The Nepalese community in Ireland is upbeat for the upcoming WCC-U19 qualifier match to be held in Ireland, and making all its preparation for welcoming the Nepalese squad.
The Nepalese U-19 team is playing against nine other teams, 1st four matches are to be held in the Republic of Ireland and the rest five in Northern Ireland. To welcome and cheer up the Nepalese team during all matches and to help them make history in Ireland, a joint meeting of NRN-Ireland and Nepal Ireland Society, held in Dublin recently, has chalked out the following activities:
Sub-Committee
A 16-member sub-committee has been formed, with separate responsibilities for each member of the committee. The team also consists of a teenager representative, who will coordinate to bring 15 – 20 Nepalese teenager fans to each match. As the U-19 team consists of all teenager players these teenager fans could highly motivate the Nepalese players on foreign grounds. The sub-committee also consists of some cricketer members who are already playing cricket on various cricket grounds in Ireland. It is expected that these members will provide useful information about the Irish ground to the Nepalese players. The sub-committee also consists of members from Northern Ireland, who will coordinate with the maximum attendance of Nepalese fans in the matches to be played in the Derry (Northern Ireland) area. It is expected that some fans from the Republic of Ireland will also travel to Northern Ireland (Derry), especially for Nepal – Ireland matches on Saturday, 6th August.
Wearing Nepali Team Jersey and waving Nepal flags during matches
CAN have been requested and they have agreed to bring 101 Nepal cricket team Jersey through the visiting team. The front-line Nepalese fans will wear these Nepali cricket team jerseys, Nepali hat and wave Nepalese flags during matches, which will further boost the confidence of Nepalese players.
Welcome to Nepalese squad
More than 15 Nepalese fans, including members of the sub-committee, are planning to travel to Dublin Airport in the morning (7:45 AM) of Monday 25th August to welcome the Nepalese Team.
Live streaming of matches
The sub-committee is also trying to either live streaming or live updating of match score through NIS website. NRN-Ireland has already purchased a mobile modem for this purpose and young fans are being trained for the same. We are co-ordinating with Nischal Tiwari (cricnepal.com) regarding how we can distribute this live updates to the wider Nepalese community.
Response from Nepalese fans
Almost every Nepalese in Ireland is talking about the WCC U-19 match and how to take leave / day off to watch the matches. As it is summer holiday season, parents are also enthusiastic to bring their children to the matches. As the match will be free entry, this is also expected to increase the number of Nepalese fans in the matches. A group of at least 15 Nepalese fans have already decided to travel 300 km from Cork to Dublin to watch the first match with Afghanistan on Thursday, 28th July. Similarly, another group of 15 fans will be traveling 200 km from Limerick to Dublin to watch the second day match. There is already a heavy demand for the Nepalese Team jersey and places for the welcome dinner.
At present, approximately 3,000 Nepalese are staying in Republic of Ireland.
By Keshav Bhattarai, Dublin, Ireland
