First Western Football Team to Play in China Arrived in 1976
University College Dublin squad invited by Chinese FA marked historic cultural exchange during China's opening era
L'essentiel
- In 1976, 18-year-old Paddy Dwyer captained University College Dublin as the first Western football team to play in China, invited by the Chinese national football association.
- At the time, China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution and on the brink of market reforms.
- Crowds gathered to see their first visual of white people, while streets were filled with bicycles and few cars.
Résumé généré par IA
When Paddy Dwyer arrived in China in 1976, crowds jostled to catch a glimpse of him and his companions: the first Western football team to play in the country. China at the time was emerging from the tumult of the Cultural Revolution, and on the brink of market reforms that would take the country from economic stagnation to explosive growth. "All we could see was lines of people running beside our bus, trying to look in the windows, to see their first visual of a white person," Dwyer said. On the streets, "it was all bicycles". "There were very few cars to be seen," he said. Dwyer, then only 18, was captain of a squad from University College Dublin who had been invited to play a series of matches across China by the national football association.
