Last week we opened this series with a focus on Berlin GAA Club, but we’re going way farther afield this time around.
Colman Hands is a member of Qatar GAA Club, established in 2004 and with an impressive 192 members, and he was happy to tell us as much as he could about Abu Dhabi Na Fianna’s biggest rivals.
The club is one of the most successful in the Middle East, and was victorious in the Men’s Senior and Intermediate Asian Games in 2014.
With some famous faces passing through and the club continuing to go strong, we found out as much as we could about the club – including the man known as ‘The Stud.’
Note: Contains a cautionary tale on why you don’t want to enter Qatar illegally.
Club: Qatar GAA Oryx Na hEireann
Year established: 2004
Number of members: 192
Biggest rivals: Abu Dhabi Na Fianna
Biggest representation from a club/county in Ireland: Caolan Doyle (Played with London in a Connacht final), Anthony McDermott (All-Ireland club winner with Salthill Knocknacara) and Ryan Bradley (All-Ireland winner with Donegal).
Most famous ever member: Keith Andrews. Keith was in Doha a few years ago seeing a specialist. He helped the club at some fundraisers and other club events.
Most memorable moment in the club’s history: Winning Men’s Senior and Intermediate Asian Games 2014 – The Seniors beat Dubai Celts 1-7 to 0-7 in the final while the Intermediates beat Jakarta 3-4 to 0-3.
Most eye-catching scoreline in the club’s history: Qatar won 1-10 to 0-3 points against Dubai in the Gulf Gaelic Games final 2014, after Dubai did the clean sweep of all league rounds all season; it was a major shock.
Player who makes the longest commute to training: The Barwa Boys travel a round trip of 75km to training at the International School London.
Barwa is an area outside Doha where many schools are located. A lot of teachers are situated there and have long trips to the bright lights of Doha.
Most dedicated club person: Jon Mollen, Killian Coleman, Pete Crowe and Sinead Kelly – All active members of the committee while representing the club as players, trainers and committee members. Killian Coleman was one of the founding members and served many years as chairman of the club before moving to UAE at the end of last year.
Jon and Pete, while both players, help out with managing the ladies teams. Pete is also our current chairman. They say that “behind every great man is a great woman,” and for a GAA club it is no different. We have Sinead.
Player who could have made it big if love/career/drink didn’t get in the way: Colm “Ladies Man” Murney. Colm could make it big in all aspects of life if he wasn’t chasing the first bit of skirt he sees. No woman is out of bounds and he has regularly chanced his arm with the partners of his fellow team mates.
Biggest character: Colman Hands and Kevin Mossey
Loudest in the dressing room: Colman Hands, Caolan Doyle and Paul Heatly (managers rarely get a chance to speak with these three).
Number of romances that started in the GAA club (feel free to name names): Paul “The Stud” Marmion. Paul has seemed to of had more relationships during his short spell here in Qatar then most lads would have had at a youth disco at home.
Duck to water award – Best new player who had never played GAA before: Ben Simpson, Tom Kenrick, Ricardo and Chris Brandner.
Ben was a senior player for Qatar since the early days and one of the most successful football players in the Middle East not have been born on the emerald isle.
Tom, Ricardo and Chis have taken up the sport this year. The scouser, French and Australian accents are something to be admired on any GAA field.
Most annoying person in the club WhatsApp group: Neil Quigley and “The Big Sexy.” Neil likes to ask questions repeatedly on the WhatsApp regardless if they have been discussed previously. #PrayForQuigley
Best story involving a club member that’s fit for print: “The Big Sexy’s departure from Doha” (May not be fit for printing but needs a mention) and Shane Barry being arrested for 3 days for illegally entering the country. Shane decided to skip immigration on the way out of Doha when traveling on holidays as the queue was very long. He was working in the airport at the time and used his airport ID to go through the construction site and straight to the gate.
When returning to Doha the immigration police were very puzzled when Shane was asking to re-enter the country when, by their system and Shane’s passport, he had never left. The Qataris didn’t take this lightly and after 3 days in the cells Shane’s company came looking for him when he didn’t show up to work.
With a six-month travel ban until his court case, a very hefty fine and a lawyer who still doesn’t understand how he wasn’t deported, Shane is back traveling to tournaments with Qatar GAA. Although he seems to get “randomly” searched on most occasions.
If you’re a member of a GAA club abroad and would like to be featured on the site, feel free to send a mail to [email protected] or find us on Facebook or Twitter.
