Dubai Celts

For over 10 years Gaelic games have been played in the Arabian Gulf and have grown from strength to strength each year. While being better known for its thoroughbred horse racing and more recently the Desert Classic Golf, Dubai has now established itself as an oasis in the desert for our own Gaelic Games. The history of Gaelic Games in the Middle East dates back to St. Patrick’s Day 1994 in Riyadh when a hurling match was played between employees of SA Kent and Aramco. SA Kent emerged as winners.

By October 1994 clubs had been formed in Dhahran and Riyadh, great rivals to this day, and the first inter-club hurling match took place in Bahrain later that same year. This provided the impetus for the staging of a Gulf-wide tournament in Bahrain in October/November of each year. It would be another twelve months before the Dubai Celts would first take to the field.

The Celts were founded in 1995 by Paul McCabe (Meath) along with Niall McLoughlin (Clare) and David Monaghan (Meath) who were to be joined later from Saudi Arabia by one of the original founders here in the Middle East, Paul Beecher. Both McCabe and Beecher were instrumental in establishing the Celts as a formidable club in the Middle East. Johnny Rae and P.J. Kirwan were to leave Saudi Arabia for Abu Dhabi and went on to establish the Abu Dhabi Fianna Club.Clubs have been established in Oman and Qatar. The Dubai Celts have grown into the strongest and so far most successful club in the Middle East region with a membership of 100+ drawn from every county in Ireland and fifteen different countries.

We compete in both men’s and ladies football, hurling and camogie. In 2001, Dubai Celts hosted a trip for the Eircom 1999 and 2000 Football All-Stars who played an exhibition match as part of a GAA Festival here with great success. Great credit must go to those early pioneers, most of whom are still actively involved, for what the games have evolved into today. They include Charlie O’Sullivan (Cork), Dermot Wallis (Laois), Ger McGrath (Cork), Paul Beecher (Cork), Johnny Rae (Cork) and P.J. Kirwan (Longford).