By Kieran Cunningham

Copyright irishmirror

An email dropped into the in boxes of sports desks on Monday afternoon informing reporters that Minister of Sport Charlie McConalogue would be holding a press conference on Friday. A bit of clarification is needed here. There is never one Minister for Sport in Ireland, there are generally two. Sport is always added on to briefs that, over the years, have included everything from Communications to Postal Policy. In practice, the sport part of the gig is usually handed to the Junior Minister. That’s McConalogue, in this case. Past experience has told us that the senior Minister – currently Patrick O’Donovan – tends to get more interested in sporting matters when trips to the Olympics are looming… There are many major sporting events in Ireland every year. All-Ireland finals in hurling and football. Six Nations games in rugby. Ireland soccer internationals. The FAI Cup final. The Irish Open in golf A host of big race meetings. National championships in everything from athletics to boxing. It’s very, very rare for the Minister of Sport to call a press briefing to talk about any of them. So why is McConalogue doing so before the visit of the NFL’s Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings to Croke Park? The bottom line is it’s because of the bottom line… A remarkable 600,000 queued online to try and buy tickets for Sunday’s game. Dublin will be mobbed by American tourists. And successive governments have long been in thrall to the lure of the Yankee dollar. But a visit to Leinster House on Wednesday showed us the other side of the coin. Outside, there was a demonstration calling for the government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill. As has been the case for a host of protests supporting Gaza, former Dublin footballers David Hickey and Mickey Whelan were there. Whelan has a long and deep love for America, having lived there for many years. He has been inducted into four different Halls of Fame in US soccer. He is also a regular visitor to Croke Park but won’t be there on Sunday. “I was actually offered a ticket this week and invited to go. I said ‘no way’. I’m not supporting American power with all that is going on,” Whelan told me. Hickey gave a fiery speech where he railed against those who say the GAA are given a rougher ride over opening their doors to such events than other sporting bodies. Hickey mentioned different bodies – from the FAI to the International Olympic Committee – and argued that they are all motivated by money, but the GAA has always been different. Essentially, Hickey’s firm conviction is that the GAA has always been about sport for the people, by the people. And how do the Irish people feel about American soft power these days? It’s fair to assume that even a fair chunk of the 600,000 who tried to get tickets for Sunday aren’t comfortable with the way the NFL operates, and the wider American political landscape. The Steelers and Vikings do have something in common in that they are part of a handful of NFL teams not to hold a minute’s silence in honour of the assassinated podcaster Charlie Kirk, a deeply controversial and divisive figure. But the Steelers did fly the Stars and Stripes at half mast. This is a time when sports funding is the hottest of topics in Ireland. The FAI maintain Irish soccer faces the bleakest of futures unless there is serious government investment in League of Ireland academies. Irish athletics had its best ever world championship but the sport needs much more funding of coaches and facilities and individual athletes. There is a similar argument with several other sports. So you can imagine how many in Irish sport felt when the government coughed up €10m as a contribution to the hosting of Sunday’s NFL game. Anyone in Irish sport will tell you about the hoops they have to jump through to get grants, the endless meetings and form filling. But the NFL flutter their eyelashes and the government can’t write an eight figure cheque quickly enough. What’s the big deal, you might be thinking. Won’t the visitors pump plenty of money into the Irish economy? Yes, but why does an NFL game need a subsidy from the Irish government. NFL owners are collectively worth almost $1 trillion, but they have made an art form out of taking games on tour and getting gullible locals to pay most of their bills. They do the same at home. There are 30 hugely impressive NFL stadiums – 27 of those were funded by the taxpayer, and very generous tax breaks. As the New York based Irish sportswriter Dave Hannigan has pointed out, Buffalo is one of the most depressed cities in the US but the authorities there are having to pay over $1bn – that would be better used elsewhere – to hold on to the Bills. There are plenty of NFL fans in Ireland and they would be very familiar with TV coverage of games that often has a military tinge, from pre-match flag ceremonies involving soldiers to shots of veterans returned from war zones. This didn’t happen by accident. The US armed forces paid $10m to NFL clubs to make the military part of game days. Donald Trump’s America is one that makes many uneasy, and its strong support of Israel’s assault on Gaza has emboldened the Israeli government. Former Dublin footballer Michael Darragh Macauley has marched in support of Gaza and he told The 42 this week of his unease about the NFL coming to Croke Park. “For it to be brought over here, it’s not planting a seed, it’s more planting a flag of America in Ireland. And I think we just need to be careful about who we share our food with when it’s on the dinner table,” he said. “When you look at the GAA code of ethics, the first thing is that members are respected, treat everyone with respect, regardless of race, religion, gender, or ability. Can the NFL say that? That’s laughable. It doesn’t wash with me.” “If anyone’s ever seen a game on the telly, we’ve seen the military jets and the flyovers, we’ve seen all the salute to service. They don’t try and hide their patriotism for their American army. “We’ve all seen what America have done. We’ve all seen them fueling the Israeli army. I think we just need to be careful.” The NFL coming to Ireland has attracted plenty of interest Stateside with Dan Gartland penning a four thousand word feature for Sports Illustrated focusing on Croke Park’s significance in Irish sport and history. The place will be hopping on Sunday. The government will feel they got plenty of bang for their buck. But is embracing the NFL healthy? Plenty don’t agree.