All-China Gaelic Games

The All-China Gaelic games is a Gaelic games tournament held annually in China between club teams under the auspices of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the Asian County Board. The Asian County Board of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA), (also called Asian GAA) is one of the county boards of the GAA set up and running outside the island of Ireland. This County Board is responsible for Gaelic games across Asia-Pacific & Gulf Regions other than Australia and New Zealand which are under the auspices of the Australasia GAA.

The annual tournament is a one-day event, with both men's and ladies' teams competing in Gaelic football. The tournament is the highlight of the mid-season for the Gaelic Athletic Association Clubs in mainland China. Exhibition games have also been held in International (compromised) rules and Hurling during the event.

History

The All-China Games began in 2002, and feature GAA teams from across China, such as the Shanghai Gaelic Athletic Association,^[1] the Hong Kong Gaelic Athletic Association^[2] and the Beijing Gaelic Athletic Association.^[3] After being cancelled in 2003 due to the outbreak of SARS, they returned in 2004.

Top winners

Beijing Games (2012) relates to playing Gaelic Football

The cumulative top competition winners in the competition to date have been Hong Kong (9) and Shanghai (7).

Participants

Teams sanctioned by the Asian GAA can participate in the competition.^[4] As of 2012, Chinese based teams include Beijing GAA,^[5] Canton Celts,^[6] Dalian Wolfhounds,^[7] Hong Kong GAA,^[8] Shanghai Gaelic Football Club,^[9] Shenzhen Celts^[10] and Suzhou Eire Og.^[11]

Participant players in the competition are primarily expatriate Irish, but they also draw participants from other countries (including China) who learn the sport. For example, players from 22 separate nations competed in the 2005 All-China Gaelic games.

Sponsorship

The tournament is an ACB Sponsored event.

2012 All China Games

Declan Kelleher - Irish Ambassador to China provided a reception to participants of the Beijing Games at the Irish Embassy

There was a collective decision in April 2012 by the Beijing Gaelic Athletic Association to host the 2012 All-China Games as part of the 10th Anniversary celebration of Beijing GAA.^[12] Beijing GAA hosted the 2012 North Asian Games from June 8–10, 2012. It was the first year that the previous All-Asia games are being expanded to include participants from across northern Asia. Beijing invited teams from various Chinese cities, such as Shanghai, Shenzhen, Dalian and Suzhou and for the first time, also invited teams from Taiwan, Korea and Japan.

All China Games - A Competition Winners

	Host Location	Year	Men's A Cup	Ladies A Cup
1	Shanghai	2002	Hong Kong GAA	Shanghai Sirens
2		2003	Cancelled due to SARS
3	Shanghai	2004	Hong Kong GAA	Hong Kong GAA
4	Beijing	2005	Beijing GAA	Hong Kong GAA
5	Shenzhen	2006	Hong Kong GAA	Hong Kong GAA
5	Dalian	2007	Shanghai Saints	Beijing GAA
7	Beijing	2008	Shanghai Saints	Beijing GAA
7	Shanghai	2009	Hong Kong GAA	Shanghai Sirens
9	Shenzhen	2010	Hong Kong GAA	Shanghai Sirens
10	Shanghai	2011	Shanghai Saints	Shanghai Sirens
11	Beijing	2012	Seoul Gaels	Beijing GAA (A Team)
12	Beijing	2013	Shanghai Saints (A Team)	Shanghai Saints (A Team)
13	Shanghai	2014	XX	Shanghai

All China Games - Non-A Competition Winners

	Host Location	Year	Men's Plate	Men's Bowl	Ladies Plate	Ladies Bowl
1	Shanghai	2002
2		2003	Cancelled due to SARS
3	Shanghai	2004
4	Beijing	2005	Shenzhen Celts	Shanghai Saints		Shanghai Saints
5	Shenzhen	2006	Shanghai Saints
5	Dalian	2007				Dalian / Shenzhen
7	Beijing	2008	Shenzhen Celts	Dalian Wolfhounds
7	Shanghai	2009	Beijing GAA	Suzhou GAA	Hong Kong GAA	Shenzhen Celts
9	Shenzhen	2010	Suzhou Eire Og	Beijing GAA	Dalian Wolfhounds	Beijing GAA
10	Shanghai	2011	Shenzhen Celts	Beijing GAA	Dalian Wolfhounds	n/a
11	Beijing	2012	Shanghai B	Dalian Wolfhounds	Dalian/Suzhou	n/a
12	Beijing	2013	n/a	Dalian Wolfhounds	n/a	n/a
13	Shanghai	2014	XX	XX	Dalian	XX

All China Games - Most Valuable Players

	Host Location	Year	Men's MVP	Ladies MVP
1	Shanghai	2002
2		2003	Cancelled due to SARS
3	Shanghai	2004
4	Beijing	2005	Sean Chiang (Shenzhen)	Antje Kiem (HK)
5	Shenzhen	2006	Edward Cosgrove (HK)
5	Dalian	2007	Davey Hayes (Shanghai)	Catherine Tulauskas (Shanghai)
7	Beijing	2008	Davey Hayes (Shanghai)	Catherine Tulauskas (Shanghai)
7	Shanghai	2009		Niamh Furey (Shenzhen Celts)
9	Shenzhen	2010	Barry Waters (HKGAA)	Aisling Smith (Shanghai)
10	Shanghai	2011	Enda Winters (Beijing)	Mei Lin (Shezhen)
11	Beijing	2012	Enda Winters (Beijing)	Aine Deasy (Seoul Gaels)
12	Beijing	2013	Enda Winters (Beijing)	(n/a)
13	Shanghai	2013	XX	XX

References

External links

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