<P> While Gaelic football as it is known today dates back to the late 19th century, various kinds of football were played in Ireland before this time . The first legal reference to football in Ireland was in 1308, when John McCrocan, a spectator at a football game at Novum Castrum de Leuan (the New Castle of the Lyons or Newcastle) was charged with accidentally stabbing a player named William Bernard . A field near Newcastle, South Dublin is still known as the football field . The Statute of Galway of 1527 allowed the playing of "foot balle" and archery but banned "' hokie'--the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves" as well as other sports . </P> <P> By the 17th century, the situation had changed considerably . The games had grown in popularity and were widely played . This was due to the patronage of the gentry . Now instead of opposing the games it was the gentry and the ruling class who were serving as patrons of the games . Games were organised between landlords with each team comprising 20 or more tenants . Wagers were commonplace with purses of up to 100 guineas (Prior, 1997). </P> <P> The earliest record of a recognised precursor to the modern game date from a match in County Meath in 1670, in which catching and kicking the ball was permitted . </P> <P> However even "foot - ball" was banned by the severe Sunday Observance Act of 1695, which imposed a fine of one shilling (a substantial amount at the time) for those caught playing sports . It proved difficult, if not impossible, for the authorities to enforce the Act and the earliest recorded inter-county match in Ireland was one between Louth and Meath, at Slane, in 1712, about which the poet James Dall McCuairt wrote a poem of 88 verses beginning "Ba haigeanta". </P>

When was the first gaelic football match played