GAA's Data Insights Hub is helping clubs and counties plan for the future

How the GAA adapts to Ireland’s changing population will be its greatest challenge over the coming decades. The hub will ensure the association is out in front of their marker.

GO GAMES: 33.2% of the island’s population aged 6 - 11 are members of a GAA club. Picture: Piaras Ó Mídheach/Sportsfile

In an interview with the Irish Examiner last week, Benny Hurl, the chairperson of the GAA’s Demographics Committee, issued a warning to the association. Unless it really tackles the issues which population shifts are presenting, then they are “sleepwalking into something that's going to be catastrophic”.

Urban clubs are already beginning to bulge at the seams with numbers as they struggle to provide sufficient games and facilities while in rural areas, many clubs are struggling to remain inflated due to depopulation.