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Irish Delegation Visits For Notre Dame Home Opener in Preperation for Dublin Game

Jennifer Weingart
/
WVPE Public Radio

 

The first home football game for the Fighting Irish is happening today at Notre Dame. A delegation from Ireland will be in attendance and they plan a home opener for the Irish in 2020 that will be thousands of miles away from Notre Dame Stadium. 

Next year Notre Dame will play Navy in Dublin. A group of organizers and media from Ireland is in South Bend this weekend to experience a football game in the states.

In addition to the Notre Dame-Navy game, four other games between other colleges will be played in Dublin, one a year through 2025. 

Neil Naughton is the chair of the College Football Classics. He said since Notre Dame played in Dublin in 2012, people have asked for a rematch.

“I come to campus a couple of times a year. For the last number of years people kept asking me, when are we going back? When are we going back?” 

“We’re all embracing it in so many ways," Padraic O'Kane an events organizer said. "Marching bands, the cheerleaders, that whole razzmatazz that goes along with college football is something we can learn from, and are learning from, with our sports.”

The Dublin game is August 29th. O’Kane and Naughton say they hope Irish people get into the game experience and they hope any fans of the Fighting Irish that come, make a holiday of it and see more of their country.

 

Contact Jennifer at jweingart@wvpe.org or follow her on Twitter at @jen_weingart

 

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