Football

Shanghai GAA:'We’ve been where you are now, but there is light at the end of the tunnel'

With so much uncertainty surrounding how the coronavirus crisis will ultimately play out on these shores, the story of Shanghai GAA provides some light at the end of the tunnel. Neil Loughran spoke to the club’s vice-chairman, Newry native James Moan…

Shanghai GAA returned to training at the city's Luwan Stadium on Tuesday, April 14
Shanghai GAA returned to training at the city's Luwan Stadium on Tuesday, April 14 Shanghai GAA returned to training at the city's Luwan Stadium on Tuesday, April 14

IN the midst of some of our darkest days, a message of hope has come from the Far East where a thriving GAA club in the Chinese city Shanghai has returned to the training field after leaving lockdown.

With the coronavirus outbreak first identified in Wuhan in December, the Chinese government imposed a lockdown from the end of January. Restrictions were gradually eased over time and, three months on, shafts of light are now guiding the way following some dark days.

James Moan, who moved to China in 2016, is a playing member and vice-chairman of Shanghai GAA.

Having been due to start their season at the beginning of March, it wasn’t until April 14 that the club found themselves back at Luwan Stadium. That Tuesday evening that will live long in the Newry man’s memory.

“It was really heart-warming to be honest,” he said.

“There was just a tremendous sense of relief because we had a lot of new members who had maybe only come to Shanghai around Christmas time or later and then fallen into this experience. But here you had this community of Gaelic footballers and it just made them feel better.

“I’ll not say the quality of football was particularly fantastic, but it was just great to see everyone again.”

The journey to reach that point, however, is a stark illustration of the difference between the Chinese approach to tackling the virus and the often muddled messages coming from leaders on this side of the world.

“As soon as the lockdown was announced, there was restricted access to transportation, temperature checks everywhere you went, obviously sport stopped. A lot of people went back to their own countries and haven’t returned.

“The government here were unbelievably strict in terms of what you could and couldn’t do, they were very helpful at the same time because you were getting text messages every day encouraging no mass gatherings, social distancing, washing hands... all the things you would expect them to say but it was appreciated, especially in our case in a very foreign country, and very much on our own.

“The Chinese people were very respectful in terms of following what was asked of them, and you could see that whatever plans the government had put in place, they were going to work.

“A QR colour code system – green, amber, red – was introduced through your phone so they were able to know where you had been for the last 15, 16 days. In my family’s case, we got a green code because we hadn’t left Shanghai, we hadn’t been anywhere of risk, but they were able to track where infected people had been.

“The government had a very strict procedure of access into the cities which involved tests when you arrived at the airport and, gradually, things began to ease off a little bit.

“At the very start of all we toyed with the idea of leaving Shanghai, but throughout it all we felt very safe. Thankfully now things are looking up for us.”

Nobody seems sure if that is the case in the UK or Ireland, with footage of crowded beaches and public parks a worrying reminder of how loosely the social distancing restrictions are being observed in some areas.

“We’re watching it from here and can’t believe the things that are going on,” said Moan, who is a teacher at the city’s Harrow International School.

“We’ve been through this, we’ve seen what works. But the images of people going to the beach at the weekend… it’s infuriating.”

Some rugby and soccer clubs returned to action around the start of the month, but Shanghai GAA decided to hold fire – adopting a safety first approach before eventually putting plans in place.

“The committee met a couple of times to discuss the potential of going back, but we wanted to make sure everything was 100 per cent okay.

“One of our committee members is Chinese and she was in constant communication with the local government to see what we were able to do and not able to do; we were very cautious because you’re dealing with a very delicate situation. We didn’t want to be seen to be disrespecting the government.

“The stadium itself had huge expectations of what you were to do when you get there, so you had to have your green code, your passport, your mask and access to hand sanitiser.

“We also had to provide our names, addresses and phone numbers prior to training so we could be checked and contacted if there was an issue. Once we got the nod from the stadium, and the local government, off we went – and it was a wonderful experience.”

They haven’t looked back since, and earlier this month the three main Irish community groups in the city – Le Cheile, the GAA club and the Chamber of Commerce and Friends of Northern Ireland - came together to raise over £17,500 to buy PPE equipment to send home.

On Saturday, April 18 a fundraiser in aid of Focus, Barnardos and Aoibhneas charities raised over £7,000.

“Hopefully this can give a bit of optimism to everybody else going through this that there is an end point,” said Moan.

“My son and daughter are getting back to sport again, a number of schools are opening this week, including my own [Harrow international]. Things are beginning to get better.

“We’ve been where you are now, but there is light at the end of the tunnel.”