Skip to main content

GAA Membership and Registration

 

KEY INFORMATION 

 

Key Rules to Remember for GAA Members and Club Officers

You can find the GAA's membership and registration rules in the GAA Official Guide Part 1 and the GAA Codes, available at: https://www.gaa.ie/the-gaa/rules-regulations. Here's a simplified summary of key rules for members and Club Officers, but always refer to the Official Guide for the full range of rules and the exact wording:



1. Membership Year and Rights 

  • The GAA's Membership Year runs from 1st April to 31st March each year.  
  • Full Members must pay their annual Club membership by March 31st (or an earlier date set by the Club Executive Committee) to vote at Club meetings and nominate people for or seek election to the Executive Committee at any General Meeting in the same membership year. 
  • Member rights are contingent upon adhering to the rules of the Club and Association, including the payment of membership fees.

 

2. Annual Registration of Members

  • The Club Registrar must ensure that all Full and Youth Members are registered on Foireann by 31 March annually. 
  • Clubs must pay Central Council an annual fee of €2 per Full Member. Each County will communicate the payment timeline and process each spring.

 

3. Annual Registration of Players

  • The Club Registrar must ensure that the Club's Adult, Under 21/20, Minor, and Juvenile (all grades) players are registered annually on Foireann before training or games. 
  • Players must be registered at least three days before a game.

 

4. Use of Third-Party Platforms

  • While Clubs may choose to use third-party membership platforms, each Club Registrar must ensure that members - including players - are registered on Foireann to comply with membership rules and injury fund cover requirements.
  • Please be aware that when someone adds a Club to their Foireann profile, they will show up on the Club's Foireann Members List as a 'New Member' which means the Club Registrar has not yet verified them as a member. This allows Clubs time to have each new member proposed and seconded as member at a Club Executive meeting in line with the Club Constitution.
  • Once approved by the Executive, each Club Registrar can then choose to verify new members on Foireann, a step that will only need to be done once per member, following the steps outlined in the Foireann help centre: Verifying Members, or leave them unverified.
  • Verified members are only deemed ‘registered’ once they register themselves on Foireann or are registered manually by the Club Registrar. This process needs to happen annually.
  • Only a member who is verified and registered will have a Membership ID, so if no ID is visible on Foireann, they are either unverified or unregistered.  

 

Foireann Help

 

Help Centre: Your first resource to find information about Foireann. Every functionality is documented with written instructions, annotated screenshots, and guided video walkthroughs. Access here 

 

Webinars: The Foireann webinars give Officers step-by-step demonstrations and Q&A sessions. The full list of webinars is available HERE

 

Foireann Help Desk: If you can't get the information you need on the Help Centre, or via a webinar, then the Help Desk is your next option. You can now contact the Help desk via three channels:  

 

  • Email: https://www.foireann.ie/contact-form 
  • Desktop/Mobile App: Use the Contact Form for quicker responses. 
  • Foireann Community Forum: Available via the in-app help portal, allowing users to share knowledge and discuss new features.  

 

Non Foireann Support

 

For Non-Foireann related queries i.e. Official Email Accounts, Tobar etc please see the following contact details: 

 

 

Latest Update

The Servasport Games Management System is being replaced with a new system called Foireann (which is the Irish word for Team). This new system brings better functionality for both Clubs and their members including Online Membership subscriptions, on-line payments, streamlined communications, team management, event management, Health Questionnaires and attendance recording.   

As Foireann is a new system, significant support materials have been prepared and are available HERE

Included are documents describing how to complete all of the main tasks, with screenshots as appropriate. There are also a large number of videos which run through the tasks also and some of the most important videos are highlighted below.

 

Foireann Support Tutorial Videos
TopicDescriptionLink
Accessing FoireannThis video describes how to create an online account on Foireann, how to update your profile (name, contact details etc) and how to select the club(s) that you are a member of or otherwise involved withClick here to watch the video
Finding your way aroundThis video gives a brief overview of the main functionality within Foireann and how to navigate the systemClick here to watch the video
Club AdministratorsAn overview of the administrator role on the system is given in this video which also explains how to add additional administrators, how to check who the existing administrator(s) are and to remove admin access if relevantClick here to watch the video
Setting up Online PaymentsThe steps required for clubs to receive on-line payments through Foireann, including setting up a Stripe account, are described in this video.Click here to watch the video
Membership OptionsThis video describes how to configure the specific Membership options (or plans) that are available to your club’s members when registering.  These are the options that will be available to Members if buying on-line and registrars when completing the process manuallyClick here to watch the video
Members ListThis video gives an overview of the functionality available to review your Club's list of members and how to add additional membersClick here to watch the video
Verifying & Registering MembersAn overview of how to verify (confirm that online applications are from bone fide Club members) and registering members is given in this video.  Specific details on how to process registrations for LGFA and Camogie Association members is also includedClick here to watch the video
Managing TeamsThis video gives an overview of how Clubs, and coaches, can use the Teams functionality in Foireann to schedule training sessions, receive responses from players / guardians, verify that Health Questionnaires have been completed (when relevant) and record attendanceClick here to watch the video
Viewing & Responding to an Event InvitationThis video gives an overview of how players / guardians interact with Teams on Foireann and how they view upcoming events (training /matches etc), confirm attendance at training, submit Health Questionnaires (when relevant)Click here to watch the video

All of the above Videos are available on the Foireann support website (available here) where they can be found in the Videos section.

 

One Clubs

One significant change in Foireann is the ability for GAA Clubs who work closely with their LGFA and Camogie counterparts to operate as One Club on the system.  This makes membership and administrative tasks less onerous and all membership registrations can be completed from one place, rather than from three separate systems.  If you wish to operate as ‘One Club‘ on Foireann then you must email gmssupport@gaa.ie from one of the official Club Email addresses and request that this happens (the three (or two) separate instances on your clubs will be merged into one with a single list of members).  You will then be able to accept membership subscriptions for all Associations and register all members with their relevant governing body in one easy process.  Additional information on the One Club Model can be found here.

 

Duplicates

Foireann is a new system that has been implemented using components of the Returntoplay system, used during 2020 for processing Health Questionnaires, and the legacy Games Management System (Servasport) that was previously used for Registrations.  Data from both systems is available on Foireann meaning that Membership history (going back to 2009) is available from the old Games Management System and the ability to access the system is in place for anyone who previously submitted a Health Questionnaire on the Returntoplay system.  For clubs registrars and administrators, the above process will result in duplicate entries for some members being present in the Foireann system – one record relating to their old Membership record and one relating to their Returntoplay account.  At the moment, it is necessary to maintain both records on Foireann and in the coming months, once the Membership Registration period has passed, it will be possible to merge the records or delete them as relevant.  The Foireann Support team will advise further on the process for this when appropriate to do.

 

Bulk processing

If your club has an existing process for collecting Membership subscriptions that you wish to maintain then this is facilitated but Foireann will still need to be used to Register members with their relevant Associations (GAA / LGFA / Camogie).  Without completing the registration steps, members may be ineligible to play or fulfil a role on the Club committee and may not be covered by Injury Fund / insurance or eligible to vote at the Club AGM (Note eligibility etc varies depending on the Association and relevant Official Rules). 

It was possible in the legacy Games Management System to import member information from files through a bulk upload process.  This process will be supported in Foireann also, however, the functionality is not yet available.  It will be in place as soon as possible and well in advance of any registration deadlines.