College football in Ireland began initially in 1988 as part of a promotional campaign to mark the Dublin millennium celebrations. Initially known as the Emerald Isle Classic, it was the "first major" NCAA-sanctioned American college football game played in Europe.[1] The first games were played, at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, in 1988 and 1989.
The event was first proposed and arranged by Aidan J. Prendergast and Jim O'Brien. Prendergast, who was a former president of the Irish American Football Association conceived the idea of bringing a major NCAA game to Ireland in the mid-1980s and started pitching the idea on both sides of the Atlantic. Prendergast promoted both the 1988 and 1989 games.
Also previously known as the Shamrock Classic, from 2016 the event was marketed as the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.
1988
The inaugural Emerald Isle Classic was held at Lansdowne Road in Dublin with a crowd of 42,524 in attendance. It featured a 2–7 Boston College team led by Mark Kamphaus that beat the 8–1 Army Black Knights 38–24.[2]
1989
The second annual Emerald Isle Classic was held at Lansdowne Road on 2 December 1989. In the contest, Pittsburgh defeated Rutgers by a final score of 46–29 before a crowd of 19,800.[3]
While the Gaelic Grounds had a capacity at the time of about 50,000 people,[4] the game had an attendance of approximately 12,000.[6] According to a contemporary report in the New York Times, some of the local Irish attendees (including the sports editor from the Limerick Leader) queried how substitutions could be made freely between plays. And, while some were unfamiliar with "linebackers and end-arounds", the attendees "did recognize high hang-time punts".[6]
In 1996, Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy began a second American football event in Ireland called the Shamrock Classic. The event, played at Croke Park, drew a slightly smaller crowd than the first Emerald Isle Classic. Notre Dame won the game over Navy, setting the record for the longest winning streak over an annual collegiate opponent at 33 wins (Notre Dame added 10 additional wins to the streak, which remains the all-time record at 43 consecutive victories).[citation needed]
2012
A return trip by the teams in 2012, held at Aviva Stadium, was confirmed by the two schools and stadium management in September 2010. The Emerald Isle Classic was tied to the Irish tourism initiative The Gathering, which sought to encourage members of the Irish diaspora (especially in the U.S.) to visit their ancestral home in 2013. The first advance sellout for a sporting event in the two-year history of Aviva Stadium, 15,000 tickets sold in less than two hours, and about 35,000 Americans travelled to Dublin. The 2012 game also aired live in parts of Europe as well as the U.S.
The game provided a huge boost to the Irish economy, estimated to be approximately €100 million.[9]
A total of six players who featured in the Emerald Isle Classic for Notre Dame went on to be selected in the 2013 NFL Draft. Most notably, Tyler Eifert was selected in the first round by the Cincinnati Bengals.
2014
In June 2013, Penn State and UCF were reportedly in negotiations to play their 2014 season opener at Aviva, and the stadium was also seen as a potential venue for a proposed bowl game that would begin that season.[10] The Orlando Sentinel, located in UCF's home city, reported in July 2013 that the teams would play the game at Croke Park instead of Aviva.[11] That month the game, to be called the Croke Park Classic, was confirmed.[12] The Croke Park Classic saw the University of Central Florida (UCF) host Penn State in their 2014 Season Opener in GAA HQ on 30 August 2014. This was the first time UCF and Penn State had played outside the United States and Penn State took the Dan Rooney Trophy in a competitively fought game. 53,304 fans attended the thrilling encounter in which Penn State defeated UCF with a Sam Ficken field goal in the dying seconds, by a final score of 26 to 24. The Irish American Football Association was one of the official partners in the game and provided both promotional and technical assistance to Croke Park. [13]
2016
On 4 June 2015, Irish American Events Limited (IAEL), which is a joint venture between Corporate.ie and Anthony Travel, announced that American college football would return to Ireland in 2016 with a match-up between Boston College and Georgia Tech. The game was played at Aviva Stadium on 3 September 2016, and billed as the Aer Lingus College Football Classic.[14]
The announcement was made at the reception in Dublin attended by the TaoiseachEnda Kenny TD, which was followed by a reception in Boston College in the U.S. attended by the mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh.
Aer Lingus was announced as the title sponsor for the game, with Tourism Ireland, Failte Ireland and the Dublin City Council also lending support.[citation needed]
The game attracted 40,562 spectators and resulted in a 17–14 victory for Georgia Tech.[15]
2020
University of Notre Dame announced on 25 October 2018, that the Fighting Irish would return to Dublin to face Navy Midshipmen at Aviva Stadium on 29 August 2020.[16] On 2 June 2020, it was announced that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the game would not be played in Dublin and would instead be played at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.[17] The game would eventually not be played after Notre Dame elected to play an all-ACC schedule for the 2020 season, and the conference disallowed most games outside the conference to maintain the same screening standards for each game.[18]
Georgia Tech faced off against Florida State in Aviva Stadium to kick off the 2024 college football season on 24 August 2024. Georgia Tech upset the tenth-ranked Seminoles 24–21 with a walkoff, game-winning field goal.[22] For the first time in the history of ESPN’s flagship college football pregame show, College Gameday aired outside of the United States in Dublin to kick off the 2024 college football season.[23] TG4 broadcast this year's edition of the Football Classic live from the Aviva Stadium marking the first time ever that the match was to be broadcast live on free-to-air television in Ireland.[24]
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