One night a year the pitch belongs to the families — mams marking sons, dads caught in nutmegs, and a club that feels like itself again by full time.
Bring Your Grown-Up
- Gaelic football
- All ages
- 60 min
- 15–40 family pairs
- 3 coaches
- Effort 2/5
- Half pitch
- family night
- club community
- fun games
- all ages
Kit: 20 footballs (mixed sizes), 40 cones, 20 bibs, a whistle, spot prizes from the local shop
The Name Train
Setup: Family pairs (one child, one grown-up — a granny, an auntie or a big cousin counts) spread around a 30×30m square. One ball between each pair.
How it works: Pairs jog the square hand-passing between themselves. On COUPLE UP, each pair joins another pair, everyone swaps names — the adults must learn the other child's name, the kids the other adult's — then the four move together passing one ball. On ALL ABOARD, fours join fours. By the end the whole square is two or three long trains passing down the line while jogging, and half the parish knows each other again. Coach keeps it moving and keeps it daft: add a choo-choo, nobody is above it tonight.
What to say
- “Adults pass to the small hands soft and low.”
- “Say the name before you pass — that's the whole game.”
- “Kids set the pace, grown-ups match it.”
Easier
Walking pace, rolled balls for the smallest kids.
Harder
Trains must keep two balls moving at once without a drop.
Family Gates
Setup: Ten cone gates scattered across the square, each pair with their ball.
How it works: Sixty seconds: pairs score by completing a hand-pass through a gate — adult one side, child the other, catch it clean. Every gate is worth 1, but a child's catch is worth 2, so the smart adults do the passing. Count out loud, rest, swap the pattern: now the child passes and the adult must catch everything one-handed. Final round is the Gate Grand Prix — pairs hold hands and run gates together, ball carried by the child, both feet of both people through the gate or it doesn't count. Prizes counted in laughs, plus one spot prize for the loudest counting pair.
What to say
- “Adults: bend those knees, get down to their height.”
- “Call the gate, then go — no wandering.”
- “Two counts it if the small one catches.”
Easier
Rolled passes through the gates; toddlers can carry it through instead.
Harder
No two gates in a row the same; adults weak-hand only.
Crossbar & Chaos
Setup: Three corners of the half in use: the goal for Crossbar Challenge, a cone-square for Keeper Wars, a line of tall cones for Family Skittles. Families drift between corners as they like — no rotations tonight, just helpers at each corner keeping it flowing.
How it works: Crossbar Challenge: kids kick from the 13m line, adults from the 20 — hit the bar and the whole pitch stops to cheer. Keeper Wars: the grown-up goes in a cone goal, their own child gets three shots; roles reverse and the child keeps goal while the adult must shoot sitting down. Family Skittles: pairs get three balls to knock a line of tall cones from wherever the helper judges fair for the smallest thrower. Helpers hand out spot prizes for a crossbar strike, a great save and a full skittle strike.
What to say
- “Adults miss with style — the theatre matters more than the score.”
- “Every child keeps goal at least once against their own grown-up.”
- “Helpers: move families toward the empty corner.”
Easier
Crossbar becomes hit-the-net for the small kids; skittles from three steps away.
Harder
Crossbar with the weak foot; adults save Keeper Wars shots with one hand behind the back.
The Big Match
Setup: One wide pitch across the half, gate goals, everyone playing — split into two big mixed teams with families kept together. Bibs on one side. A coach referees with the good whistle.
How it works: Gaelic-ish rules, family edition: kids play everything as normal; adults may not solo, may not score without a child's pass in the move, and defend at a shuffle. A child's score is worth 3, an adult's worth 1, and any score where three different families touch the ball gets a bonus roar and 2 extra. Referee invents frees freely for drama. Play to the final whistle, not a score — about twelve minutes — then one golden-goal minute where only kids can score and every adult must be in the other half.
What to say
- “Adults make the pass that makes a child the hero.”
- “Spread the families — three-family moves win it.”
- “Referee: theatrical, generous, loud.”
Easier
No bibs, one ball, everyone attacks the same goal and the keeper is a coach.
Harder
Add a second ball for the last two minutes — pure chaos, maximum stories.
Team Photo Stretch
Setup: Everyone into the centre circle, kids sitting in front, adults behind, one helper on phone-camera duty.
How it works: Gentle copy-me stretches, kids leading from the front — the adults obey whatever stretch the smallest child invents. Club welcome from whoever runs the nursery section: training times, how to sign up, who to text. Then the full team photo, three cheers for the families, and point everyone at the tea and biscuits.
What to say
- “Kids invent the stretch, adults commit to it fully.”
- “Keep the welcome to one minute — the biscuits are the real recruiter.”
- “Photo first, tea second — nobody escapes the photo.”
Ask the players: On the walk to the tea: ask your grown-up their favourite bit of the night, and tell them yours. The answers walking off the pitch are why this night exists.
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