Sands McSwiney is a Gaelic football

Gaelic football

Gaelic football , commonly referred to as "football" or "Gaelic", or "Gah" is a form of football played mainly in Ireland...

 team formed in 1986 and based in the Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire

Lanarkshire or the County of Lanark ) is a Lieutenancy area, registration county and former local government county in the central Lowlands of Scotland...

 town of Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

. The club play home matches on a Gaelic football pitch on the local Townhead municipal playing fields.

History

Sands McSwiney were founded in 1986, being named using an almagam of the names of hunger strikers Bobby Sands

Bobby Sands

Robert Gerard "Bobby" Sands was an Irish volunteer of the Provisional Irish Republican Army and member of the United Kingdom Parliament who died on hunger strike while imprisoned in HM Prison Maze....

 and Terence MacSwiney

Terence MacSwiney

Terence Joseph MacSwiney was an Irish playwright, author and politician. He was elected as Sinn Féin Lord Mayor of Cork during the Irish War of Independence in 1920. He was arrested by the British on charges of sedition and imprisoned in Brixton prison in England...

. The club was formed out of the Pearse Harps club in Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 when Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

-based players within Pearce Harps setup felt it would be more appropriate to give birth to a more local based team in an area previously renowned for its Gaelic sports activities .

Honours

In Sands' first season in existence the club went all the way 1986 final of the Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 Championship before being beaten by St Patrick's. In 1988 Sands won their first major trophy, the Ó Fiaich Cup. The Ó Fiaich Cup was brought back to Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

 again in 1996. Sands McSwiney won the Championship in 1990, 1991 and 1999, and have also won the Pearse Cup. Sands' also won the League two years in succession, 1998 and 1999. The GAA

Gaelic Athletic Association

The Gaelic Athletic Association is an amateur Irish and international cultural and sporting organisation focused primarily on promoting Gaelic games, which include the traditional Irish sports of hurling, camogie, Gaelic football, handball and rounders...

 currently have a full-time development officer based in Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

.

External links

• http://members.lycos.co.uk/SandsMcSwineys/
• http://britain.gaa.ie/