Abu Dhabi Na Fianna & Abu Dhabi Irish Society

Abu Dhabi Na Fianna is one of the biggest and longest established sports clubs in the Gulf and has been in existence since 1994. It all started when four guys, who were a bit homesick, got together every Saturday at Mushrif Park to play hurling. Word soon got around and after about six months, there were enough players for a 9-a-side team. The historic first ever match played by Na Fianna was a hurling game against a combined Al Ain\Northern Emirates team in Al Ain in April 1995.

The club started to expand and when the UAE championship started in Dubai in 1996, Na Fianna played their first ever competitive matches in both hurling and football. Since then the club has expanded every year: a ladies team was established in 1999 and a junior team followed in 2004. In the late 1990’s Abu Dhabi was the strongest side between Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the UAE GAA Championship. However, in the early 2000’s, Dubai went through a winning spell for about 6-7 years. Last year that shift changed again with the Abu Dhabi Men’s team stepping up and reclaiming the title for the first time in 6 years. Abu Dhabi feels it is time that the momentum shifted back to the capital.

The Irish Society was founded in 1975 with an initial membership of twenty five people. Like its sister society, it too has expanded over the years and now has hundreds of members. The society is proud of its multi-national members that have massively contributed to the success of the society down the years.