This article is from page 14 of the 2012-01-03 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
TWO former Eire Óg players are helping spread the football gospel on the island of Taiwan. Cousins Ross Conlon and Brian Fitzpatrick, who are originally from the Tulla Road in Ennis, were both members of the Plate winning Taiwan Celts team at the 2011 Asian Gaelic Games.
Dozens of teams drawn from Irish expat communities across Asia gathered in South Korean for the event. And among them were Brian and Ross, who helped their team secure success in the competition’s second tier event.
Brian, who moved to the Taiwanese capital Taipei six months ago, recalls, “There’s only about 200 Irish people here. We’ve been training with them. They’ve been really helpful. We played in the Asian Games. The standard was really good. We played fairly well in Korea. We won the plate, which would’ve been the second competition. The top division was really good. Hong Kong and Singapore were in the final, Damian Barry (Ennis) was playing.”
A former student of Ennis CBS, St Flannan’s College and Limerick Institute of Technology, Brian moved to the Far East earlier this year in search of work. Having previously worked for Munstergroup Property and started a car auction business, Brian embarked on a new career in Taiwan, teaching English to local students.
He explains, “It would be an after school for Taiwanese kids. They go to Chinese school first and then us afterwards. It’s a long day. They are basically in school for about 12 hours everyday.”
Brian admits that making the move from Ireland to Taiwan was a little bit daunting. But the shock of adapting to a completely new country and culture was softened somewhat by the fact that Ross had swapped Ennis for Taipei, six years ago.
A fellow graduate of LIT and University of Limerick and former Éire Óg teammate, Ross currently works as a business development manager for electronics giant, Siemens.
Having secured a teaching post three months after arriving in Taiwan, Brian says he is glad to have made the move.
He says, “Taiwan is a great place to come to teach for a year. There are lots of teaching jobs for anyone with a Bachelor’s degree. It’s a really nice island with lots of lovely coastline for surfing and scenery and things like that. Taipei is a great city full of great nightlife and the locals are very friendly. The food is good and it’s pretty cheap. In terms of the economy, the country is flying too. A lot of the big companies here totally changed from manufacturing goods to information technology over last 10 or so years.”
While Taiwan’s economy is firing on all cylinders, in stark contrast to our own, the winter weather at least provides a reminder of home, particularly at Christmas.
Brian explains, “It’s cold, it’s mad cold over here at the moment. A bit like home. It’s really humid in the summer and it’s very hard to breathe but in winter the air would really cut through you. It’s really damp.”
He continues, “We had Christmas dinner with friends of ours, Taiwan ese people and expats. We spent it at a few different apartments in Taipei city. It was a bit unusual, being my first Christmas away but we made the most of it but you would miss family and friends alright.”
For Irish people far from home sports plays an important role in meeting people and making connections. It’s no different in Taipei. Apart from their involvement with the local GAA team, both men play soccer with Taipei City, a multinational side comprising Irish, South Americans a few English and a handful of locals.
After their success in the Asian games, the Celts are on the look out for new recruits.
Brian says, “If anyone is thinking of teaching abroad for a year and would consider moving here. We’ve lost a few of last year’s team so were recruiting for next season.”
For further information on the Taiwan Celts email mr.bfitz@gmail. com.