As the Irish community in China dwindled due to the pandemic, GAA clubs helped keep spirits up for many
“In the last couple of years, the number of Irish has really dwindled down, particularly in the men’s teams. The ratio of Irish is probably about 60 per cent Irish, I would say. And then the rest could be from anywhere. There’s a lot of Chinese locals on the team in Shanghai and we have people from South Africa, Australia, UK, Kazakhstan and Korea. And it’s similar on other teams as well.”
“When I was in Ireland, I always saw my university mates play Gaelic, but that was a very high standard. When I came back to Shanghai after a couple of years, I had a colleague from Ireland join me. He was very big into Gaelic and he introduced me,” he said. Paul Fogarty from Blackrock, Co Dublin, studied Chinese at the Confucius Institute in University College Dublin and moved to Beijing to continue his studies, taking a master’s degree in Chinese law. Some of his fellow students from UCD also played Gaelic games and they joined the Beijing GAA club, a move that was to prove doubly fateful for Fogarty.
There is no official figure for Irish residents in China and although citizens are encouraged to register with the Irish embassy in Beijing or the consulate general in Shanghai, many do not. Some informal estimates suggest that after the pandemic the number in Beijing may have fallen below 200, with the total in China possibly fewer than 2,000.Teachers make up a large part of the Irish community and they play an important role in the GAA clubs too.
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