Did You Know About This Other Albany Football Team?

(photo courtesy of @AlbanyRebels on Twitter)

You may know about the Albany Empire of the Arena Football League. You likely know about the Albany Great Danes, playing in college football's FCS level. For some diehard football fans, you may know about the local Division 3 football programs including Union and RPI. However, did you know there is another football team in the area, called the Albany Rebels?

The Rebels play as members of the Gaelic Football Club. According to their webiste, Gaelic football is

Gaelic football, commonly referred to as football or Gaelic, is an Irish team sport. It combines the skills and properties of soccer, rugby and basketball. It is played between two teams of 15 players (13 in the US) on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score points by scoring the ball through the other team's goal (3 points) or over the crossbar between two upright posts (1 point).

Players advance the football, a spherical leather ball similar to a soccer ball, up the field with a combination of carrying, bouncing, kicking, hand-passing and soloing (dropping the ball and then toe-kicking the ball upward into the hands).

Positions in Gaelic football are similar to that in other football codes, and comprise one goalkeeper, six backs, two midfielders, and six forwards, with a variable number of substitutes.

Gaelic football is one of four sports (collectively referred to as the "Gaelic games") controlled by the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), the largest sporting organisation in Ireland. Along with hurling and camogie, Gaelic football is one of the few remaining strictly amateur sports in the world, with players, coaches and managers prohibited from receiving any form of payment. Gaelic football is mainly played on the island of Ireland, although units of the Association exist in other areas such as Great Britain and North America.

The team plays against oppentents across the Northeast including: NYPD, FDNY, Hartford CT, Syracuse, Buffalo, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, etc. To learn more about the Albany Rebels visit their website, https://www.albanyrebels.com/