GAA disrupted in South Korea as coronavirus containment efforts continue

Coronavirus is causing uncertainty to Gaelic football in South Korea, where the Government is sending emergency texts to people’’s phones alerting them to new areas infected with Covid-19.

Frances Rogers, secretary of the Seoul Gaels said the club’’s forthcoming fixtures may have to be reassessed at a time when big events, such as the St Patrick’’s Day festival in the city has been cancelled.

Originally from Togher, Co. Louth, Frances has been teaching English in South Korea for the last five years and is currently working with an elementary school in Seoul.

She is one of 40 Irish people from 12 countries involved in the Seoul Gaels, many of whom have had to reassure friends and family in Ireland that they are ok.

"There are almost 5,000 cases of the Coronavirus in Korea but the majority of these are based around Daegu and Shincheonjii Church, " she said.

In fact, it’’s impressive that Seoul has had so few cases considering its high population and high population density. People are out and about in the city going about their daily lives. It’’s just a bit quieter than usual.

"Cafes, restaurants and shops are still open and people are doing their best not to let this affect them.

"The Korean Government are testing thousands of people every day - it literally has drive-through testing centres - and they keep us informed of the latest updates with emergency alerts sent to our phones if we are in an area where someone who has had the virus has visited.

"The Irish Embassy has also been in touch to keep us up to date and in general, the message everywhere you go is to wash your hands, cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze or cough and call the emergency number if you have symptoms."

However, Frances says the coronavirus has impacted their daily lives and the lives of many backpackers from Ireland.

Frances Rogers, secretary of the Seoul Gaels, said "boredom is the biggest complaint." Picture: Frances Rogers.

"Most of the Irish in Korea are teachers and on Monday the government decided to delay the new school year from March 2 until March 23 and this leaves a lot of people out of work and wondering if they will get paid for all this time off.

"A lot of people are trying to stay at home as much as possible and boredom is the biggest complaint.

"I visited home in mid-February and it was refreshing to go into Drogheda or Dundalk and see people going about their day without a mask in sight.

"For others who have finished their contracts in Korea and were planning on travelling around Asia before returning home, travel bans have forced them to change or cancel their plans, costing them a lot of money and causing a lot of frustration."

Frances said that even before the outbreak of the virus, it was commonplace to see people wearing masks if they had a cold or if the pollution levels were particularly high.

"I’’ve even had co-workers wear masks because they hadn’’t put their make-up on yet," she laughed.

However the price of masks has risen and are becoming harder to find. Some buses and subway stations have masks and there are constant announcements reminding people to wash their hands and wear their masks.

"Before the school year ended, we were encouraged to wear masks to school but trying to get young children who don’’t understand the seriousness of the situation to wear uncomfortable, humid masks is difficult - often they would take the masks off to sneeze or cough."

Frances says that the club will have to rethink its plans with the cancellation of many events.

"The Irish Association of Korea has had to cancel its big St Patrick’’s Day festival, one of the highlights of the year for the Irish community.

"In terms of Gaelic football, Seoul Gaels normally start our season the weekend after St Patrick’’s Day and we hope to go ahead but there is a lot of uncertainty, in particular in terms of tournaments.

"The biggest tournament in the first half of the year is the North Asian Gaelic Games, which is due to be held in Hong Kong in June but travel bans and quarantine policies may affect our ability to attend this tournament.

"We also normally play a Korean League but with a number of cases in Daegu and Busan, we may have to postpone those tournaments until the virus is under control."