Athlone GAA is the Gaelic football

Gaelic football

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

 club in the town of Athlone in County Westmeath

County Westmeath

-Economy:Westmeath has a strong agricultural economy. Initially, development occurred around the major market centres of Mullingar, Moate, and Kinnegad. Athlone developed due to its military significance, and its strategic location on the main Dublin–Galway route across the River Shannon. Mullingar...

, Republic of Ireland

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

. The local Hurling

Hurling

Hurling is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic origin, administered by the Gaelic Athletic Association, and played with sticks called hurleys and a ball called a sliotar. Hurling is the national game of Ireland. The game has prehistoric origins, has been played for at least 3,000 years, and...

 club is called Southern Gaels.

Athlone are the most successful club in Gaelic Football in Westmeath

Westmeath GAA

The Westmeath County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association or Westmeath GAA is one of the 32 county boards of the GAA in Ireland, and is responsible for Gaelic games in County Westmeath...

.

Club history

The club was founded in 1885 by Irish National League members, bringing GAA to Athlone. Athlone GAA are Westmeath's most successful club with 20 Senior titles, the last of which was 1998. They achieved an unprecedented 6 in a row between 1955 and 1960. 2011 represents their fifth time to qualify for Feile Peil na nOg following on the heels of last year's appearance in Derry. The club is home to Westmeath's first footballing All-Star Rory O'Connell.

Club infrastructure

The club caters for both football and hurling with the hurlers playing under the Southern Gaels banner. The club have two full size floodlit pitches with a third pitch currently being developed. The Athlone GAA also has its own bar and ballroom and is used by various local groups (Tae Kwon Do, Irish traditional music, Line Dancing

Line dance

A line dance is a choreographed dance with a repeated sequence of steps in which a group of people dance in one or more lines or rows without regard for the gender of the individuals, all facing the same direction, and executing the steps at the same time. Line dancers are not in physical contact...

, ...).

Senior Championships

1905, 1929 (Army) 1947, 1949, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1965, 1971, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1998.

Proposed US tour and legal dispute

Following Athlone GAA's winning of the Westmeath County Championship in 1984, it was decided to send the team to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1985. More than £11,000 was collected quickly and put on a bank account set up for the occasion. A dispute over control of the trip's finances between executive committee members and the tour committee led to a lengthy legal dispute. In 1994, the case went to the Supreme Court of Ireland and was still ongoing in 2001.