to old courts like Ballinrobe's of 1776.
Our pick: The governing body's own account of Gaelic handball's long history in Ireland.
- McElligott Handball Papers (Cork City and County Archives) (opens in a new tab)
Catalog record at Cork City and County Archives for the McElligott Handball Papers: letters, newspaper cuttings and photographs on handball in Cork in the early 20th century.
Our pick: A rare public archive collection of early 20th-century handball papers from Cork.
News, magazines and media: Newspaper and broadcast features (3)
- Cavanman's Diary: Handball goes back to the future (Anglo-Celt, 2024) (opens in a new tab)
Anglo-Celt newspaper column of 28 March 2024 on the growth of One Wall (Wallball) in Ireland and the 2024 World Wallball Championships in Limerick.
- Hooked on the handball hellbox (Anglo-Celt) (opens in a new tab)
Anglo-Celt diary column of 26 October 2022 on a Cork handballer's trip to a frontball tournament in Biarritz, and on how the forms of handball share one idea: one bounce, then back to the wall.
- TG4 announces partnership with GAA Handball (2024) (opens in a new tab)
TG4 press release of 17 January 2024 announcing a partnership with GAA Handball: live streams on the Sport TG4 YouTube channel and highlights on TG4.
Reference: Encyclopedias and Wikipedia (4)
- Encyclopedia.com: handball (British and Irish history) (opens in a new tab)
The British and Irish history section of the Encyclopedia.com handball entry. It gives encyclopedia background on the traditional game of handball in Ireland and Britain.
- Liathróid láimhe (opens in a new tab) (Handball (Gaelic handball), Irish Wikipedia)
Irish Wikipedia article on handball (liathróid láimhe), giving the Irish terms for the game. Its text is available under the CC BY-SA license.
Our pick: The Irish-language encyclopedia article on handball, useful for the game's Irish terms.
- Wikipedia: GAA Handball (opens in a new tab)
Wikipedia article on GAA Handball, the body that runs Gaelic handball in Ireland within the Gaelic Athletic Association. Its text is under the CC BY-SA licence.
- Wikipedia: Gaelic handball (opens in a new tab)
Wikipedia article on Gaelic handball, the Irish wall sport. A long entry covering the game and its history; the text is available under a Creative Commons license.
Our pick: A long, freely licensed overview of Gaelic handball and its history; a good first read for newcomers.
Games, apps and software: Scoring and tournament apps (1)
- Handball Scoreboard (iPhone app) (opens in a new tab)
An iPhone app for keeping score in a handball game, with timeouts, the serving player and match presets such as a three-game format. It can send scores to a local scoreboard server.
Irish language and Gaelic games: Dictionaries and terminology (3)
- foclóirí ár linne (opens in a new tab) (Foclóirí ár linne (focloir.ie), Foras na Gaeilge dictionaries)
Free dictionary site from Foras na Gaeilge, with An Foclóir Nua Gaeilge and the New English-Irish Dictionary. A place to look up Irish words met in handball writing.
- handball (Foclóir.ie) (opens in a new tab)
The English-Irish dictionary entry for "handball" on focloir.ie, giving the Irish term liathróid láimhe for the sport, with examples of use.
Our pick: The official English-Irish dictionary entry for handball, giving the Irish name of the sport.
- téarma.ie (opens in a new tab) (National Terminology Database for Irish)
National terminology database for Irish from Foras na Gaeilge, built by Gaois at DCU, giving Irish and English equivalents for specialist terms.
Irish language and Gaelic games: Gaelic games bodies (2)
- Comhairle Mumhan CLG (opens in a new tab) (Munster GAA (Munster Council))
The Munster GAA provincial council site, which carries a handball link under its news section for the Munster handball council. Most of the site covers Gaelic football and hurling.
- Cumann Lúthchleas Gael (opens in a new tab) (Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA)) Official
Website of the Gaelic Athletic Association, the body that runs Gaelic games in Ireland. Its home page lists gaahandball.ie among related organizations and has a Cultúr agus Gaeilge section.
Organizations: Clubs
Browse by place:
Courts and places to play: Courts and venues
Browse by place: