County colours (Gaelic games)

Flags with counties' colours and coats of arms flying in the Upper Yard at Dublin Castle

In the latter half of the 20th century, the county councils of most counties designed coats of arms for registration with the Chief Herald of Ireland. Before then, the arms of the county town often served as arms for the county. The council arms often include the county colours established by the GAA team; examples include Clare[5] and Laois.[6]

There are no official county flags; flags with the GAA county colours serve as de facto county flags. There are no standardised formats for these, except Kildare whose flag, like their kit, is all-white. Typically, flags are formed as vertical bicolours or tricolours, with the major colour nearest the hoist. Horizontal stripes are also found. This is common in County Offaly, where vertical county colours might be mistaken for the flag of Ireland; however other Offaly fans deliberately exploit this double significance. Flags with checkerboard, repeating stripes, and other patterns are also found. Flags have been commercially produced which add the county arms to the colours, sometimes augmented with the county name in English or Irish. Such flags have been flown by the government of Ireland in the Upper Yard at Dublin Castle.[7] County jerseys formerly often included the county crest, but since the 1980s county boards have developed their own logos; most were originally based on the official county arms, but some have since been replaced with unrelated designs. Flags with these logos added to the county colours are sold by or under licence from the county board.

Fans may also wave other flags of the appropriate colours. For example, among the red-and-white flags used by individual Cork supporters have been the flag of Canada and the ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy.[8] Blue-and-gold flags used by Tipperary supporters have included the national flags of Sweden and of Ukraine; Mayo fans have flown the green and red of Italy, Portugal and Bangladesh. Kerry supporters may wave the flag of Brazil both for its matching colours and to compare Kerry's continual success in Gaelic football to the Brazil national team's in soccer.

County nicknames interact with county colours. Wexford's colours reflect the pre-existing nickname "the Yellowbellies", while Kildare's give rise to its nickname "the Lilywhites". As Cork is nicknamed the "Rebel County", its fans have also flown the Confederate battle flag; the county board banned this in 2020 in response to the George Floyd protests.[8]

The GAA Interprovincial Championship had a high profile in the mid 20th century. The provincial teams' colours are seldom used as flags in the manner of county colours; instead the pre-existing provincial arms are used as banners.

Colours of GAA provinces

Province	Banner of arms	GAA colours
Connacht			White
Leinster			Green and White
Munster			Blue and Navy
Ulster			Gold and Black

There are boards for areas of the Irish diaspora treated as counties within the GAA system. Those in Great Britain come under the British Provincial Board.

Colours of GAA counties outside Ireland

Flag	County	Colours	Notes
	Gloucestershire	Gold and Green
	Hertfordshire	Green and Yellow
	Lancashire	Blue and Yellow
	London	Green and White
	Scotland	Purple and White
	Warwickshire	Black and White
	Yorkshire	Blue and White
	New York	Red, White and Blue	Covers the New York metropolitan area. Colours of the Flag of New York City in reverse order.
	North America	Red, Blue and White	Country Board of the United States and Canada excluding New York
	Australasia	Green and Gold	Country board of Australia and New Zealand.

• List of Irish counties' coats of arms. These are the coats of arms of the county councils; the GAA counties have separate crests, often based on the county council's.