The Taiwan Celts Gaelic football club celebrated its 25th anniversary yesterday with the Derek Brady Memorial Cup tournament in New Taipei City’s Yonghe District.
More than 100 people participated in men’s and ladies’ tournaments in light rain on St Patrick’s Day.
The club was started by a group of Irish university graduates in 1995 based on “a sense of adventure in their new home and a sense of pride in the culture of the one left behind,” the club said.
Photo courtesy of Sean Carless / The Taiwan Celts
It was the first Gaelic football club in Asia, starting with pick-up games at parks in Taipei before reaching out to other expat groups across Asia. A year later, the first Asian finals were held in Manila.
Today, the annual Asian Gaelic Games is the largest gathering of the Irish community in Asia, with more than 900 players representing 70 teams competing in last year’s event in Kuala Lumpur.
The Derek Brady Cup honors a cofounder of the Taiwan Celts, who lost his life in Taipei in 1996, the same year he helped bring about the first tournament.
Brady’s “spark of inspiration lit the fuse for the success of the Gaelic Games in Asia, and his flame continues to burn bright in Taipei to this day,” the club said.
“The club has acted as a home away from home for expats not only from Ireland, but countries around the globe, as well as many local Taiwanese,” it said.
“We happily welcome new members of all levels, ages, backgrounds and nationalities to join our family,” said the club, which has the motto: “Ni neart go chur le cheile” (“There is no strength without unity”).
The Celts have weekly training sessions on Tuesdays from 7:30pm to 9pm at Zonghe Sports Park near the Cailiao MRT Station in New Taipei City’s Sanchong District and on Saturdays from 10am to 12pm at the Bailing Right Bank Rugby Fields near Jiantan MRT in Taipei’s Shilin District.
For more information, e-mail taiwancelts@gmail.com or visit www.facebook.com/TaiwanCeltsGAA.
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
New Zealand yesterday reached 231-9 at stumps on a first day of the first Test against the West Indies shortened by rain after Justin Greaves triggered a middle-order collapse with the wicket of Kane Williamson. New Zealand tumbled from 94-1 to 148-6 on a bowler-friendly wicket after Williamson was dismissed for 52, his 38th Test half-century. Michael Bracewell and Nathan Smith arrested the slide with a 52-run stand for the seventh wicket. Smith eventually fell for 23 and Bracewell for 47. After Matt Henry went for 8, Zak Foulkes and Jacob Duffy were both on 4 when bad light stopped play after 70
Robin Smith, the batter who shone for England in a period when it was beaten regularly in Test cricket, has died. He was 62. Smith’s family said in a statement from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) that he died unexpectedly at his home in Perth, Australia, on Monday. No cause was given. He played 62 Tests for England from 1988 to 1996, scoring 4,236 runs at an average of 43.67 with nine centuries. His signature shot was the square cut. Smith also played in 71 one-day internationals and was part of England’s squad who reached the 1992 ICC World Cup final. His unbeaten
SSC Napoli on Sunday joined AC Milan at the top of Serie A after winning 1-0 at title rivals AS Roma, as Inter kept pace with the leading pair by beating Pisa SC 2-0. David Neres stroked home the only goal of a feisty game in the 36th minute at the Stadio Olimpico, ending a blistering counterattack with a calm finish which put Napoli on 28 points. Napoli are behind Milan on goal-difference, and just one point ahead of both Roma and Inter in a tight scudetto battle in which Antonio Conte’s team are to host Juventus at the weekend. “To come to
RSS