American College Football Arrives in Dublin

[Ladybbird]

Notre Dame Football Announce Return to Ireland in 2023

Southbend announces Aer Lingus College Football Classic, Fighting Irish v Naval Academy game in Dublin, Aug 2023.

Irish Central 5 NOV 2021.







Notre Dame's last game played in Ireland, in 2012, attracted over 35k visitors. Now the Fighting Irish will play their first-ever home game in Ireland, the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in August 2023.


The University of Notre Dame will play on foreign soil when Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, hosts the Fighting Irish and the Naval Academy for the 96th meeting in this storied rivalry, University Vice President and James E. Rohr Director of Athletics Jack Swarbrick announced. The game will take place on August 26, 2023, and be broadcast on NBC and simul-streamed on Pea****.

The Fighting Irish were originally scheduled to play Navy in Ireland in 2020 but the Covid-19 pandemic forced the game to be canceled. Both teams made quick work of scheduling another opportunity to head overseas.

“We’re thrilled to be able to provide another opportunity for our team and fans to experience the culture and hospitality of Ireland,” said Swarbrick, in a statement released by Notre Dame. “This trip overseas continues to strengthen our academic and athletic presence around the globe. Bringing a Notre Dame football home game atmosphere to Ireland has been a goal of ours and we couldn’t be more excited to partner with the Naval Academy to make it happen.”

“The past year and a half have been challenging for us all in Ireland and the United States. Today’s announcement that Notre Dame will play its first-ever home game in Ireland against Navy is extremely exciting and welcome news,” said Taoiseach (Ireland Prime Minister) Micheál Martin.

“The movement of this game to Ireland will provide a significant boost to our tourism and hospitality industries. We will have a very special welcome ready for the teams and supporters of Notre Dame and Navy when they visit us for the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in August 2023.”




The Notre Dame Fighting Irish lined out in Dublin, in 2012.


Navy v Notre Dame

The Navy-Notre Dame rivalry was the longest continuous intersectional rivalry in college football before the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 meeting, with the two schools having met every year since 1927. In addition to playing the 2023 game in Ireland, Swarbrick and Chet Gladchuk, Director of Athletics at Navy, have also entered into an agreement to extend the series until 2032.

“We are very pleased to be returning to Aviva Stadium in Dublin for the 96th playing of the Navy-Notre Dame game,” said Gladchuk.

“In 2012, it was one of the greatest airlifts in all of sports with more than 35,000 people coming from the United States to witness the beauty of Ireland and the pageantry that is a Navy-Notre Dame football weekend. We expect just as many people to return in 2023. The Navy fan-based support and enthusiasm for this game in Ireland is already overwhelming and with the ongoing support of the Prime Minister and the Irish government, it will again be an extraordinary experience. We look forward to our visit and a competitive contest against Notre Dame in a country that knows no bounds for hospitality.”

Notre Dame and Navy will jointly apply for an NCAA waiver to move this contest to August 26, 2023, from its originally scheduled date. This follows the same pattern as the canceled 2020 game in Ireland.

The 94th meeting between the two schools will take place on Saturday, Nov. 6, at Notre Dame Stadium. The kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m. ET and will be seen nationally on NBC and streamed on pea****.

Swarbrick will be joined by Ireland Consul General Kevin Byrne and NBC Sports’ Mike Tirico for a 10:30 a.m. ET press conference on Friday, Nov. 5, 2021. What the press conference here:

Notre Dame now has 11 of its 12 games set for the 2023 season. Here is Notre Dame's set schedule for the 2023 season:


Aug. 26 - vs. Navy (Dublin, Ireland)
Sep. 16 - Central Michigan (Home)
Sep. 23 - Ohio State (Home)
Oct. 14 - USC (Home)
Oct. 28 - Wake Forest (Home)
Nov. 4 - at Clemson
Nov. 25 - at Stanford.

[Ladybbird]

College Football Arrives in Dublin

Dublin Set to Look Very American This Weekend as College Football Invades

Cheerleaders and tailgate parties will be descending upon Dublin as Northwestern takes on Nebraska in the Aer Lingus College Football Classic this Saturday, 27 August.

Irish Central 26 AUG 2022.









The Aer Lingus College Football Series will finally kick off this weekend in Dublin, with more than 10,000 Americans expected to travel to Ireland for the event.



The Northwestern Wildcats will take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday, August 27 at 5:30 pm in Dublin's Aviva Stadium for a Week Zero game, the first regular-season international college football game in five years.

Dublin is set to have a distinctly American flair on Friday afternoon when two pep rallies, one for each team, will be hosted at Merrion Park in city center. The Northwestern pep rally will run from 3 - 3:40 pm, followed by the Nebraska pep rally from 4:30 - 5:10 pm. Both, of course, will feature the teams' bands and cheer squads.

Then, on Saturday from noon, fans can flock to the official pre-game tailgating parties in - where else? - some of Dublin’s most iconic pubs. Fitzsimons Temple Bar will serve as the official locale for Northwestern, while Buskers Bar, ThunderRoad Cafe, and The Auld Dubliner are the official Nebraska bars.

The real action kicks off at the Aviva Stadium at 5:30 pm where organizers are expecting upwards of 30,000 attendees, including some 13,000 fans coming from the United States, AP reports.

As of Thursday evening, tickets for the Northwestern - Nebraska game in Dublin, which first went on sale in April, were still available on Ticketmaster.ie.

The visiting American athletes are soaking up the Irish culture ahead of Saturday's big game. Wildcats defensive back AJ Hampton Jr. tried some Irish step-dancing, while the Huskers visited the Guinness Storehouse.

Ireland has been extending a céad míle fáilte to American college teams for more than 30 years. In 1988, the Emerald Isle Classic saw Boston College beat Army at Landsdowne Road. In 1996, Navy returned to play Notre Dame in Croke Park for the Shamrock Classic. The two had a rematch in 2012, again dubbed the Emerald Isle Classic, in the Aviva Stadium.

In 2014, the Croke Park Classic saw Penn State beat the University of Central Florida (UCF) 26 -24.

The first iteration of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic was played at Aviva Stadium in September 2016, where Georgia Tech beat Boston College 17-14.

In 2018, the Aer Lingus College Football Series was officially unveiled. The series was supposed to begin in August 2020, featuring another Navy - Notre Dame matchup, but, thanks to the pandemic, it was called off and is now set to take place on August 26, 2023. The 2021 game between Nebraska-Illinois was played stateside, also thanks to the pandemic. The matches after 2023 have yet to be announced.

“We intend to kick off the season every year in Ireland,” John Anthony, founder of Anthony Travel and Irish American Events, the game’s organizer, told AP.

Ireland's Minister for Sport Jack Chambers is equally as optimistic. He told AP reporters: “The COVID backdrop obviously had an impact, but this is about getting it back and growing it over the next number of years.

“It’s something we’re committed to. We’re confident around the economic evaluation of this and the benefit it brings the country but also the opportunity it brings for everyone that’s coming, whether it’s tourism, enterprise, personal or business.”

reland has been extending a céad míle fáilte to American college teams for more than 30 years. In 1988, the Emerald Isle Classic saw Boston College beat Army at Landsdowne Road. In 1996, Navy returned to play Notre Dame in Croke Park for the Shamrock Classic. The two had a rematch in 2012, again dubbed the Emerald Isle Classic, in the Aviva Stadium.

In 2014, the Croke Park Classic saw Penn State beat the University of Central Florida (UCF) 26 -24.

The first iteration of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic was played at Aviva Stadium in September 2016, where Georgia Tech beat Boston College 17-14.

In 2018, the Aer Lingus College Football Series was officially unveiled. The series was supposed to begin in August 2020, featuring another Navy - Notre Dame matchup, but, thanks to the pandemic, it was called off and is now set to take place on August 26, 2023. The 2021 game between Nebraska-Illinois was played stateside, also thanks to the pandemic. The matches after 2023 have yet to be announced.

“We intend to kick off the season every year in Ireland,” John Anthony, founder of Anthony Travel and Irish American Events, the game’s organizer, told AP.

Ireland's Minister for Sport Jack Chambers is equally as optimistic. He told AP reporters: “The COVID backdrop obviously had an impact, but this is about getting it back and growing it over the next number of years.

“It’s something we’re committed to. We’re confident around the economic evaluation of this and the benefit it brings the country but also the opportunity it brings for everyone that’s coming, whether it’s tourism, enterprise, personal or business.”