Latest / The Irish Steelers Podcast / Coming Home: A historic day in Newry & Belfast for the Pittsburgh Steelers

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Coming Home: A historic day in Newry & Belfast for the Pittsburgh Steelers · The Irish Steelers Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Irish airline aer Lingus will proudly serve as the presenting
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: partner of Steelers Ireland twenty twenty five. Airlingus's growth in
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: North America continues in twenty twenty five as the airline
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: prepares to fly to two new US destinations, Nashville and Indianapolis,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: using its new Airbus eight three twenty one xl or aircraft.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: This brings the number of transatlantic routes operated by the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: airline from Dublin, Shannon and Manchester to twenty four. Steelers
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: fans traveling to Ireland for the big Game can enjoy
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: a relaxing journey when they fly with air Lingus. Air Lingus,
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  Speaker 1: You're very welcome.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, folks, You're very welcome into the Irishtaters podcast presented
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  Speaker 2: by er Lingus. And we all know what's happening the Sunday,
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  Speaker 2: the historic NFL Doublin game between the Pittsburgh Staters and
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  Speaker 2: Minnesota Kans. Michael mcadier honored to be hosting this podcast
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  Speaker 2: this week. I'm getting very emotional nigh over the next
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  Speaker 2: few days. And I know a man that's joining me today.
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  Speaker 2: He is smiling right now, is sitting beside him on
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  Speaker 2: the bus back down from Belfast and Dry where the
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  Speaker 2: Staders had the chance to go home today in a
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  Speaker 2: real way where teams have never really done that before
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  Speaker 2: for international games. Was very very special. Obviously, Pregenta about
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  Speaker 2: ar lingus more than that. Later on, Alan the Masni,
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  Speaker 2: President of American Football Ireland al Presidente, as I've been
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  Speaker 2: calling you on the bus. How are you doing it?
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  Speaker 3: Let'st I'm good, Michael, how are you?
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  Speaker 2: I'm good, I'm good. So before we start off like
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  Speaker 2: there's so many questions, I can ask you talk to
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  Speaker 2: us a bit about your role. But talk to us
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  Speaker 2: for anyone who's listening in this. You know an NFL
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  Speaker 2: fan talk about AFI, talks about how you got involved
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  Speaker 2: in football and why you love football so much.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I've been involved in football for over twenty years.
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  Speaker 4: I started in Cork with a Cork Admirals and I
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  Speaker 4: was ended up coaching there for many many years. Then
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  Speaker 4: I joined the board of American Football Eland and last
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  Speaker 4: year was elected president. So I suppose my role now
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  Speaker 4: is basically the overall management and running of football, and
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  Speaker 4: obviously with domestic league our own football side of teams,
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  Speaker 4: and we have the NFL side and all of the
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  Speaker 4: other various things around it. So I think our main
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  Speaker 4: role is to grow the sport in Ireland and to
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  Speaker 4: continue expanding what we have and bringing in new players
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  Speaker 4: and get more people involved in the sport.
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  Speaker 2: Before we continue, I think it's important for me to
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  Speaker 2: say very quickly and acknowledge the fact that there is
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  Speaker 2: a European Flag Championship this weekend in Paris and the
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  Speaker 2: very very best look to both flag teams male and female.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of work going into that that's in Paris
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  Speaker 2: this weekend.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah it is.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, look, it's a fantastic opportunity for our
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  Speaker 4: flag players and coaches to be over there taking part
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  Speaker 4: in the European Championships. You know, look, we're very excited
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  Speaker 4: about how they're going to get on and we were
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  Speaker 4: looking forward to seeing some great results and some great
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  Speaker 4: football from them.
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  Speaker 2: And look, just genuinely the very very best look to
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  Speaker 2: both teams. Some brilliant people involved, their tireless voluntary work.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely you can see Alan we will talk about obviously,
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  Speaker 2: you can see the group and that really shows about
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  Speaker 2: like what today has been the grove of flag football.
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  Speaker 2: I know Kelly is so important as well, but it's
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  Speaker 2: getting people into the game, isn't it It is?
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  Speaker 4: I mean, look, it's a great way to introduce the football.
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  Speaker 4: They learn the rules to learn you know that there's
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  Speaker 4: non contact, so it's it's an easy way to get
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  Speaker 4: into the sport, and you know, to work our national
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  Speaker 4: team coaches some players have been doing over the last
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  Speaker 4: few years is just absolutely fantastic and the growth of
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  Speaker 4: the sport here in the last few years has been huge.
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  Speaker 2: Talk to us about your experience with the Steelers. I'm
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  Speaker 2: right and thinking whenever they come into the market officially
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  Speaker 2: they've always been here, But when they came into the
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  Speaker 2: market officially, you weren't president yet, but then you then
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  Speaker 2: you are president, and how have you found you know,
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  Speaker 2: not the responsibility, but how have you find working with
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  Speaker 2: them over the last few years.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean when they came over first, I was
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  Speaker 4: kind of the appointed person to deal with with the
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  Speaker 4: NFL side of things. So look, I've been working with
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  Speaker 4: the Steelers I Sports over here for the last two years. Look,
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  Speaker 4: we have a great relationship with them. You know, they're
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  Speaker 4: very accommodating and everything we want, we we do and
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  Speaker 4: and voice a verse and we've helped them out with
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  Speaker 4: with a few camps and things.
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  Speaker 3: Like that as well. So you know, they're very welcoming
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  Speaker 3: to us, We're very coming to him.
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  Speaker 4: So look, we've had we've had a great over back
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  Speaker 4: and forth with all the events that have been going on.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, it's fantastic to have those connections with
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  Speaker 4: with an NFL team in Ireland.
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  Speaker 2: That's one thing we talk about connections. But when you
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  Speaker 2: are and we've seen it today firsthand, when you have
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  Speaker 2: a family that has links to Candy down for a start,
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  Speaker 2: nobody else has that.
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  Speaker 3: No, I mean, it's a very special connection.
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  Speaker 4: I mean for the runis to be you know, to
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  Speaker 4: have left Ireland and how to come back and especially
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  Speaker 4: to be part of the first NFL game and you
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  Speaker 4: know a regular season game in Ireland. I mean that
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  Speaker 4: that is that is a fantastic journey and it's a
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  Speaker 4: fantastic story to say that.
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  Speaker 3: You know, they're they're they're finally back in their homeland
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  Speaker 3: to play football.
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  Speaker 2: Steelers obviously in Belfast today and in their we good
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  Speaker 2: crack today, like really really good full on the road
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  Speaker 2: flag football event this morning in Belfast. Believe nine or
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  Speaker 2: ten schools represented in that area. What a great experience
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  Speaker 2: for those kids. Great for you as well, to see
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  Speaker 2: kids get involved in to be a sport they haven't
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  Speaker 2: done before.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, how did you enjoy this?
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  Speaker 4: Wor? Yeah? Look, that's our main goal is to get
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  Speaker 4: kids playing sport at a younger age. You know, the
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  Speaker 4: more people we get playing the sport, the more we'll
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  Speaker 4: expands as an association and as a league. So you know,
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  Speaker 4: the opportunity for these kids today to have met the
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  Speaker 4: NFL Stars and to get a chance to see what
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  Speaker 4: Howard's run at that level is fantastic.
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  Speaker 3: And you know, our main hope is that some of
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  Speaker 3: these kids.
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  Speaker 4: Will go away and say, listen, we want to be
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  Speaker 4: football fans, and they want to be Steelers fans.
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  Speaker 2: And it's funny because like when you've got guys like
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  Speaker 2: Jerome Badas Ike Taylor in Belfast, those kids are getting
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  Speaker 2: that experience that's some of the best to do it
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  Speaker 2: as well. That's priceless, isn't it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, like the opportunity to even see these players
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  Speaker 4: and you know, to these people that have been you know,
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  Speaker 4: fantastic heroes on the field for many years playing football.
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  Speaker 4: I mean that's something that you know, lots of them
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  Speaker 4: might not appreciate. That a little bit older, but it
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  Speaker 4: you know, they can look back in today and say WHOA,
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  Speaker 4: who I met and who I got you know, we
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  Speaker 4: got to learn from.
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  Speaker 2: It's huge, huge, long may that continue, I know, and
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  Speaker 2: I'm not I'm not trying to bagging up here, but
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  Speaker 2: like you're a corkman, you're traveling the island, You're putting
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  Speaker 2: a lot of work in for so thank you for
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  Speaker 2: what you do, really really good fun to then, balfast.
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  Speaker 2: I want to thank every child that came out and played.
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  Speaker 2: I want to thank the players and the Steelers for
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  Speaker 2: coming up. I think that means an awful lot to
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  Speaker 2: a lot of us. I always say, have roub North
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  Speaker 2: and means a lot to me to see something like
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  Speaker 2: that going on. And I'll tell you what meant a
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  Speaker 2: lot to me. In the way down here, we had
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  Speaker 2: a chance to stop off in new A. The Runny
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  Speaker 2: family was here, obviously, the ancestral hume And for people
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  Speaker 2: wondering why that's so important, leaving in eighteen forty and
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  Speaker 2: coming back almost two hundred years later, that's my one
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  Speaker 2: line this week. Alan students from Newer High School and
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  Speaker 2: Saint Mary's High School in Uri today and we had
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  Speaker 2: two students from like a student from each school. Two
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  Speaker 2: students were awarded the Dan and Patricia Rooney No Mind
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  Speaker 2: Left Behind Scholarship. It's a program developed by the Ireland Ones,
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  Speaker 2: which is obviously very close to the late Dan Rooney's
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  Speaker 2: heart it was. It's designed to help and support young
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  Speaker 2: people from schools in socially and economically disadvantage areas to
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  Speaker 2: attend university and a reflects the Rooney famili's long standing
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  Speaker 2: ties in the region and commitments to educational advancement. Look,
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  Speaker 2: the one thing I'm gonna say on that is what
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  Speaker 2: a moment that was for those kids and for those
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  Speaker 2: schools as well. There's nothing like this man like that is.
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  Speaker 2: It's pretty spad do, isn't it.
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  Speaker 4: It is absolutely I mean, you know, for kids to
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  Speaker 4: get this kind of an opportunity, you know, it's so
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  Speaker 4: it's it's it's fantastic. I mean, it's going to completely
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  Speaker 4: change their lives. Yeah, you know, it gives them an
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  Speaker 4: opportunity for something they had, you know, may not have
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  Speaker 4: been able to get themselves.
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  Speaker 3: And it comes from the generosity of the Runis.
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  Speaker 4: And I know, as you said that, the Turland Fund
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  Speaker 4: is definitely very close to Dan's heart. So I think
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  Speaker 4: it's it's an absolutely amazing thing to do for the kids.
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  Speaker 2: You were telling me before we had record here that
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  Speaker 2: you know, you're a football man with heart. You know
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  Speaker 2: it's not obviously you know you enjoy the guy, enjoy her.
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  Speaker 2: But when it comes to your you're a football man.
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  Speaker 2: And for people listening from Europe, we're talking about American
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  Speaker 2: football lot. So for you outside of your own Afi,
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  Speaker 2: what does Sunday mean to you? Like, never mind the
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  Speaker 2: fact that we're going to see the historic moment, but
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  Speaker 2: the staters I never thobabed see this day the same.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so too.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, look, it's it's I was at the game
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  Speaker 4: in nineteen ninety seven, the preseason game.
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  Speaker 3: How did you find that?
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  Speaker 4: I mean it was it was amazing because it was football,
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  Speaker 4: and you know before that it was only on the TV.
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  Speaker 2: And Kruger is a little bit different now as well.
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  Speaker 4: Completely different plays, So you know, to you know, I
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  Speaker 4: had I suppose football was always like having a regular
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  Speaker 4: season game was kind.
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  Speaker 3: Of seen for a long time.
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  Speaker 4: Is unattainable here to finally have that opportunity here, I mean,
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  Speaker 4: you know, as you said, apart from the whole historic thing.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the atmosphere is want to be electric through
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  Speaker 4: park looks amazing. So you know, for a football fan
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  Speaker 4: it's heaven.
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  Speaker 2: Are you feel emotional?
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  Speaker 3: Did think you'll be emotional some there? Yeah?
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  Speaker 4: I mean look again, it's you know, and especially suppose
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  Speaker 4: all of us that have been involved in this for
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  Speaker 4: a while. It's the culmination of it's actually here, you know,
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  Speaker 4: and I think, yeah, it's going to be very emotional.
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  Speaker 3: I think for lots of people.
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  Speaker 4: Finally saying this is we have a regular season NFL
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  Speaker 4: game in crow Park high optimistic?
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  Speaker 2: Are you for the future, because it seems like Alan
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  Speaker 2: since you've come in, I must saying, like, obviously you've
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  Speaker 2: been a huge output, even the deep when you've came
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  Speaker 2: in the NW, it's grown massively. Like again, the potential
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  Speaker 2: here for such a small island is on match. It's
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  Speaker 2: it's a very very exciting time.
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  Speaker 3: It is very exciting.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, look, we have an opportunity now to get
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  Speaker 4: kids playing football in schools. We had the launch of
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  Speaker 4: the flag NFL flag.
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  Speaker 3: Yes with the school there a couple of weeks ago.
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  Speaker 4: Over every secondary school across the island of Ireland got
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  Speaker 4: a flag set the flags and the football sent to them.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, you know what we want to see is
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  Speaker 4: we want to see kids in schools playing football. That
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  Speaker 4: then will you know, help our clubs grow around the country.
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  Speaker 4: And you know, I mean that's that's the end of
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  Speaker 4: the game, is to grow the sport here and to
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  Speaker 4: make it into a powerhouse of a sport in Ireland.
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  Speaker 2: I'm going to give my prediction at the end of
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  Speaker 2: the week. But have you have you got a production?
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  Speaker 2: They had a Sunday just finally.
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  Speaker 4: Oh yeah, Look, I mean I think I think the
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  Speaker 4: Steelers will will certainly win.
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  Speaker 3: You have to win. They have to win, don't think
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  Speaker 3: they do?
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  Speaker 4: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think so. I know it.
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  Speaker 4: Look, I mean they've been playing well. I think with
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  Speaker 4: the talent they have an offense and defense. I think
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  Speaker 4: it's it's it's more than a jubile.
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  Speaker 2: I'm sure Man mc cork will be happy to seeing
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  Speaker 2: arn Rodgers run out on Sunday and Kruk park Man's
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  Speaker 2: class very very excited. Can I just on behalf of
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: people who listen to this podcast, but on behalf of
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  Speaker 2: Irish football fans, just thank you forever and you've done
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  Speaker 2: and continue to do and I hope you enjoy the
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  Speaker 2: next few days. I know it's going to be very
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  Speaker 2: busy for you, but I hope you're taking to me
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  Speaker 2: a moment on Sunday just to go business class, Alan
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  Speaker 2: Gerry Mugget. Thank you, thanks from and for people listening.
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  Speaker 2: We will be back up, believe with another podcast this week.
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  Speaker 2: A reminder to go to Fitzsimon's in Temple Bar, the
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: home of the Steelers. This week Marion Square getting underway
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: as well and the big Ones on this Steelers Vikings
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: in Croke Park. For now, we will chat to you
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: soon on the Irish Steelers podcast.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Irish Airline Aerlingus will proudly serve as the presenting partner
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: of Steelers Ireland twenty twenty five. Airlinus's growth in North
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: America continues in twenty twenty five as the airline prepares
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: to fly to two new US destinations, Nashville and Indianapolis,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: using its new Airbus eight three twenty one excel Or aircraft.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: This brings the number of Transatlantic routes operated by the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: airline from Dublin, Shannon and Manchester to twenty four. Steelers
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: fans traveling to Ireland for the Big Game can enjoy
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: a relaxing journey. When they fly with their own lingus
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  Speaker 1: Air Lingus, you're very welcome.