Hokkaido Bears GAA

Yes, you read that title correctly. When the history of the GAA in the 21st century comes to be written, the small town of Jouzankei will merit a mention. It was there last Sunday that Hokkaido's first GAA club emerged, blinking in the strong June sunshine, unsure of itself, but willing to have a go anyway. 24 of us turned out, most of us gaels lost to parishes and towns all across Ireland, finding ourselves the other side of the world kicking an 0'Neills ball around and grinning with the sheer incongruous delight of it all.
We hailed from Kildare, Donegal, Carlow, Galway, Kerry, Dublin, Clare, Down, America, England, Australia, Japan and places in between, and if some of us had kicked better balls in younger days, we made up for the wayward passes with our consistent enthusiasm. 15 minutes aside we played and for those of us on the wrong side of 40 they were some of the toughest 15 minutes we've wheezed our way through in a long, long time. Shouts of "let it go, let it go now!" and "watch yer house!" brought a nostalgic tear to the eye, as did the sight of so many puffing furiously on fags during the half time break.
Our aim is to have a fully fledged team up and, well, if not running, jogging gently by this time next year, with the hope of participating in the Asian GAA Gaelic Games competition come the following year.
And after that, Croke Park, the third Sunday in September when the inaugural Japan teams sweeps the competition on their debut.