St. Joseph's Boys, Dublin, Ireland and Izumo City, Japan - a unique sporting and cultural link
Izumo City, played host to Ireland's World Cup Squad in 2002 and the legacy of the football friendship developed during that visit, with the Irish Squad, fans and the F.A.I has been nourished and developed by the Izumo City officials and our club, St. Joseph's Boys AFC. A strong friendship and cultural bond with the people and city of Izumo has grown steadily over the past few years and to date, two delegations, which included thirty five children and over thirty adults - both parent and team-leaders from our club, have made the long but enormously enjoyable trips to Japan. It is without doubt the furthest any Irish schoolboy club have travelled for a 'game of football'.
In October 2003, 'Joey's' Under-13 Premier side, under the guidance of Ger Egan and Brian Devitt, took a group of twenty nine boys and coaches to Izumo, at the invitation of the city's Mayor, Masahiro Nishio, to represent the club and the F.A.I on this sporting and cultural visit. This trip to the 'Land of the Rising Sun' proved to be an enormous success both in football terms and culturally. Long-lasting friendships were made by both adults and children alike. It must also be noted that a new 'cultural understanding' was also achieved given the 'coming together', for the first time in many cases, of western and Japanese people.
So successful were the combined visits to Izumo by the Republic of Ireland Squad, St. Joseph's and indeed the subsequent visits by former Republic of Ireland senior coach, Noel O'Reilly, that the city now hosts an 'Irish Week' every year. On the back of all this, an independent group, the 'Izumo Ireland Friendship Club' has been formed. This group of 'Ireland Fans', based in the rural Shimane region of Japan, must be the most unique group of Irish fans anywhere in the world.
The subsequent return visits by groups of children and adults from Izumo in 2004 and this year 2006, further develops and strengthens the Cultural and Sporting Exchange Programme which was initiated jointly by the Izumo City Council and the St. Joseph's Boys club.
The current group of children, parents, coaching staff and city officials are coming to Ireland at the invitation of our club and are officially representing the City of Izumo.
Club team leader and St. Joseph’s / Izumo liaison officer Ger Egan said “This relationship between Ireland and Izumo is very special. Our visit to Izumo in October 2003 was truly extraordinary. Our subsequent visit in 2005 was equally successful. Over the years the teams from our clubs have travelled to many destinations around the world but nothing could compare to what our small group from Dublin experienced during our ‘Japanese Adventure’.
To a man, our group were treated like VIP’s, almost like returning heroes. Our greeting by the entire 2000-strong staff of Izumo City Hall, flag-waving and cheering our arrival had to be witnessed to be believed. This emotional event was matched by the great reception we received from 800 schoolchildren from the Izumo 1st High-School.
This set the tone for the rest of the stay, which was remarkable at every turn.
We are indebted to the Mayor of Izumo, Mr. Masahiro Nishio and the City Council for their generosity. The Japanese, especially our friends from Izumo, are a fantastic people. They could teach the rest of the world many lessons in sportsmanship, hospitality and respect – respect on and off the field, no matter what the situation.”
A great International relationship has been created. We now need the support and assistance of the wider community to further develop this tremendous link both from a sporting and cultural viewpoint.
