IN OCTOBER THE Orang Éire GAA will host the 19th annual Asian Gaelic Games which will see 700 players from 50 teams take part in three days of competition in Kuala Lumpur.
This year, UCD will send a ladies team but, with surnames like Bendoraitis and Ribagyiza this is not your average Gaelic football team.
Instead, the University has decided to field a team of international students with 12 selected to travel to Malaysia from nine different countries including China, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, Poland, USA, Denmark, Canada and the host nation.
Two of those who will travel in October are Thanh Nguyen and Madeleine Sertic and this morning they spoke to RTÉ 2FM’s Ryan Tubridy about how they found their way onto the UCD team.
“I came to Ireland five years ago to study medicine,” says Sertic who is originally from Canada.
“I’m in my sixth and final year now and got involved in Gaelic football as a way to meet girls not involved with my programme.
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“I’ve never been to Ireland before so it was a bit of culture shock, living on my own, etc, but as I settled in I made a few good friends.”
For Nguyen though, Gaelic football was something she was very familiar with from home.
“I came to Ireland through a scholarship two months ago from Vietnam. I was working for an NGO there, doing communications. I applied for the scholarship which I heard about from a friend who is on Gaelic team in Hanoi, the Viet Celts.
“One of the players on the men’s team told me about it and I’m now studying project management in the Michael Smurfit School in UCD.”
While Sertic played football when she first moved to Ireland, she had drifted away from the game, that was until she received some correspondence earlier this year.
“It all seemed too good to be true when I first got the email [about the Asian Gaelic Games] because I’d played football in first year but I hadn’t picked it up since.
“When I saw that it was a team for ladies and also specifically for international students I thought ‘oh, I have a fairly decent shot at this’. The odds were in may favour.
“I was eager to get back into it because I knew my final year was less stressful than other years so I’d have some more free time. When I saw there was a trip to Malaysia at the end to play in the Fexco Asian Gaelic Games it was just the cherry on top to get involved.”
Nguyen didn’t receive any email from UCD because she wasn’t in the country when the call for players first went out.
However, she was keen to continue playing Gaelic football when she arrived so contacted the university about getting involved and couldn’t believe her luck.
“They told me they were having bootcamps [trials for the team] and asked if I could come and join them.
“I don’t know what position I’ll play for UCD but in Vietnam I played forward. I’m not sure if I’m good but I enjoy it.
“For me, it’s a tough game, every time I come back from training I have bruises but it’s good fun.”
One of the other 49 teams taking part in Malaysia will be Nguyen’s old club the Viet Celts. However, she insists there’ll be no divided loyalties when it comes to game time.
“They have been slagging me about that but we’re all excited about seeing each other again.”
'Nguyen handpasses to Sertic' - UCD's newest football team has an international feel
IN OCTOBER THE Orang Éire GAA will host the 19th annual Asian Gaelic Games which will see 700 players from 50 teams take part in three days of competition in Kuala Lumpur.
This year, UCD will send a ladies team but, with surnames like Bendoraitis and Ribagyiza this is not your average Gaelic football team.
Instead, the University has decided to field a team of international students with 12 selected to travel to Malaysia from nine different countries including China, Singapore, Vietnam, Nigeria, Poland, USA, Denmark, Canada and the host nation.
Two of those who will travel in October are Thanh Nguyen and Madeleine Sertic and this morning they spoke to RTÉ 2FM’s Ryan Tubridy about how they found their way onto the UCD team.
“I came to Ireland five years ago to study medicine,” says Sertic who is originally from Canada.
“I’m in my sixth and final year now and got involved in Gaelic football as a way to meet girls not involved with my programme.
“I’ve never been to Ireland before so it was a bit of culture shock, living on my own, etc, but as I settled in I made a few good friends.”
For Nguyen though, Gaelic football was something she was very familiar with from home.
“I came to Ireland through a scholarship two months ago from Vietnam. I was working for an NGO there, doing communications. I applied for the scholarship which I heard about from a friend who is on Gaelic team in Hanoi, the Viet Celts.
“One of the players on the men’s team told me about it and I’m now studying project management in the Michael Smurfit School in UCD.”
While Sertic played football when she first moved to Ireland, she had drifted away from the game, that was until she received some correspondence earlier this year.
“It all seemed too good to be true when I first got the email [about the Asian Gaelic Games] because I’d played football in first year but I hadn’t picked it up since.
“When I saw that it was a team for ladies and also specifically for international students I thought ‘oh, I have a fairly decent shot at this’. The odds were in may favour.
“I was eager to get back into it because I knew my final year was less stressful than other years so I’d have some more free time. When I saw there was a trip to Malaysia at the end to play in the Fexco Asian Gaelic Games it was just the cherry on top to get involved.”
Nguyen didn’t receive any email from UCD because she wasn’t in the country when the call for players first went out.
However, she was keen to continue playing Gaelic football when she arrived so contacted the university about getting involved and couldn’t believe her luck.
“They told me they were having bootcamps [trials for the team] and asked if I could come and join them.
“I don’t know what position I’ll play for UCD but in Vietnam I played forward. I’m not sure if I’m good but I enjoy it.
“For me, it’s a tough game, every time I come back from training I have bruises but it’s good fun.”
One of the other 49 teams taking part in Malaysia will be Nguyen’s old club the Viet Celts. However, she insists there’ll be no divided loyalties when it comes to game time.
“They have been slagging me about that but we’re all excited about seeing each other again.”
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