Gaelic football keeps expats sane in Shanghai

It took a move to ultramodern Shanghai to get Maria Gelsinen playing Ireland's ancient sport.

Never much of an enthusiast back home, Dublin-born Gelsinen found herself taking the field as vice captain of Gaelic football's Shanghai Sirens women's team in last weekend's Asian Gaelic Games.

"You need something out here for your sanity. Shanghai can be kind of stressful," the 27-year-old marketing manager at a property company said.

Gelsinen's experience illustrates the powerful hold Gaelic football has on the Irish imagination at home and, increasingly, abroad.

While expatriate communities have always had their softball leagues and tennis clubs, the passion and organizational effort surrounding Gaelic football abroad is striking given both the size of the community -- just a few hundred in China -- and for the sport's relative obscurity overseas.

That's also testimony to the strength and international scope of the Irish economy, the so-called "Celtic Tiger," which has spread Irish high-tech, food and services to companies throughout Asia. Strong Irish government and business support helps defer costs for tournaments such as Shanghai's while offering companies an opportunity to push the Irish brand.

"Gaelic football has 250,000 players at home and now we're promoting it heavily abroad," said Michael Bowens, captain of the Shanghai Saints men's team and a player since age 10.

"Asia is definitely the fastest growing region now," the 25-year-old IT professional added.

Resembling a cross between soccer, rugby and basketball, Gaelic football is 500 years old and as much a part of the Irish identity as Yeats' poetry and St. Patrick's Day celebrations.

Players on teams of 15 kick, bounce and throw a round ball slightly smaller than that used in soccer down a soccer-sized field. Points are scored by either kicking the ball into the goal or between the crossbars above it, with strategy, speed and stamina all key.

Competitive play in Asia began a decade ago under the leadership of transplanted Irish in Taiwan. Tournaments have since been held all over the region, with 10 teams from as far away as Dubai and Japan joining in this year's competition, which also featured hurling, an Irish sport similar to hockey.

Sunday's finals at a British school on Shanghai's outskirts were attended by several hundred shouting, cheering and Guinness Stout-sipping athletes and supporters. The presence of a Chinese People's Liberation Army marching band was one of the few reminders that the venue was in eastern China, not the Dublin suburbs.

"The Gaelic Games are a symbol of everything that is good about Ireland, our culture and people," said Irish Foreign Minister Noel Treacy, who was in Shanghai for Sunday's finals.

"They're a symbol of our little country's uniqueness and dynamism," he said.