Coffee Table Book of: Gaelic Football (Hardcover)

Description

Coffee Table Book of: Gaelic Football is a large format book of Gaelic football, printed edge to edge in colour, one picture to a page and the widest carried across two: the round ball, the high white posts and their nets, club grounds standing empty from first light to moonlight, grounds by the sea and among the hills, the kit being made and cared for, the old game, and a few players seen far off in plain dark clothing.

The kit is laid out plain: a white ball of stitched panels, studded boots with one turned to show its sole, thin grip gloves, an open kit bag, a pump with its needle in the valve, yellow, black and red cards, a whistle beside a stopwatch, a hooped jersey beside the goalkeeper’s yellow, a mesh bag of balls, a ball in the corner of the net, the net pegged down at the foot of a post, cones and bibs, a knitted hat on a gate, and the long white coat and the white and green flags of the umpires.

The making and the care follow shaped panels of leather, a ball stitched by hand, a net mended with a wooden needle, jerseys drying in the wind, sand and a barrow for worn ground, an old iron roller, mown stripes, a line marker with a fresh white line and muddy boots after rain. The past runs from open country where an older game was played district against district to an old goal with a post out on each side, a laced leather ball, boots with leather studs, a wool jersey with a laced collar, an iron turnstile, a bucket of lime, an old bicycle and an empty railway platform.

Short notes run through the book, on the rules and how the game is played, the ball, posts, nets and kit and how they are made and cared for, and the history of the game: in the men’s game, outfield players lift a ball off the ground with the toe, not the hands, a point is scored by sending the ball over the crossbar, between the posts, early goals had an extra post out on each side, and a ball between them scored a point, and early boots were heavy leather, with studs of stacked leather nailed to the sole.

Printed in full colour on heavy 150gsm coated paper at 216 x 279 mm (8.5 x 11 inches), as a hardcover with the art printed on the case.