China Gaels
blog No Comments »China’s southern boomtown city Shenzhen hosted the 8th All China Gaelic Games last weekend. With teams after travelling as far as 4 hours by plane on Friday evening, the games kicked off Saturday morning in weather you would associate with the finest championship football back at home.
Seven cities were represented with almost 200 players attending, Dalian, Beijing, Shanghai, Suzhou, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and the hosts, Shenzhen.
This one day event is played with 9 players on a team, with three subs that can be replaced as many times as needed during the 7 minute halves. Referee Michael Collins from Clonakilty in Cork was sent on behalf of Croke Park to officiate in the games.
A total of 43 games were played over the course of the day, with the Shanghai ladies retaining the title they won for the first time last year. In this closely fought game Shanghai defeated Hong Kong by 2-1 to 1-0. In the Men’s Cup final, Hong Kong also retained the cup defeating hosts Shenzhen in a great final by 2 points. The game ended 3-5 to 3-3. Other winners on the day were Dalian and Beijing in the ladies Bowl and ladies Plate competitions respectively. Beijing and Suzhou won the men’s bowl and plate competitions.
His Excellency Declan Kelleher, Irish Ambassador to China attended the games and congratulated all the teams for the effort put in during training for the event and for performances during the day. He expressed his welcome to all the international players that are involved in the various clubs throughout China and thanked the Shenzhen Celts for hosting a very successful All China Gaelic Games.
