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Wild Geese GAA

Wild Geese GAA
Wild Geese (GAA club) crest.jpg
Founded: 1888
County: Dublin
Nickname: Geese
Colours: Black and Amber
Grounds: Oldtown

Wild Geese (Irish: Na Géanna Fiáine CLG ) are a GAA club based in Oldtown, Fingal. They currently field a single junior football, junior hurling and ladies football teams. At juvenile level they field at hurling only with teams at Under 9, 10, 11 and 14. In Los Angeles there is a Gaelic football club who also go by the same name and at Lakenheath U.S. air force base there is a hurling club also called Wild Geese.

The club was established in 1888 by Patrick Archer making it one of the oldest in Dublin. Other GAA clubs in the surrounding area at the time would have been the Garristown Liberators and Magh go Bragh of Naul. The club in Oldtown was called Wild Geese to commemorate those Irish who had travelled abroad to serve in the militaries of other countries. Royal Irish Constabulary records show that the club had 40 members in 1889 and 1890 meeting in Oldtown and Ballyboghill. P. Mahon was secretary and treasurer at the time and E. Gorman was captain. Wild Geese were one of nineteen clubs represented at Charles Stewart Parnells funeral in 1891. In 1893 P. Sutton attended the Dublin county boards annual convention as the club's delegate on March 19. However in 1896 the club's name is missing from a list of those affiliated to the county board suggesting the club may have disbanded sometime between 1893-1896. In 1906 the nearest club to Oldtown was Naul but the club was affiliated along with Naul and Garristown in 1911 and again in 1915 and for the 1924-1925 season with the club disbanding once again.

While absent from the field of play in 1931 the club was reformed by Father Lennon and played their games in a field owned by Jim Hughes. Players were from not just Oldtown but also Rolestown and Ballyboughal. The team captain was Stephen Griffin. They won the Feis Cup beating Donabate in the final. Some time after however a dispute arose those from Ballyboughal and the rest in the club with those from Ballyboughal deciding to leave and set up their own club. In order to see who would keep the set of jerseys both sides agreed to a game to resolve the issue with Wild Geese winning meaning they kept the jerseys which are the club's colours to this day, black and amber. However the club was to disband sometime shortly after and this the years to come a club was established in nearby Rolestown called Fingal Ravens. Patrick Archer reformed the club in 1935 but it disbanded again sometime before 1947 before regrouping again in a year where the GAA appeared to undergo something of a revival in the area with Fingal Ravens, Garristown and Man O’War also affiliating. Ballyboughal had won a Junior Football Championship in that year. However both Wild Geese and Fingal Ravens were finding it difficult to field and Fingal Ravens joined up with Wild Geese. The club disbanded some years after and in 1952 Fingal Rovers hurling club was established in Rolestown with many players having previously played with Wild Geese among their membership. Meeting were held in Hurley makers Owen and Tommie Butlers and they travelled to matches in their van. Fingal Rovers were runners up in the Fingal Hurling League, losing to Portrane but won a County special competition defeating Porton Docks in Islandbridge. Wild Geese reformed some years after and continued to compete on and off through the years.


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