Hurling makes Asian debut in Singapore

HISTORY will be made in Singapore on Saturday when an Allstar hurling exhibition game will be staged in an Asian city for the first time.

It follows the highly successful football promotion in Hong Kong last year and marks the sixth overseas All Stars tour since they were revived by awards sponsors Vodafone with a hurling game in Boston.

Since then, consecutive football and hurling teams have paid visits to Dubai, Argentina, San Diego and Phoenix.

“The whole concept of having a tour for the All Stars and recognising what they have done, is a very important one,” comments GAA Director-General Liam Mulvihill. “It has been difficult in recent years because of the amount of individual counties that have their own trips organised, but two aspects of that have been very significant.

“First of all the vast majority of the players attempt to make it their business to have their county tours organised in such a way that it does not cut across the All Stars trip. Secondly, for the players who are not lucky enough to have a trip, the All Stars is a major opportunity and is very much appreciated. The other aspect that is undervalued and not fully understood is that it’s a great opportunity for players who are selected as replacements for the tour.

“Many of those would be players who would not have had an opportunity of a trip with their own county, nor would they have many opportunities of socialising with their fellow players from other counties.”

The tours also help to boost the image of the GAA abroad. The main criteria in deciding on destinations are an indigenous Irish population, a GAA involvement and, of course, suitable weather.

Singapore fits the bill perfectly. It’s also one of Ireland’s leading trade partners in Asia, with up to 30 Irish companies having a presence in the city and a resident Irish population of around 600.

Singapore boasts an active GAA club - the Singapore Gaelic Lions - with over 200 affiliated members. Supported by a team of 15 volunteers, their efforts to publicise the tour resulted in persuading ESPN to carry an interview with two of the hurlers this evening.

The exhibition game will be played in the Singapore Polo club and will be preceded by a game between the Lions and a local Australian Rules team.

A visit to the races has been planned for Sunday and a small number of players will be taken on a golf outing to the Jack Nicklaus Bintan Lagoon Resort course in Indonesia on Monday.