On Sunday 31st August, the Sunday Times included a major feature article entitled ‘Patriot Games’ on the Irish American Football Association in it’s ‘Sunday’ section. The article which was put together by journalist Graeme Lennox, included interviews with various people involved in the sport and talked about the progress that has been made in recent years. Those interviewed included Trinity College players Dan Finnamore and Rob McDowell, Coaching Tutor Ciaran O’Sullivan, Coach Sarah Matthews and Shane McNulty of the Dundalk Mavericks and Commissioner Cillian Smith. The article describes the grassroots game as being ‘in great shape’, saying that ‘more Irish people are playing gridiron than ever before’ and gives a very positive portrayal of the sport in Ireland.
PDF scans (2 pages) can be viewed below.
Sunday Times (Page 6)
Sunday Times (Page 7)
The IAFA got a further publicity boost this week, with American Football International doing a review piece on the 2014 league season. It sums up the state of the game in Ireland as follows:
“The standard of football in Ireland is on the rise, more and more teams are applying to join the league, there is more funding available to IAFA and the level of quality in teams is greatly increasing. The 2014 IAFA season has been incredible, and although the season may be over, thoughts will already be turning to what the year 2015 has in store for Irish Football!”
and describes the 2014 season as bringing ‘great confidence and positivity that the league can once again expand for the upcoming season.”
A copy of this article can be viewed at the following link:
http://www.americanfootballinternational.com/green-looking-back-at-2014-in-irish-american-football/