By Jimmy English
High School Football is coming back to Dublin!
Friday August 25, 2023 will see three high school football games taking place in Energia Park, with the first fixture kicking off at 12 noon. Teams from Florida, Tennessee, New Jersey & Philadelphia will travel to Dublin as part of the Global Ireland Football Tournament and will play in a tripleheader on the eve of the Aer Lingus College Football Classic. Also competing in GIFT 2023 are a team from the UK NFL Academy and a Junior Irish Wolfhounds side.
NFL Academy will get proceedings underway at 12pm when they take on the Bonner & Prendie Friars of Philadelphia and it will be interesting to see how the best in Europe fair against young men who have been playing the game their entire lives. At 3.30pm it’s Seton Hall Prep Pirates facing the Baylor School Raiders. Wrapping things up then at 7pm will be our own Irish Wolfhounds squaring off against the Seahawks from the Community School of Naples. If you’re planning on making it to a game, make sure you get down to cheer on our boys in green!
Global Ireland Football Tournament, or GIFT, was conceived by Patrick Steenberge as part of the first College Football Classic back in 2012.Steenberge is the founder of Global Football, the world’s largest exporter of American Football. Global Football organise high school and college football games all over the world, particularly on this side of the Atlantic. This will be the fourth iteration of GIFT with high school games having previously taken place in Ireland in 2012, 2014 and 2016. You can check out our recent podcast with Patrick to find out more about his football background and passion for growing the game here.
Tickets for the GIFT 2023 High School Football games are on sale and are very reasonably priced. Hit the link below to get your tickets now!