Blog - Knoxville Gaelic Athletic Club

Scruffy City Invitational – 2021

Knoxville hosted the Scruffy City Invitational hurling tournament on October 2, 2021, hosting teams from Nashville, Charleston, Naperville, Raleigh, Greenville, and Memphis. Charlotte was slated to attend but was unable to ultimately; we missed having their fierce competition in the mix. Several teams had smaller numbers and combined to play together. Knoxville has experienced a lot of growth in the last couple of years and was able to field a second team to round out the bracket given Charlotte’s absence.

We had a number of fine sponsors for the event, including Dayton’s Pest Control, Fisher Tire, Trotta Montgomery Real Estate, and Clancy’s Tavern and Whiskey House.

Pre-game

We kicked off the event with some brief remarks from KGAC board heads Ben Conaway and Adam Ingle, followed by the American and Irish National anthems. Knoxville had a table with tournament shirts and KGAC caps for sale, and a Knoxville team member’s kids were selling homemade screen printed posters commemorating the tournament (proceeds to benefit a cause). We also had a music canopy under which people could stop by to pick up an instrument or listen. This added some nice ambiance to the day. Click through the images below to see full, uncropped photos.

Hurling Matches

We held the tournament on the two soccer fields at Holston River park. It was a beautiful day for southeastern hurling — a scorcher perhaps for those used to playing in Ireland but a clear and mild day for those accustomed to early Autumn southern heat and sun. It was a fun day of hurling for all (we hope), and as a bonus for the KGAC, the stronger of the two Knoxville teams won the day.

The Knoxville B team was slated to play Greenville a second time, but a short-handed Greenville team suffered an injury that led them to withdraw (understandably) from that consolation match (listed in the results below with a 0-0 score).

Below are just a few of the many photos taken by Knoxville team member Meritt Rollins Brown and KGAC friend Ben McGue.

The Results

The hurling tournament results appear below.

Scruffy City Invitational - 2021

Announcing the 2021 Scruffy City Cup

We’re super excited to officially announce our 5th Annual Scruffy City Invitational set for October 2nd, 2021! This hurling tournament will be hosted in the beauty of an East Tennessee fall, and we welcome teams from all over to join us for what we expect to be an awesome experience.

This year’s tournament will feature teams of 11 with the winning team taking home our traveling trophy, The Clancy Cup.

The after parties will feature that post tourney craic we all love with plenty of food, drink, live music and laughter to go around. More details to come, but save the date and we look forward to having your club in Knoxville this fall!

2021 Training Season Has Begun (Carefully)

We started the 2020 season off great, with record numbers of potential hurlers coming out for our first couple of practices. Then COVID-19 hit and the season came to an abrupt halt. We kept in touch and kept some friendly competition going through the middle part of 2020 with fitness and hurling skills challenges. Later, we held occasional socially distanced practice sessions. Our club has a great sense of community, so we kept the fun going in our group text and put together some group orders of hurls and other gear. But the season was, largely, a wash.

We’re remaining cautious heading into the 2021 season. Having a vaccine is encouraging, but the health of our community members is paramount. We’re starting up some training sessions with social distancing and safety in mind. If you’re keen to learn more about hurling or to enjoy some fellowship with members of a great Knoxville sports community, keep your eyes on our Facebook page for announcements of upcoming events.

We held our first training of the season on March 7 and will hold training number two on March 14 at 1pm. All are welcome regardless of fitness level, experience, or demographics. The more the merrier. Hope to meet you soon!

First City League Game of 2019

Join us on Saint Patrick’s Day this year to watch (or play in!) our first city league game of 2019. We’ll divide the club up into squads and enjoy some friendly competition at Sam Duff Memorial Park on Chapman Highway at 2pm.

Spring 2019 Hurling is Here

Knoxville GAC members haven’t let a little (well, a lot) of rain keep us from getting the 2019 season off to a good start. With a handful of practices behind us, we’ve had record turnout, added a few new faces, and added a little more rigor to our practices as we teach the fundamentals to new folks and help the veterans among us brush up on our skills after taking the winter off.

We’ll keep offering orientation sessions early in the season and will begin city league play in mid-March to help us get ready for competition with other regional teams starting in April.

It’s a great time to learn a little bit about the sport, pick up some of the fundamentals, and enjoy some fellowship with other local enthusiasts.

Our next practice is coming up at 2pm on Sunday, March 3 at Fulton High School. Follow the event details here, and definitely reach out if you have questions. We have gear to share, so just bring yourself and a will to start learning a really fun sport. We hope to see you there!

Meeting the Irish Consul

consul Consulate General of Ireland Shane Stephens visited Knoxville in March and dropped by the Knoxville GAC’s practice on March 28. The club presented him with a hurl emblazoned with the club crest and posed for a photo in front of the iconic Sunsphere afterward.

2018 Music City Invitational

A slate of about a dozen Knoxville GAC club members attended the Music City Invitational hosted by the Nashville GAC on March 24 in our first match of the season (a prior Nashville event having rained out), joining teams from St. Louis, Memphis, Indianapolis, Coastal Virginia, and Atlanta. A few players from Milwaukee visited and helped fill gaps in the teams as well. Coastal Virginia won the day. Be sure to check out photos from the event at the Nashville GAC’s Facebook album.