Liu Minxia

SHENZHEN residents are known for being passionate about their sports, and the 50,000 expatriates living in the city are no different.

An Algerian football team that formed only about three months ago registered last week for Shenzhen’s Division C football league, which altogether involves 18 amateur teams and will kick off Thursday night.

“We want to join the league to feel the heat and make more Chinese friends,” said the founder and captain of the team, who gave his name as Redouane, a restaurant manager.

The organizers of Inter Shenzhen, the oldest and largest expat football club in the city, said they would like to join the league too. Inter Shenzhen has about 36 core players from more than 20 countries.

“It will be the first time in the city’s history that so many international teams have taken part in the league,” said an official surnamed Ye with the Shenzhen Football Association.

In the past few months, many new sports teams have come into being in the expat community. Darragh Hudson, an Irish engineer with an electronics manufacturer in Shenzhen, started two teams: a football team named Locomotive and a Shenzhen rugby team. Hudson is also organizing the first ever rugby league in Shenzhen’s history, and about 10 teams from Hong Kong, Macao, Guangzhou and Shenzhen will compete in the league, which is scheduled to begin at the end of this month.

Eddie Pittman, a retired professional basketball player from the United States began his expatriate basketball team four months ago. With 13 players from different nationalities, the team plays against the Li Ning professional developmental team in Bao’an every weekend. (Continued on Page 9)

(More on Pages 7, 8, 9)

“I’m happy to have finally found a team to play with,” said Shawn Gifford, a former professional American football player from Canada who recently joined the basketball team. Though Gifford lives near Dongmen, he practices with the team in Shekou every Thursday night. “First, I take a bus to Dongmen, and then take the Metro to Window of the World. Then I get a taxi heading to Shekoue,” Gifford said.

Even though cricket is not a popular sport in China, the city has several cricket teams, the largest of which is Shenzhen Commonwealth Cricket Club founded by Canadian Justin Gallego last year.

Some teams established years ago have become more active recently. Shenzhen Celts Gaelic Football Club, which was started in 2003 and currently has more than 80 members from 16 countries, is preparing for upcoming tournaments in Malaysia and Beijing. Six Hashers from the Shekou Hash House Harriers, which came into being in 1984, flew to Perth, Australia, last month to attend the bi-annual “InterHash,” which saw more than 4,300 Hashers from 85 countries taking part. First organized in 1990 for professionals in the oil industry, the Oilmen’s Green Jacket Golf Tournament is getting bigger each year.

“I have participated in the Hash. It is a great way to see more of the local scenic spots and meet a mixed group of fun people,” said Shekou resident Mary Ann MacCartney. MacCartney said her family and friends played other sports like golf and badminton. “Sports are great because the language barrier disappears. I think the expat sports clubs definitely contribute to our quality of life on many different levels,” she said.

Shenzhen is also home to the Shekou Soccer 8’s, an international amateur league started by English football fan Antony Hatcher nine years ago.