Tag: Dublin

Just a Matter of Time Until Notre Dame/Navy in Ireland is Called Off

It appears to be just a matter of time until Notre Dame and Navy’s season-opener in Dublin gets officially called off

It was supposed to be a season opener like very few before it.  Notre Dame and Navy were (and technically still are) scheduled to start the 2020 college football season in Dublin, Ireland with ESPN’s College Gameday on location.  The game technically still could happen we suppose but news it out Tuesday says that at best, fans likely won’t be included.  At least not very many of them.

Per Irish Times:

Ireland is set to announce the banning of all events with 5000 or more people with authorities being told not to grant licenses for large events in this period due to the coronavirus crisis.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure the rest of this out.

Notre Dame and Navy aren’t going to be flying across the pond to play a football game in front of fewer than 5000 fans, especially with the fears of flying and doing unnecessary travel right now.  You can go to a local high school and play in front of a crowd that size, why in the world would you fly teams and staffs to Ireland to play a game that pretty much nobody is allowed to attend as fans?

There may not have been a statement made by the Naval Academy yet, it is their home game after all, or Notre Dame’s but that’s just the period at the end of the sentence at this point.  With this news out today it tells us what we all expected but hoped against for a while, that is that there will be no season opener in Ireland this year.

Now we hope for the best case scenario, however unlikely, to be that the game can be played on the same date in the United States.  Brian Kelly and Jack Swarbrick have been open about alternate plans already being discussed about that, now will come the next steps which will include the official cancellation of the Ireland game which could come in days, if not hours.  Also to come is the decided location of the game and date, which could already be known but is being withheld in event it’s never necessary to actually announce.

Let’s hope against that and instead the game gets moved to the mainland and is actually played the last weekend in August.  I think we’d all be thrilled at this point if football at all is played the last week of August whether it be in Indianapolis, Washington D.C., Orlando or at a high school field.

Navy AD Remains Optimistic for Notre Dame Game in Dublin

Navy’s Athletic Director spoke positively about the chances of Notre Dame/Navy in Ireland this August. But did he also walk them back?

Each day that goes by seems to bring another quote from a head college football coach discussing contingency plans and hearing ideas of how a full college football season could still be played despite possibly starting late.  As much as that may be gaining steam, one important figure in Notre Dame’s season opener in Dublin, Ireland remained optimistic that game will still be played as scheduled.

Speaking to ESPN, Navy Athletic Director Chet Gladchuk was spitting confidence about the end of August affair.

“We’re going to play it,” Gladchuk told ESPN. “We expect this to pass. We’re not naïve. We’re five months away from that game happening. There’s a lot that could happen in five months. If the economy and the United States are still shut down in five months, we all have significant issues, more so than a game in Dublin.”

Gladchuk didn’t walk back his “we’re going to play it” statement but he did come off a little less sold on the guarantee later in the ESPN article.

“The game is important, but nothing will supersede the medical issues and the direction we get from the medical authorities,” Gladchuk said. “As ambitious as we are, it’s got to be cleared and travel has to be cleared and international travel has to be cleared for that to be realistic.”

I wish I knew if there was going to be a game in Ireland or not but I don’t.  If you’ve read FIW for any length of time you’re aware that I’m not the most conifedent in this game being played in Ireland or college football starting as currently scheduled.  After reading the first comments from Gladchuk and his last one’s in the piece I get the feeling he’s like me:

Hoping for the best but being plenty realistic about the possibilities of that not happening.