Some highlights for the season include the SE Asia Games in Hanoi on the weekend of May 14th, and the North Asia Games in Tokyo on the weekend of June 4th.  The culmination of this season is the 2011 Asian Gaelic Games in Seoul, South Korea, on the 15th and 16th of October.

Check out the entire 2011 Taiwan Celts Schedule here.

Many new players came out to try Gaelic Football for their first time: we had basketball players and volley ball players, surfers and runners, ice-hockey players and Aussie-Rulers! As always our buddies from the Taipei Baboons Rugby Club joined in for training and practice games. The lads from Rogue FC and Taipei City FC soccer clubs got more involved with their second sport, Gaelic Football, in 2010! We also saw a big increase in the number of girls joining in throughout the season.

Now 6 months later, after grueling sessions under typhoon rains and in the roasting summer heat, through all the bangs and bumps and the patient hours of practicing the Gaelic Football ‘Solo’, having survived the physical, verbal, and emotional abuse inflicted by the cruel team trainers (we love ye really!!), 24 players from Taiwan head to Hong Kong on September 24th to compete in both the Mens and the Ladies 2010 Asian Gaelic Games tournaments.

You can keep up-to-date with the progress of the Taiwan teams by checking us out on Facebook for the latest updates throughout the weekend.

2010 Taiwan Celts Squad Members

• Andy Roji (Australia)
• Barry Cahill (Ireland)
• Bryndis Henrikson (Canada)
• David Langeland (Denmark)
• David McEneaney (Ireland)
• Duncan Murtagh (Ireland)
• Felicia Rodrigues (Canada)
• Graham Harvey (England)
• Holly Itoga (USA)
• Irina Tsikun (Russia)
• Judy Fong (Canada)
• Karen Wong (Australia)
• Karsten Tonnesen (Denmark)
• Lasse Bigum (Denmark)
• Laurence Kenny (Ireland)
• Liz Lu (Canada)
• Meredith Ch (Taiwan)
• Michael Carmody (Australia)
• Peter Grogan (Ireland)
• Ronan Quinlan (Ireland)
• Scott Milne (USA)
• Sean Costello (Ireland)
• Sean McNally (USA)
• Tony Lonergan (Ireland)

The resounding conclusion from everyone in our group: “We gotta do this more often!”

Friday Evening Trip – Taipei to KL

The team plus WAGS met at Taoyuan international airport for the first tour of the year. The WAGS did their duty free shopping and the fellas made “arrangements for” the flight. No sooner had the seat belt been turned off, the McNally in-flight bar started to get it’s first visitors. The pre-flight preparation from the fellas had been to buy Vodka and mixers for the journey, so by the time we arrived in Kuala Lumpur Sean, Pete, Karsten and Graham were nicely merry. A bus journey in to the City had us delivered to our hotels.

Friday Night – Finnegan’s, Curries & Unhappy Brazilians!

A quick hotel check-in and a change into the club Polo shirts and we headed in to meet the Orang Eire team at their sponsor pub Finnegan’s. After watching the Dutch knock the Brazilians out of the world cup, the beers were flowing and everyone was enjoying the atmosphere. Someone decided a Malaysia curry was in order! The search for a curry was as successful as the English soccer World cup campaign. We gave in and stopped at a Chinese restaurant. After heading back again to Finnegan’s for the craic with the KL lads, someone let it slip that it was Karstens birthday. His gift from the team was a cocktail called “A Graveyard”. We don’t know what went into it, but it had the desired effect  Around 3am the “old guys” made a move for bed, the diehards went clubbing!

Saturday Afternoon - Taiwan Celts vs Orang Blues

With sore heads, the team met at the hotel lobby at 2pm and were picked up by Orang Eire in 4 jeeps. Great weather for GAA, cool with no rain, and the astroturf pitch at the KL International School was reserved for the day. Our first 9-aside match was against the Orang Eire Blues. We held our own for the first half; the half-time score was 1-1 to 0-3 for Orang Eire. By the second half, we were regretting the tray of whiskeys the previous night, and the Blues got on top with a couple of unanswered scores.

KL Ladies Yellow vs KL Ladies Blue

A very entertaining game from the Orang Eire Ladies teams. Even though some of them had joined us at Finnegan’s the previous night, they were all raring to go for their match on Saturday. Strong passing-games from both teams in midfield, and some very skillful play by the forwards made for a really good game. The Orang Eire girls were interested to hear about the TaiwanNu’s, and look forward to meeting up in HongKong!

Orang Yellows vs Taiwan Celts

By this time we were in better shape. From goal, Graham was finding players in free space. Sean and Pete were providing great passes to Duncan and Ronan in the box. JB was all over the field providing support up front and in defense. The backs Danish Dave, Kasten, Tony and Dave Mac were strong and chased the defenders down, hassling them and limiting their playing space. The Orang Eire Yellows are a strong team and are playing competitively every month against AFL teams. Some strong soloing from their midfield, and their impressive fitness levels meant they enjoyed more possession for much of the game. A better performance from Taiwan, but we were outmatched. The Yellows also went on to beat the Blue team, winning the Orang Eire – Taiwan Celts tournament for the day.

13-aside Match

The final game of the day, the Taiwan Celts borrowed some  players from Orang Eire Blue, allowing us to play a 13-aside game with subs against the Yellows. Every player on the Celts team upped their play dramatically in this game, and like against Singapore last season, we really showed what we’re capable of when we play good football as a team. At half time we were ahead, in the second half the Yellows fitness showed again, and they were able to claw back the difference. At the final whistle, the game was a draw.

Awards, Invites, and a few Beers

After the games the boys from Orang Eire had laid on a huge ice-box full of beers. Club President Pat Gorham presented the captain of the Orang Yellows with an award for winning the final, and also made a presentation to Taiwan Celts club president Graham, to mark the first tour between our clubs (check it out at the Brass Monkey) We formally invited Orang Eire teams to Taipei for the return leg of the tour. This is planned for early next season. Orang Eire also invited the Taiwan Celts to join the KL Invitational tournament next season, along with teams from Singapore, Thailand & Vietnam.

Saturday Night

Seated in a private room in a restaurant resembling an opium den, we kept an eye on the Argentina-Germany game while enjoying tasty Indian food. Although the delivery of the dishes was painfully slow it was conveniently located next door to the bistro where we were invited to a birthday party for one of the KL lads. Further beers were consumed, the demolishing of Argentina was watched, and we celebrated a very enjoyable tour with our new friends in KL.

There’ll be a number of Mens Gaelic Football competitions running during the weekend, with 4-in-a-row A division Champions Hong Kong GAA looking to retain the Derek Brady Cup on their home turf, no doubt against some stiff competition from all sides!

2009 Ladies Champions “Singapore Lions” will be tested this year with record numbers of ladies teams expected at the tournament. Our Taiwan Celts girls are training each weekend in Taipei in preparation for the event. New players welcome along to join in!

There is also a lot of new interest in the Taiwan Celts Men’s team this season. The 2010 squad already consists of players from Ireland, UK, US, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, South Africa. Many first-timers who plan to don the Taiwan jersey in Hong Kong this coming September.

The tournament is hosted this year by the htHong Kong GAA and governed by the Asian County Board (ACB). In addition to Taiwan, GAA Clubs and teams expected to compete hail from Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, Shanghai, Beijing, Vietnam, Dubai, India, Philippines, and many more.

Karsten Tonnesen was even on hand to get some great photos of the action.

The new Gaelic football season will begin in February, when we will start introductory training sessions to teach the skills of the game to new players coming along for the first time.

Throughout the season the training will build up to include fitness and skills sessions, as well as regular game practice.

When numbers allow we will organize friendly matches against some local teams, and when possible we will organize challenge tournaments with other ladies Gaelic clubs around Asia.

In October 2010, the Taiwan Celts club will be traveling to the Asian Gaelic Games (AGG) for the 15th time in both the clubs and the competitions history. After a fantastic weekend for the games in Bangkok Thailand in 2009, the hosts for the 2010 AGG will be the Hong Kong GAA.

Around 50 teams from all around Asia participated in the 2009 AGG, with record numbers of ladies teams competing. More again are expected in 2010.

Anyone who is in interested to learn the sport and play with us, you are very welcome to get involved. No previous experience is needed, and we welcome all levels into our club.

Please contact us and register your interest. We will keep you up to date on all the goings on in the club, and upcoming training sessions for the ladies squad.

First stop on the trail is GAA sports in Asia, and the TaiwanCelts were interviewed last month to talk about the history and development of GAA in Taiwan, and our clubs involvement in setting up the first Gaelic Games in Asia back in 1996.

You can listen to Taiwan Celts Communications Officer Tony Lonergan speak to Denis about our Mens and Ladies GAA teams, and how just about everything in Asia originates from the Taiwan Celts GAA club. Up Taiwan!

You can also listen in on some of the inteviews with the other GAA clubs around Asia, and follow Denis as he visits with GAA clubs in Austrlia, South America, US, Canada in the coming months.

The book, commissioned by the GAA, includes a chapter called “Exiles” which reviews the movement of the GAA from Ireland and into other regions around the world. A certain little GAA club called “the TaiwanCelts” features in this chapter, with a great photo of the fabulous TaiwanCelts Nu’s team from 2007.

The Taiwan Celts are delighted and proud to be associated with this major book release