We’ve all had those blue China days. The AQI is way too high, making you lament the presence of air in your pollution (not vice versa). The days where you serendipitously end up at the Tiyu Xilu Metro station at 5pm and undergo a crushing torture that even the Spanish Inquisition would have declared cruel and unusual.
Experts and folk practitioners alike agree the best way to ward off the blues is to increase your hot water intake, socialize and get plentiful amounts of vigorous activity. We have assembled a list below of amateur sports teams and fitness groups in the Pearl River Delta that will enable you to get your workout on with locals and expats alike in environments ranging from social to highly competitive.
Hot water sold separately.
1. Guangzhou International Football League (GZIFL)
The GZIFL is perhaps the only organized expatriate-centric intramural league open to the public in Guangzhou. A self-described “…amateur football league comprising of teams made up primarily, though not exclusively, of foreign players living in Guangzhou,” league games take place on Sunday evenings between 6pm and 11pm at the football fields on Tiyu Dong Lu in Tianhe District. The league runs from September to June, with breaks for Western and Chinese holidays. To join the league, you must first join one of the teams in the league who look after the registration for their players. All you need to do to get hooked up with a team is send an email to gifl.info@gmail.com outlining your football experience and they will forward it to the teams. A team in Guangzhou will then select you, or you will be loaned out to a struggling Leiscter City squad trying to stave off relegation in return for five jiao and an order of take out chow mein.
Contact the league via WeChat (ID: gzifl2015) or visit gzifl.org for more info.
2. Guangzhou Rams Men’s Rugby Team
The Rams have been a Guangzhou fixture for years, terrorizing the local Irish Pubs with their antics and onlookers with their short shorts. Currently celebrating their 20th year of continuous operation, the team is a social rugby squad, no need to have been a former member of the New Zealand All Blacks to apply.
According to organizers, players can be as involved or uninvolved as they wish and attend practices as their schedule and outside commitments allow. Practices are once a week on Thursdays from 8.30-10.30pm at the turf fields just outside of Exit D of Xianggang Dong Metro Station.
Joining the team allows for a chance to meet a diverse group of guys, as the Rams have members from far-flung locales like The Gambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Columbia, The Republic of Texas and Argentina. Members also have a chance to travel all over China, playing games in Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Hong Kong and Fuzhou.
Club dues are RMB400 per half year and RMB700 per calendar year, with student discounts available (additional charge for official game day kit). Contact Scott via WeChat (ID: scottrugby) for more information.
3. Guangzhou Boot Camp
The Guangzhou Boot Camp is a group of individuals who gather each Tuesday by Exit A of the APM Line’s Haixinsha Metro Station at 7pm, rain or shine. Membership is open and new people show up each week. After meeting at the metro station, the group is then subjected to an arduous, yet rewarding hour-long workout session involving calisthenics, sprints, jogging, crunches and pushups at the hands of Courtney Watson, a former US Division 1 football (soccer) player who likely double majored in exercise science and medieval torture. Essentially it is the perfect chance to exorcise all the excess calories taken in on the newly revamped Taco Tuesdays.
The group is super friendly and sees people of all fitness levels attend each week. A nice mix of expats and locals attend and you will be sure to meet new friends and fresh faces here. Participation is free, all you need to bring is comfortable workout gear, running shoes and some water.
4. Foshan Sharks Men’s Rugby Team
The Sharks are relative newcomers on the scene and represent Foshan in the South China Rugby League. The team is also a social group, welcoming individuals of all skill ranges and experience and has a diverse group of players from China, Fiji, South Africa and Australia among other places.
Much like other rugby teams in the region, the Sharks also travel around south China for games. Players are expected to fork over RMB30 each training session (Saturdays from 3-5pm) and must have their own pair of cleats.
Contact Chris, President of the Foshan Sharks, for further information via WeChat (ID: Chris13422222207).
5. The Guangzhou Rocks Men’s Rugby Team
The Rocks are an all-Japanese team that reflect the wild popularity of rugby in Japan, a love that was reciprocated from rugby’s sanctioning body by anointing Japan as the host site of the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The Rocks welcome members of all nationalities and skill levels and practice each Sunday from 3-5pm. Time commitment to the organization is super flexible and informal (meaning you can come and go as you please) and the only equipment you’re required to have is a pair of cleats. Contact WeChat ID jiantai800 for more information.
6. Scorpions Men’s Aussie Rules Football (AFL) Team
This Aussie Rules team is composed almost exclusively of Chinese students who attended sport universities around Guangzhou. They are officially sanctioned by the Port Adelaide Club in Australia and compete in the South China Australian Football League (SCAFL), a six-team consortium composed of teams primarily from Hong Kong. There is a less competitive developmental side for newcomers and those interested in just learning the basics of the sport.
The team practices twice a week, once a week when there are games. Practices occur Thursdays from 7.30-9.30pm and Saturday mornings from 9am-11am at the Guangzhou Sports University’s west field. The time commitment for the A-side is more grueling, but beginners can take solace in knowing the developmental team’s commitments are less daunting.
The Scorpions also run a hugely popular joint Aussie Rules and Rugby youth camp in conjunction with the Guangzhou Rams that occurs each Sunday for three months and costs RMB700-850. Kids as young as 5 years are welcome to join.
For more information, contact club president Howard on WeChat (ID: chinaaflzhanghao). For information on the Aussie Rules and Junior Rugby joint program, contact Mark via WeChat (ID: markdavies67).
7. Guangzhou Rams Women’s Rugby Team
The Guangzhou Women’s Rugby Team has been contesting matches all over south China for several years now and allows ladies interested in playing the sport to take up the game in a social environment.
Games are played within Guangdong province, as well as in Macau and Hong Kong.
The team plays touch rugby each Wednesday at 6pm at Tianhe Sports Center and have full contact training on Thursdays at South China Agricultural University. The best way to get involved with the ‘Lady Rams’ is to venture over to Tianhe Sports Center on a Wednesday afternoon to partake in touch rugby. No equipment is needed besides athletic clothing and a pair of cleats. There is a nominal membership fee to participate.
For more information, contact Vega, team captain, on WeChat (ID: Vegahuihui).
8. Floor Hockey
Each Thursday, a group of hockey enthusiasts pay homage to both the sport of hockey and the street hockey scenes in Wayne’s World by playing ‘floorball,’ a hockey game with shoes and concrete instead of skates and ice.
The group is led by an affable Canuck named Rob and meets every Thursday night from 7-9pm on the grounds of the American International School in Guangzhou on Ersha Island. There is no official league, you will just find a pick-up game here, although the team does occasionally travel to Hong Kong or Shanghai for the All-China Floorball Championships.
All specialty equipment is provided and prospective Gretzkys and Garths alike are welcome to join. The cost is RMB50 per session to pay court rental fees and equipment upkeep.
For more information contact Rob on WeChat (ID: robturnbull).
9. Tianhe Sports Center Basketball
There is a litany of basketball leagues to join in town, if you can find them. The catch is you need to speak Mandarin or Cantonese or have a friend to sign you up. These leagues will be almost exclusively composed of Chinese players. There is no expat-oriented basketball league in Guangzhou operating as of 2017 that we could uncover.
If you want to play basketball, head to Tianhe Sports Center any day of the week during the evening. Every competitive player in the city is out there posturing for the hordes of fellow players and onlookers. This is where any serious hoop action takes place in the city. The mood and scenery here evoke the action scenes involving Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in White Men Can’t Jump.
All Westerners should be prepared for extra hard fouls. Remember to be respectful at all times.
10. American Football
There are four teams in the immediate vicinity of Guangzhou that compete in the American Football League China, or AFLC. If you want to strap on some pads and carom off of other helmeted players to see what Americans are so hyped up about, you are spoiled for choice. Click here for our guide to American football in Guangzhou.
11. Sino United Dancing Federation of Ayis
The SUDFA is a huge league of men and women alike who blast vintage Cantonese pop and hits from the Mao era and dance along to them. The SUDFA has branches in every city square and intersection throughout China. Practices are nightly and occur for two hours after sunset, weather permitting. Membership cost is absolutely free and very informal, you can change dancing crews as you wish. Cantonese language skills are a plus.
There really is no United Federation of Dancing Ayis, we just wanted to underscore that if semi-retired cadres could find a team to join, so can you.
Put me in coach, I’m ready to play!
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