On Sunday 24th May, IAFA hosted a number of athletes from Oklahoma University who were spending time in Ireland as part of a two week program to study sport in Ireland as part of a Sport & Culture undergraduate course. The students visited a number of sports groups while in Ireland. Oklahoma University is one of the top sporting colleges in the NCAA – their American football team has won seven National Championships and sent numerous players to the NFL.

The day started with a seminar on the history and current status of American football in Ireland by Ciaran O’Sullivan and Cillian Smith.

Following the seminar, a number of players and coaches from the North Kildare Reapers and the West Dublin Rhinos also took part and spoke with the OU students about the life of an American football player in Ireland and the differences between the sporting landscape in the US and Ireland.

The students also took in the UL Vikings vs Trinity College fixture in ALSAA with Nicole Kornet from the OU Sooners Women’s Basketball team performing the coin toss to start the game.

Representatives of the IAFA were among the 160 delegates who attended the Federation of Irish Sport Conference 2015 at the Guiness Storehouse in Dublin last Monday. Delegates included most of the CEOs or Presidents from Ireland’s sporting bodies along with senior personel from the Irish Sports Council, the Department and Failte Ireland.

The Conference featured a number of workshops, a keynote speech by Minister Pascal O’Donohoe and a session on fundraising and networking conducted by Kingsley Aikins. Minister O’Donohoe joined the table of IAFA Commissioner Cillian Smith for the first of the three workshops. Also attending on behalf of the IAFA were Matt Craig, Ian Cahill and special guest Aidan Prendergast of Cardinal Consulting. IAFA external Board member Colum Lavery attended on behalf of Softball Ireland. Former NFL Europe Coach, Stephen McCusker was one of the exhibitors.

American football officials, Carla Nico and Kelly Dwyer made history last Sunday, when for the first time ever in Irish sport, a mens’ national league game in a field sport was presided over by a crew which included two women.

 Carla and Kelly were part of five person crew which officiated the Mullingar Minotaurs versus Waterford Wolves game played in Mulligar on 17^th May. Carla, who recently moved to Ireland, is an experienced official who previously officiated at semi-pro level in Brazil. Kelly qualified as a Level 1 official in Ireland earlier this year.

The Irish American Football Association is no stranger to making firsts in female participation. Coach Sarah Matthews of the Dundalk Mavericks is believed to be the only female Head Coach of a mens’ team playing at national league level in any sport in Ireland. Sarah follows in the footsteps of Lara Sleator of the Carrickfergus Knights, who coached for a number of years before becoming the Knights team manager.

The IAFA website – www.americanfootball.ie – was victim of a malicious attack by a third party in recent days. As a result the website has been down at times and there are some features not functioning. We are working to get these issues resolved – please be patient with us over the next few days.

The Irish American Football Association is pleased to announce that the Office of the Information Commissioner has agreed with its views regarding certain records which the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport refused to release to it. On 17^th April last, the Commissioner ordered the Department to release the majority of the records sought, including all the key records, to the IAFA. The Association would like to express its disappointment that a Government Department would chose to act in an unlawful manner. The IAFA is now eagerly awaiting the outcome of a third investigation currently being conducted by the Information Commissioner.

The IAFA will be making a more comprehensive statement on the issues surrounding these investigations within the next couple of weeks.

Summaries of the Information Commissioners investigation reports can be found at the following links:

http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/Decisions/Decisions/Mr-X-and-the-Department-of-Transport-Tourism-and-Sport-.html

http://www.oic.gov.ie/en/Decisions/Decisions/Mr-X-and-the-Department-of-Transport-Tourism-and-Sport11.html

The IAFA confirms that it the “Mr. X.” who sought the investigation.