Moataz Sarsour Club Officials:

• Sean Flynn
  • Call: ‪+44 7906 263538
• Michael Murphy | Twinning officer from Roanmore Club, Co. Waterford.
  • Call: +353 872 359 174
• Ahmed Salem | Team Captain

Moataz Sarsour Club Background:

Palestine’s struggle against settler colonialism resonates deeply with many Irish people at home and abroad. Almost certainly, this sense of shared history has become more urgent and more acute over the past two years (and counting) since Occupation forces unleashed what the world’s foremost legal authorities are finally calling out as a genocide.

It is against this backdrop in January 2024 that Stephen Redmond went to the West Bank with the sole intention of doing anything he could to help the beleagured community. It was while there that he hit upon the idea of bringing Gaelic Games to the children of Al Amari Refugee Camp.

Under the initial workman-like moniker of ‘The Ramallah Hurling Club’, Stephen established the club with the help of Shaher Haroun and others, including 19 year old, Moataz Sarsour and Shaher’s son Maher. Soon after the formation, Maher was arrested, and has been held in prison since August 2024.

Tragically, around the same time, young Moataz was shot by Occupation Forces on 13th August 2024 and later pronounced dead by doctors at the Palestinian Medical Complex.

From modest beginnings with an initial £1,960 fundraising for equipment, the club has gone on to forge relationships with numerous other groups including Sports for Palestine as well currently closing in on official recognition by the GAA World Council. Once recognised, it is envisaged that the club will be the vanguard of a Palestine-wide GAA club network with a county board structure. Reflecting a traditon typical of the GAA around the world; where clubs are named for those who have given their all for their communities, Ramallah Hurling Club became the Moataz Sarsour GAA Club, in honour of Moataz.

Looking to the future: we envisage fostering the twinning relationship the club is building with the Roanmore Club in Waterford as a key component in both supporting the club’s GAA ethos as well as raising consciousness at home. It is also our ambition to further empower the local community through an expansion of foundation coaching opportunities for Palestinian volunteers, and we would also envision them going on to complete further coaching badges.

Other programmes consolidating the club’s outreach would include Well-Being, Counselling and First Aid Trauma training.

Visit this link to read about the crest and kit development for the club.