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.
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