Ava was abandoned as a baby on the streets of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She has never met her parents and was taken in by an organisation for disadvantaged children where she grew up. When asked about her mum, Ava said she had no clue where her mother went. Despite living in crowded and busy conditions at the care home, over time she built strong connections with her fellow girls there.
“Ava and I were basically like sisters since we always hung out together,” she says.
When it was time for play, the boys played games like football and volleyball, but the girls weren’t allowed to join in.
“Girls on the other hand were encouraged to do activities such as dancing and art instead”, Ava adds.
Although Ava spent most of her time in a large crowd, she knew very little about what went on outside their organization.
In 2018, someone offered to take Vanessa to a training session of a sport she never even heard before – Gaelic football. The club was named Cairde Khmer and it was created in the year 2017 by two Irish men, Conor Wall and Paddy Campbell. Ronan Sheehan, the chairman of this club said that they wanted to have fun while checking out Gaelic tournaments at Bangkok. After the trip went successfully, they decided to keep the club existing.
At first, Cairde Khmer was a soccer team made up mostly of people from other countries. But in 2018, more and more Cambodian players started showing up for practice.
Ava joined the team then at age 13 and had trouble understanding the rules when she first joined. But eventually she became one of their best players and showed no signs of fear during games.
Ava (far left) is now an important part of the team known for her intense tackling skills.
“She is really tough,” Sheehan said. “Her tackling can be quite rough, and usually even grown women in their 20s and 30s have to ask the referee to protect them from this 14-year-old girl. The referees always tell us that she needs to calm down, but it’s a big part of her game so we don’t want to take the edge off.”
News about this athlete quickly spread throughout Cambodia, which led more people joining in too.
Vat Sreypov joined a team in 2019. When she was younger, she wanted to join sports like the boys in her village but never got the chance. She remembered her brother telling her that playing football wasn’t meant for women and that people usually didn’t encourage ladies to play football in Cambodia because of certain rules and expectations they had about how females should act such as not walking too fast or being heard while they’re walking. Cairde Khmer gave her an opportunity to break away from traditional views.
Touch Phanouch was born in 2000 and his family wasn’t well off. He lived near Stung Meanchey, a famous “rubbish dump” on the edge of the capital city.
Thanks to a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Touch was able to go to school and play sports, including Gaelic Football which is similar to Australian rules football. The men’s team at this sport has been attracting new players like Touch from the area recently.
When he was a teenager, he got really interested in sports. Through that he found out about Gaelic football, which is similar to both Australian rules football and soccer. He loves this sport because it makes him think harder and combines different rules from different games.
Almost 90% of the Cairde Khmer players come from Cambodia, which is very different from other Gaelic football teams in Asia, most of whom are Irish.
Mr Sheehan has been teaching English language in Phnom Penh for 8 years and according to him, on Mondays around 45-50 Cambodian people join the training.
I am still amazed when I see people come together to play soccer, just like my brothers and sisters did with my dad in Ireland.
Last year, the team Cairde Khmer made an amazing accomplishment by winning a silver medal at the Asian Gaelic Games against tough Thai opposition. It only took them a short time to make such a major achievement!
In 2019, the male players won both the Asian Gaelic Games and South Asian Gaelic Games in the junior category. Meanwhile, the female players only reached the final of the South Asian Gaelic Games tournament.
One year later, Cambodian players outnumbered the Irish ex-pat team-mates in both teams. Both teams were then recognized as runners-up at 2022 Asian Gaelic Games which happened in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Then, during one of their matches in semi-finals with a strong Thai side, the women’s team scored a goal in the last few seconds and made an impressive achievement!
Sheehan remembers how the referee blew the whistle and, in that moment, she burst into tears of joy. She says it was like no other feeling she’s ever had on the field.
Now Cairde Khmer have been invited to play in the GAA World Games in Derry, Northern Ireland. They’re trying to raise money for their trip this July. Phanouch is so excited because this is just like playing in a ‘World Cup’ when you get to be part of a big international event! He loves watching Irish Gaelic Football videos on YouTube.
We are about to meet some amazing people who love Gaelic football. They are just like the superstars or popular athletes you would watch on TV that have achieved huge success in their sport, like Lionel Messi. I can’t wait to speak with them and learn all about Gaelic football.
Sreypov also loves Gaelic football so much that she expresses her joy for the sport through her nail art! Phanouch shares how this sport has given him and his teammates a chance to travel around the world- something which was impossible before.
Phanouch recently graduated from university and works at a sports resort in Thailand. He said that Cairde Khmer gave him a chance to visit amazing places like Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam which most people don’t usually get the opportunity to go to; not even Ireland. This experience was truly extraordinary for many, who otherwise would not have been able to travel around the world.
Sreypov confesses, “I never thought of going abroad or making money. But through football I have learned to explore the world. That is what this sport has given me”. Her family was against her playing football earlier, but now they are proud of her accomplishments in Gaelic Football.
“My Cambodian parents are proud of me just for travelling to another country, so they don’t care about me playing football anymore,” Ava smiles. She even taught her boyfriend to play the game!
Ava often scores the most points at tournaments and is really looking forward to play in the birthplace of Gaelic football later this year.
But it gave her much more than just recognition in the field.
“I feel happy when I meet new people outside,” she explains. “It helps me be more relaxed and less lonely.”
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