LLT
07-05-2010, 07:27 AM
Flag football is king for day at Rooney's residence in Dublin
Monday, July 05, 2010
By Conor O'Clery, GlobalPost
DUBLIN, Ireland -- American flags flapped in the wind, blue smoke swirled from barbeques, and Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, presided over a game of American football.
It could have been a Fourth of July event in the United States. But this was Dublin, Ireland, where Mr. Rooney is the U.S. ambassador, and he was making history by staging an "Irish American Flag Football Classic" at his residence in the capital city's Phoenix Park.
Mr. Rooney brought 32 members of his extended family to Dublin for the occasion, including his sons Art Rooney II, team president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dan, the Steelers' college scout. The pair were given two days to select and train opposing teams of Irish and American volunteers, the "Dublin 8s" and the "Phoenix Park Pirates," for a challenge game as the centerpiece of an old-fashioned July 4th picnic.
Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen took a break from watching World Cup games on television and was given the honor of tossing the coin.
The team rosters included embassy diplomats and Marines, local Gaelic football, rugby and soccer players, and the neighbor's kids -- Ireland's President Mary McAleese lives in a nearby wooded estate and her son, Justin, kitted out in yellow for the Dublin 8s, and daughter, Emma, played in blue for the Pirates.
The idea of a first-ever American football game at the residence arose after Mr. Rooney presented his credentials to President McAleese on July 3rd last year. He discovered next day that the U.S. embassy staged an Independence Day baseball game on the 62-acre property.
"I thought, hey, if you can do a baseball game, you can have a football game," Mr. Rooney said.
The decision to replace baseball with football involved lengthy preparation. It took two months to prepare a football field on the vast meadow in front of the elegant 230-year-old residence, which before Irish independence belonged to Britain's chief secretary in Ireland. The task was undertaken by Peter McKenna, stadium director of Dublin's Croke Park.
"The ambassador asked could we make a pitch," said Mr. McKenna, making a last-minute inspection as hundreds of Irish and American guests gathered on the sidelines. "There was a lot of undulating ground and we had to lift the grass and fill in the holes to create a flat surface."
He provided bleachers, American football posts (made in Belfast) and giant television screens for live coverage and play-backs. He had the word "Steelers" painted on the thick-blade meadow grass and the ambassador's seal of office in the middle.
Mr. McKenna constructed the pitch pro bono as a way of saying thank you to American team owners, including Mr. Rooney, who had provided advice for the reconstruction six years ago of the stands at Croke Park, the home of Gaelic football, which now has a capacity of 82,000.
"The Croke Park people did a marvelous job," said Mr. Rooney at the start of the event, which was sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce and Pepsico.
Mr. Rooney, credited with the "Rooney Rule" that which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for management and coaching vacancies, developed his own set of "Rooney Rules" for this game. For example, he had ruled that it should be a noncontact game of flag football, played with only eight on each side as the ground was somewhat smaller than regulation size.
Historic trees on the fringes could not be moved to make it bigger. These included a northern red oak planted by Vice President George H.W. Bush on a visit in 1983 and a giant spruce put there in 1868 by the Prince of Wales.
The one thing the ambassador could not guarantee was the cooperation of the notoriously fickle Irish summer weather.
"We walked around the pitch saying the rosary every evening and praying for sunshine," the ambassador's wife, Patricia, said. The Rooneys are practicing Catholics, and the ambassador attends Mass every day, wherever his duties take him.
After a morning of rain, the clouds rolled away and the game was played in blazing sunshine. Mr. Cowen and most everyone else took off their jackets, munched on hot dogs, scooped up ice cream and watched the Dublin 8s hammer the Pirates, 28-15.
Over the loudspeakers commentator Paul Collins from Ireland's Today FM radio station teased Art Rooney unmercifully, suggesting he don sunglasses to disguise himself on the seven-hour flight home.
After the game, Mr. Rooney said he has invited President Barack Obama to visit Ireland.
"I have been urging him to come," said Mr. Rooney. "We have installed a new basketball hoop ready for him."
Problems at home such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have kept him from traveling abroad, said Mr. Rooney. "But he wants to come," he added.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10186/1070481-53.stm#ixzz0soIDONTx
Monday, July 05, 2010
By Conor O'Clery, GlobalPost
DUBLIN, Ireland -- American flags flapped in the wind, blue smoke swirled from barbeques, and Dan Rooney, owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, presided over a game of American football.
It could have been a Fourth of July event in the United States. But this was Dublin, Ireland, where Mr. Rooney is the U.S. ambassador, and he was making history by staging an "Irish American Flag Football Classic" at his residence in the capital city's Phoenix Park.
Mr. Rooney brought 32 members of his extended family to Dublin for the occasion, including his sons Art Rooney II, team president of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Dan, the Steelers' college scout. The pair were given two days to select and train opposing teams of Irish and American volunteers, the "Dublin 8s" and the "Phoenix Park Pirates," for a challenge game as the centerpiece of an old-fashioned July 4th picnic.
Ireland's Prime Minister Brian Cowen took a break from watching World Cup games on television and was given the honor of tossing the coin.
The team rosters included embassy diplomats and Marines, local Gaelic football, rugby and soccer players, and the neighbor's kids -- Ireland's President Mary McAleese lives in a nearby wooded estate and her son, Justin, kitted out in yellow for the Dublin 8s, and daughter, Emma, played in blue for the Pirates.
The idea of a first-ever American football game at the residence arose after Mr. Rooney presented his credentials to President McAleese on July 3rd last year. He discovered next day that the U.S. embassy staged an Independence Day baseball game on the 62-acre property.
"I thought, hey, if you can do a baseball game, you can have a football game," Mr. Rooney said.
The decision to replace baseball with football involved lengthy preparation. It took two months to prepare a football field on the vast meadow in front of the elegant 230-year-old residence, which before Irish independence belonged to Britain's chief secretary in Ireland. The task was undertaken by Peter McKenna, stadium director of Dublin's Croke Park.
"The ambassador asked could we make a pitch," said Mr. McKenna, making a last-minute inspection as hundreds of Irish and American guests gathered on the sidelines. "There was a lot of undulating ground and we had to lift the grass and fill in the holes to create a flat surface."
He provided bleachers, American football posts (made in Belfast) and giant television screens for live coverage and play-backs. He had the word "Steelers" painted on the thick-blade meadow grass and the ambassador's seal of office in the middle.
Mr. McKenna constructed the pitch pro bono as a way of saying thank you to American team owners, including Mr. Rooney, who had provided advice for the reconstruction six years ago of the stands at Croke Park, the home of Gaelic football, which now has a capacity of 82,000.
"The Croke Park people did a marvelous job," said Mr. Rooney at the start of the event, which was sponsored by the American Chamber of Commerce and Pepsico.
Mr. Rooney, credited with the "Rooney Rule" that which requires NFL teams to interview minority candidates for management and coaching vacancies, developed his own set of "Rooney Rules" for this game. For example, he had ruled that it should be a noncontact game of flag football, played with only eight on each side as the ground was somewhat smaller than regulation size.
Historic trees on the fringes could not be moved to make it bigger. These included a northern red oak planted by Vice President George H.W. Bush on a visit in 1983 and a giant spruce put there in 1868 by the Prince of Wales.
The one thing the ambassador could not guarantee was the cooperation of the notoriously fickle Irish summer weather.
"We walked around the pitch saying the rosary every evening and praying for sunshine," the ambassador's wife, Patricia, said. The Rooneys are practicing Catholics, and the ambassador attends Mass every day, wherever his duties take him.
After a morning of rain, the clouds rolled away and the game was played in blazing sunshine. Mr. Cowen and most everyone else took off their jackets, munched on hot dogs, scooped up ice cream and watched the Dublin 8s hammer the Pirates, 28-15.
Over the loudspeakers commentator Paul Collins from Ireland's Today FM radio station teased Art Rooney unmercifully, suggesting he don sunglasses to disguise himself on the seven-hour flight home.
After the game, Mr. Rooney said he has invited President Barack Obama to visit Ireland.
"I have been urging him to come," said Mr. Rooney. "We have installed a new basketball hoop ready for him."
Problems at home such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico have kept him from traveling abroad, said Mr. Rooney. "But he wants to come," he added.
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10186/1070481-53.stm#ixzz0soIDONTx