20 years of GAA in Austria: Meet the Vienna Gaels
The beating heart of the Irish community in Vienna
The vibrant Irish community in Austria is nowhere more evident than at a training session on a Monday evening with the Vienna Gaels GAA Club, who celebrated a milestone birthday in 2024.
The club, founded by a small group of committed ex-pats and local enthusiasts in 2004, turned 20 years old in 2024. Ithas gone from strength to strength over the last two decades, with men’s and women’s teams competing at competitions within the GAA’s Central and Eastern European region.
More than just a GAA club
The Gaels are more than just a group of GAA players and supporters who meet once or twice a week in Vienna for training and matches. They are the heart of the Irish community in Vienna and act as a support network of familiar accents and faces from all walks of life that look out for each other while they’re living, working or studying in this home away from home.
Away from the football, hurling, camogie and handball, the Club has a very active social club, and they regularly organise meet-ups for major sporting events to support Ireland. Some members are also known to organise a monthly craic agus comhrá get-together at Flanagan’s Irish Bar, one of Vienna’s most famous landmarks for any Irish resident or visitor in the city.
The Club are also fantastic regular supporters of charity events, such as Pieta’s Darkness into Light for families bereaved by suicide, and the Global Solidarity Run organised by Sanctuary Runners in solidarity with those around the globe displaced by conflict. They also celebrate Vienna Pride each year, joining the Rainbow Parade around Vienna’s famous Ringstrasse.
The Gaels are wonderful ambassadors for not only the GAA, but for Ireland in general, organising an annual local Irish Sports Day in Seyring to showcase the GAA, running a Cúl Camp for kids and teens to experience Gaelic Games, and by turning out in force each year to form one of the largest contingents at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in Vienna with their kits, banners and flags to celebrate Ireland’s National Day.
20 years of Vienna Gaels
The Club celebrating their 20th anniversary in 2024 is a testament to the commitment of all those involved in the coordination and management of the club through the years. In November they held an anniversary event at The Long Hall Bar in Vienna, another landmark for the Irish community in the city and a great sponsor for the Club in recent years. Founding members, current members, and friends old and new, gathered to mark this milestone and toast to the next 20 years and beyond.
A mix of expat and local members
Vienna Gaels, or the Gaels as they are more commonly known, currently have approximately 100 members, between active players and supporters, but that is not to say that they are not always scouting for new talent.
Membership is open for all people, of all ages and abilities, from all over the world. While the majority of members are from Ireland, have Irish heritage, or have some experience of playing Gaelic games, many international members and first-timers have joined the club over the years and discovered their love of the game. In total, thousands of players have donned the Gaels’ green, white and red jersey, representing a mix of the red and white colours of the city of Vienna and of course, green for Ireland.
Meet some of the Club’s brilliant members
Vienna Gaels GAA Club is one of the most diverse and international sports clubs in the city, with a great mix of local, Irish, and international players, and the Club’s Committee is a reflection of this.
Below we asked some of the 2024 Committee, some of the founding members, and some of the club’s international members to tell us their stories and experiences with the Club and the role it has played in their lives in Vienna:
From Ballybofey, Co. Donegal
Ray Laverty – Founding member
"Anyone fancy a wee bit of Gaelic football or hurling in the Prater on Sunday? - a wee sign we posted in a few pubs with my phone number, a location and a time.
‘We want a game against ye in about three weeks. Need a practice game before we play Munich!’ was the first response to my ad – from Budapest GAA. I spread the word around the pubs, and we got around 15 people out for our first kick-about.
We launched the GAA in Austria with an Irish Cultural Festival event in the Hohe Warte stadium on June 27th 2004, with Cumann Céilí Vin dancers, a kids’ programme, whiskey tasting, a hurling demonstration, and the Roadie Rowdy Piper Band.
Some slightly over-sized kits were procured from abroad, the squad grew larger every week, and here we are 20 years later, still going strong.
Irish-Swedish via Co. Offaly
Axelina Heagney – Club Chairperson 2024
"I grew up outside Birr, Co. Offaly, playing camogie with my local club, Drumcullen GAA, until I was 14. I landed here in Vienna many years later, where I was introduced to the Vienna Gaels and reintroduced to Gaelic football. While I’m still far from proficient -anyone who’s had the misfortune of marking me on the pitch can attest to that - it reignited my connection to Gaelic Games, and to the Irish community in Vienna.
As Chairperson of the Vienna Gaels, it’s been an incredible experience to witness not just the growth of Gaelic football, but also hurling, camogie, and handball. Our Club’s diversity is one of its greatest strengths, bringing together Irish expats, locals, and international members. The rise in female membership, particularly in camogie and ladies’ Gaelic football, has been especially rewarding.
From social events to cultural celebrations, the club offers a home for anyone looking to connect, grow, and share in the spirit of Gaelic games."
From New York via Co. Monaghan
Desmond Reilly – Founding member and referee
"After my New Yorker father retired, the whole family headed off to the wee hills of my mother's native Monaghan, which is where my love of Gaelic games was nurtured at five years of age. The culmination of my GAA career resulted in a Junior All Ireland with the Monaghan Hurlers in 1997.
Later my engineering career took me on assignment to Vienna and I have not looked back since.
From the very first challenge game that was played in Hohe Warte stadium against a vastly more organised Budapest team, the club has grown from strength to strength.
One of my ultimate goals would be to see a Vienna Gaels team made up mostly of local home-grown talent competing with other clubs in Europe at the highest level. I don’t see a reason why that couldn’t happen while at the same time continuing to be a social hub for the ex-pat dispora that come to Vienna."
From Vicenza, Italy
Elisa Cola – Committee Member and Former Chair
“I don't have any connection with Ireland, apart from being a member of the Vienna Gaels. I had never even heard about Irish sport before joining the club, but I've been a Club committee member since 2019 and even Chairperson in 2022!
When I decided to move to Vienna, I ended up joining the Vienna Gaels quite randomly, thinking it was a regular soccer club… but I'm really glad I did it! I think finding such a lovely and lively community such as the Vienna Gaels is really important as an expat.
Our club is very international and it is amazing to see so many people from different nationalities coming together.
I'm currently the football officer of the Vienna Gaels and ranked number 42 in Europe for handball. I'm really proud of that. It's such a fun and dynamic environment and I'm so happy and proud to be part of it.”
From Groß-Enzersdorf, Lower Austria
Fritzi Vogler - Committee member 2024
"I don’t have any family connections to Ireland … unless you count exes. I spent almost five years in Dublin for work and love, where I joined my local GAA Club, St Vincent's in Marino and then later Kilmacud Crokes in Stillorgan to make new friends in my neighbourhood. I played with their "Mothers and Others" (G4M) teams, which are very welcoming to all ages and skill levels.
I left Ireland in early 2023 and on the boat back to Austria, I realised how much I would miss being part of a team and playing sports together. I googled "GAA Vienna", and joined the Gaels' training in Prater a few days later. I was drafted into my first tournament in Schwechat within a few weeks and became a member of the club committee in 2024.
I particularly enjoy having an excuse to travel and going to international tournaments with the ladies' team, and also still feeling connected to Ireland here in Vienna.”
Check out the club’s website to learn more about their history and to find out how you can become a member.
You can also keep up to date with all of the news from the Gaels on their social media channels by following them here on X: @ViennaGaelsGAA or you can join their group on Facebook.