Local team competes at Jokgu championships
Members of Team Ireland at the Jokgu World Championships in Korea.
Fresh off a historic bronze medal win at the Futsal World Championships last year, the Ireland futsal team competed at the first ever Jogku World Championships back in August.
The Irish team has strong local connections with Easkey duo Steven Conway and Rory Selby-Smith, Foxford’s Jamie Mulrooney and Karl Colleary of Enniscrone all part of the side.
Futnet, also known as football-tennis, sees two teams made up of one, two or three players on an adapted tennis court playing with a soccer ball. The Jokgu version is predominantly played in South Korea, which served as a fitting host to the World Championships, with the ball used smaller and heavier than a futsal one.
“It's probably more similar to maybe a heavy volleyball,” explains Steven Conway. “The futnet ball that we're used to is lighter than a normal soccer ball but the same size. It has a different balance, a different pace to it.”
They didn't have an opportunity to practice with their Jokgu ball (different to a Futnet ball – smaller and heavier) before the tournament began, although Conway offered a reason that could only happen to an Irish team.
“The last futnet tournament that the Koreans came to last November in Prague, they gave us a Jokgu ball to practice with and we immediately lost it in a pub in Prague!”
Fittingly, South Korea were Ireland’s first opponents. After losing the first set 15-0, they got four points for a 15-4 loss. Considering the context of the result – 2.5 million people play Jokgu in Korea and until that moment zero played in Ireland – Ireland played very well in their first ever experience of Jokgu.
“We hoped to have an opportunity when we arrived there to practice a little. However, we had to get the Jokgu-specific shoes for playing first which the tournament organisers provided. While getting the shoes we were being pulled left and right for photos, interviews, technical meetings, and other business while we continued to ask for a ball so we could actually practice!
“Through all the confusion we couldn't get our hands on a ball or even to get a feel for the court which was softer than we expected and so affected the bounce. In an instant we are standing for the national anthems out on the court. Next thing I am kicking the ball for the first time as the serve to start the game against South Korea!
“The South Koreans, after our game with them, gave us a kind of tutorial of how to do the different techniques and they're showing us some kicks that have elements of taekwondo, different tactics involved in the game.” Despite Ireland losing 15-4, 15-5 in their second game to Thailand, those lessons saw a considerable improvement in performance in their second game against their esteemed opponents, who play a version of futnet called Sepak Takraw.
Burlgaria beat Ireland 15-7, 15-8 before Karl Colleary and Rory Selby-Smith made their debuts against Nepal in Ireland’s final game that saw them defeated 15-6, 15-6. But for Conway, the experience of travelling and competing in Korea is one that will stay with him and help improve this team going forward.
“The value of the cultural experience and the whole tournament experience. The different techniques that (the Koreans) showed us and we can bring a lot of that into the futnet as well.
“The body movements, like how to angle your body towards the ball when you're setting or smashing and how to twist your hips and these kind of things and what part of the foot to hit the ball with, a certain volley, a certain technique you're going for. We learnt so much of that that's valuable and we came home with a couple of Jokgu balls we can train with.
“The kind of friendships that we've developed with a lot of those other teams in the last thirteen or whatever years, it's just amazing.
“We meet them every year or every two years and we know what jobs they have and we can catch up with them. It's a really close community and for everybody playing this random kind of underground sport.
“People from all these different backgrounds. There’s moments where this Swiss guy will come up to you when you're watching the finals and start singing Wild Rover and you’re asking him how do you know this song.”
The next outing for Ireland will be at the Futnet World Championships next month in Hungary and Conway hopes the game continues to grow back home.
“The plan is to always try and get more people involved push it on social media as much as possible. It should be incorporated with every soccer club in the country, they should incorporate futnet and futsal instead of focusing on 11-a-side. It would develop the game much better.”
