Rounders.world – Eirball's GAA and World Rounders Statistics Archive

Rounders.world – Eirball’s GAA and World Rounders & Old World Baseball Archive

Rounders is an Irish and British version of Softball and Baseball, and thought to be the ancestor of both. It was first codified in Ireland as part of the Original GAA Charter of 1884, but not organised until 1958. It is a Bat and Ball (also known as Safe Haven) sport whereby the batter attempts to hit a ball thrown at him or her by a pitcher or bowler and then attempts to run around the bases back home.

The sport is also played in Britain, Australia and the Indian sub-continent. Closely-related versions of the sport are played in Wales and Merseyside (Welsh Baseball, also known as British Baseball), throughout Europe under various different names from Sweden (Brännboll) to Romania. A Major variation of Rounders (or for that matter Baseball and Softball, for the sports are all closely related), is played in Finland where Pesäpallo as it is called is the National Sport.

GAA Rounders

Rounders is an Irish and British version of Softball and Baseball, and thought to be the ancestor of both. It was first codified in Ireland as part of the Original GAA Charter of 1884, but not organised until 1958. It is a Bat and Ball (also known as Safe Haven) sport whereby the batter attempts to hit a ball thrown at him or her by a pitcher or bowler and then attempts to run around the bases back home.

GAA Rounders All Ireland Senior Ladies Championships

GAA Rounders All Ireland Senior Men’s Championships

GAA Rounders All Ireland Senior Mixed Championships

GAA Rounders All Ireland Minor Championships

GAA Rounders Feile

Community Games Rounders

Community Games is an organisation in Ireland which runs sports and other events for children and youths on a community basis. Following parish and community competitions winning participants compete at County, and then National level.

World Rounders

Rounders was first codified by the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland and included in the first GAA Charter in 1884. It is also played in England, Wales and Australia and the GAA held its first Alpen Cup in Italy in 2017 between two GAA clubs in Italy & Switzerland and a local Softball Club.

GAA Rounders World

The GAA held its first Alpen Cup in Italy in 2017 between two GAA clubs in Italy & Switzerland and a local Softball Club.

Roundrers Home Internationals

British Rounders

British Rounders is a version of Rounders, first codified in the Original GAA Charter of 1884. It is also similar to the American Sports of Softball and Baseball.

Australian Rounders

Rounders is a bat and ball game involving two teams, each of which take turns batting and fielding. When a team is fielding a ‘Pitcher’ or ‘Bowler’ pitches (throws) the ball at the batter. The batter must strike the ball with his bat and run around the four bases back to home plate where he or she struck the ball, without being caught or run out. This is called a ‘Run’ (point). After a predetermined number of Batters is out, the Batting team and fielding team switch places. This is called an ‘Innings’. After a preset number of Innings the team with most runs is declared the winner. The game was possibly first played in England in the 1500s and was first codified by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in Ireland in 1884. Reference: [5]¹

In Australia it is primarily played in Schools.

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Welsh (British) Baseball

Welsh Baseball is a version of Rounders played primarily in South Wales, and also in Liverpool, where it is known as English Baseball. It is like a cross between Baseball, Rounders and Cricket. During the latter half of the 19th Century, the famous A.G. Spalding of Major League Baseball fame organised a Baseball Tour of England and Ireland, and in the process played a number of games against English and Welsh Rounders teams, who adopted some of the rules (such as tagging a playerout with the ball and two-handed batting). It kept the poles rather than flat bases and left the diamond in an irregular shape with all four sides unequal in length. Welsh Baseball also has a bat more like a Cricket Bat than a Baseball Bat, and it tapers towards the handle. According to sources in referenced in the articles below, Irish immigrants to Liverpool and South Wales were numerous among the Working Classes playing the game in the 20th Century. It is still played in South Wales and Liverpool but is now mostly a Children’s and Teenagers Game.

Welsh Ladies Baseball Union

Welsh Baseball Union

Scandinavian Baseball

Scandinavian Baseball (Pesäpallo, Brännboll) are Baseball games that are closer to Rounders than the Modern American Sport, and although Pesapallo (Finland’s National Sport) has been modernised a great deal, the other Scandinavian versions of the sport (e.g. Brännboll) are very much still traditional sports like Rounders and would undoubtedly have the same roots.

Finnish Pesäpallo

Pesäpallo is the Finnish version of Baseball and is their National Sport. It has an unusual form of pitching and players run zig-zags through bases. There is a game played on their National Holiday every year at the Finnish Embassy in Ireland.

Here is a Video of the sport from the New York Times, as shared by the Irish-Finnish Society on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/IrishFinnishSociety/posts/1326676680678956 [Accessed 27 June 2019]

Swedish Brännboll

Brännboll is a traditional Swedish game similar to Baseball and Rounders. The Brännboll Cup, sometimes known as Brännboll World Cup is held every year at the Brännbollsryan Music Festival at Umea, the largest Music Fesitival in Northern Sweden.