Gaelic Games at Oeiras International School

Greetings everybody, and a massive Happy New Year to you all! My name is Eoin Brosnan and I have been a teacher here at Oeiras since February 2020. After one week of teaching online, we sadly went into lockdown and any social event of extra-curricular activity had to be cancelled. This was a part of school life that I missed immensely, as in my previous schools I loved language exchanges abroad and cultural trips to the theatre and cinema. Living abroad, I love meeting other nationalities (and Irish people, of course!) and the sudden departure of socialising was an aspect of life I am sure everyone felt on a deep level.

Gaelic football and hurling are two core sports we play in Ireland and now all over the world. We were on a podcast called the Loaf of Bread recently speaking about our experiences and you would not believe the places around the world that have GAA teams. Bermuda, Kuwait, Stockholm – you name it! We are excited at the release of the episode this month. When I (attempt to!) explain the sport, I receive a wide variety of follow up questions. “So it’s like rugby and soccer mixed?”, “It sounds like basketball and quidditch…”, “wait what is a solo?”. We have highly experienced payers at to guide new players and answer these very understandable questions! A lot of us have not played the sport in over a decade, but I feel with people coming back each week to play and socialise, they are enjoying their reawakening to the sport.

Before joining Oeiras, I had joined the GAA team here in Lisbon and made friendships with people from all over the world. I met a man from my hometown of Tralee, but also members of the club from Ukraine and Venezuela. It was amazing to kick a Gaelic football around on a sunny evening in Belém and share stories after. Unfortunately, when the world turned upside down it took almost a year and a half to experience this again. We restarted and safely started training and socialising again in Belém. At first a handful of people showed up, but as the weeks progressed, we were growing to the point that quite often over twenty people, both male and female, would show up to play. The variety of people was incredible, from people who played at the highest level in Ireland to people who found us on social media and wanted to find out what this sport is.

As the year drew to a close and the darkness of the evenings loomed, we were forced to rethink when and where we would train. Our magic Mathematician Andre Lopes pulled a few strings and Oeiras very kindly welcomed us to train on Saturday mornings. It has been a tremendous pleasure to use the facilities at our school and welcome members of our club to see the fantastic location. They fell in love with the animals instantly of course!

In the new year we have many plans to grow as a club. Due to the fact we are now training on Saturday mornings, we are now creating social walks and cultural events to bring people together during the week. In addition, we are making plans for Saint Patricks day, a music event and an opportunity to celebrate the Irish embassies 80-year anniversary here in Lisbon. We also aim to return to the city of Cáceres in October where a group of us went to an Irish traditional music festival and played a friendly match against a team from Madrid. This was an unforgettable weekend and one that will be even bigger next year! Finally, we will be exploring communities and associations around Lisbon that we could link up with to host our own sporting and cultural events.

As a club we would like to invite any student or parents to come and train or support us in 2022. The people at our club are incredibly friendly and supportive, and that I believe is a prime reason that people are continuously coming back. Feel free to reach out if you are interested in playing or joining us as a supporter. Everyone is welcome!

Thank you to Oeiras International School for welcoming us with such open arms. It has allowed us to keep the momentum building and grow further as a club!