Teams from 18 countries battle for titles at Asian Gaelic Games

It's a typical Shanghai autumn evening, warm but not oppressively so, a little overcast but the rain has held off. Against this eastern Chinese backdrop, 1,500 people have gathered in Shanghai's Pudong district to celebrate Irish sports at the Fexco Asian GAA Games.

The shirts many are wearing look like county jerseys until you see they are actually representing some of the big cities in Asia, a total of 65 teams from 20 clubs across 18 countries. What began in 1996 as a gathering of 72 GAA fans in Manila is now the largest gathering of the Irish community in Asia and the Gulf, and one of the GAA's showpiece events outside of Ireland.

The headline event has always been the Derek Brady title, the men's senior competition and is named after a young co-founder of the Asian Games who died in Taiwan. This year, Singapore Gaelic Lions beat the Seoul Gaels 0-9 to 0-3 to defend their title.

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What is remarkable however, is the rise of the women’s game, and how many of the women taking part are now locals from the cities. GAA is seen as aerobically beneficial, it’s a hands and feet game, and you don’t have to be 180 centimetres tall to do well.

One of the most popular celebrities attending the event was Mayo football star Cora Staunton, who many of the players described as an inspiration.

She was “auctioned” as coach alongside former Tipperary hurling star (won by Shanghai) and 2001 All-Ireland winning manager Nicky English.

There was an emotional moment when Abu Dhabi won the inaugural Lisa Orsi cup, the women's senior cup. This was dedicated to a young Derry physiotherapist who played in last year's finals, but who died tragically earlier this year of extreme altitude illness after trekking in Indonesia.

The Games are taking on a more local flavour, according to Paraic McGrath, vice-chairperson of the Asian County Board, who has been a key figure in expanding the games to their current position.

“There’s been an explosion of women playing GAA, and there are less than Irish than before, with lots of Japanese and Koreans and people from all over,” says McGrath, who was recently named Development Director for the Irish building materials group CRH in SE Asia.

"This year there was someone from Iran playing for Queens, a 48-year-old woman who said that playing GAA has changed her life. It's revolutionary. The game is truly international now and I like to think that the GAA will embrace that aspect too."

This was particularly evident with the Japanese team, which had strong Japanese elements, and as Team A captain Miki points out: “We only have 35 players in the whole team, and yet everybody is very tight. It’s great to be here.”

Over the years, hurling has taken on a new role - and English says the standard is improving rapidly. In this year's competition, Hong Kong beat Singapore.

“Back in 2004 things were very last minute, now it’s a much more prestigious event. Since 2007 you’ve had the Asia Pacific Ireland Business Forum running in tandem, and that has added to the event’s appeal,” says McGrath.

Chris Walshe from Crossmolina in Mayo, lives in Taiwan where he works on business development in a Chinese company.

“I came on holidays here in 2010, made some friends so I went back and studied as a mature student in DIT. I’d heard really good things about Taiwan and as you know yourself, once you go there, you’re done,” he says.

“I never played GAA at home, but I heard that there was a group here and I went down and loved it. It almost makes you fall in love with the sport, the people. When you’re on the pitch it’s taken very seriously, and even though we’ve no affiliation with these places like Shanghai or Taiwan, when you’re on the pitch, I really feel like I’m representing Taiwan. When I was leaving my class on Friday I really felt like I was representing Taiwan.”

Ciaran Griffin from Glanmire in Cork is working in Shanghai.

"I came to China quite a few years ago to study, came back to study Chinese and now I'm working in an international school. What piqued my interest was very very easy -- my friend said did I want to go to China, and I said yes. I finished college, had done my degree at UCC, was 21 or 22, my friend looked online and found a job," he says.

Originally Griffin was supposed to work in Changsha, in Hunan province.

“We turned up at Changsha airport and there were girls waiting there with flowers, full on. We came out of the airport, there was a sign to Changsha, and the guy said if I told you where we going you wouldn’t have come. We ended up in a little town called Luyang, best known for making fireworks. I was sold.

“The Asian Games are great because they connect you with people. It gives you a sense of home. I have friends in Dubai and to get the opportunity to go on holiday with them and to play against them, it is the best. It’s a wonderful, wonderful thing for Irish people across Asia to come together. Irish people like to come together and hang out,” Griffin says.

McGrath says that in some ways it reminded him of the Irish tradition of meitheal, which he learned about growing up in Mayo, where people in rural communities would combine their resources to help each other.

“Now you see that in Saigon and Singapore, and Japanese women are learning about it.”