Japan GAA were delighted to host this year's North Asian Games at the Yokohama Country & Athletic Club (YCAC). The weekend will be remembered for many things, including the Japan men's first trophy in 10 years, the scorching weather, the great football played, but probably most notably is the over-running of a train car from the Yokohama to Roppongi with a trad band and about 100 vocals. Four men’s teams competed for the first NAGs held outside Korea: Japan A, Japan B, Seoul Gaels, and the Asian All Stars (who were depleted following 4 a.m. drinks at Paddy Foley's the night before).

Seoul Gaels came through the group stages as favourites following three wins from three. Japan A claimed second place in the semifinal. Japan Bs triumphed over the Asian All-Stars to claim the non-existent Plate. In the final, Japan As won the war of attrition against Seoul Gaels, with a 0:4 - 0:1 scoreline.

The Japan ladies competition consisted of three group games between Japan and Seoul Gaels. The experience and strength of Seoul was decisive against a Japan team made up of mostly new recruits.

Sponsorship / Funding

Many thanks to everyone who made this event happen: in particular, the ACB, Paddy Foley's bar in Roppongi for the discounted drinks on Friday and Saturday nights, IKON Euro Pubs / BierVana for providing many discounted beverages for the post-games ceremony and dinner, the Toyoko Inn Hotels for their continued sponsorship of the Japan GAA, and The Ireland Fund of Japan for the promised support. LearningsHosting the North Asia Games was a great experience for Japan GAA, and certainly a first of many for the future. The most notable assistance throughout the planning stage was hosting the event at a private sports ground, the YCAC, who were professional and exceptional all the way from planning through to the day of the event. For years, our club has struggled to solve the issue of goal posts, and this was solved at the NAGs with assistance from the YCAC. We purchased four 7-meter poles, which the club fixed to soccer goals. This proved to be an excellent solution to the problem, especially as the YCAC also agreed to store the poles at their club. The Japan GAA highly recommends finding a partner club like this to provide high-quality facilities for playing football.

Community involvement

The greatest challenge posed by Japan GAA is in the recruitment of new players to the team. The best tool at the end of the day was the personal touch through Facebook, recruiting one-on-one. Community involvement was also promoted through Facebook groups, and also through printed advertising distributed to bars around the Tokyo area. The Japan GAA also has an ongoing training / cultural-sharing programme with a local women's university, and this has been invaluable to the women's team over the years. This is a very useful mechanism to tap into potential Japanese players, most of whom would have never been aware of GAA. Our club also hopes to expand this involvement to a men's university in the future.

Thanks

Again, thanks to everyone who was involved, attended, and helped make the great event happen. It was with great honour that we welcomed everyone to Japan following the tragic events of March 11th.