‘GAA USA’ - a new four part series offering a fresh insight into Irish American history and the untold story of the GAA in the US – will starting filming this June, to be aired on TG4 in autumn 2014.
A Sónta Films production with funding from the BAI, the series will be presented by former Kerry All-Ireland winning captain and TG4 Seó Spóirt presenter Dara Ó Cinnéide.
The series will chart the evolution of the GAA in the 19th and 20th centuries as hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants arrived in America and held onto a sense of shared identity through Irish sport.
Indeed, documents show that as early as the 1780s hurling was played on the streets of New York.
The series will combine an historical overview with personal tales, archive material and modern day footage as it retraces the story of the GAA in the USA from its humble origins into the cultural, political and sporting organisation of the Irish diaspora.
Cast and production crew include producer Éamonn Ó Cualáin; Director Seán Ó Cualáín; Director of Photography Réamonn Mac Donnacha; and Script writer Niall Murphy.
Principal photography will begin in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco before moving to Cleveland and New York later in the year.
‘There is nothing that connects us more to one another wherever we are in the world than our Gaelic Games’ - President Mary McAleese.
