HOW DO YOU like these apples?
Dublin and Galway will swap Croke Park for Boston’s iconic Fenway Park in a one-off hurling match this November.
The AIG Fenway Hurling Classic will take place on Sunday 22 November, marking hurling’s return to one of America’s most famous stadiums for the first time since 1954.
The exhibition, which will be played in the Super 11s format, has been organised as part of an Irish festival which will take place the weekend before Thanksgiving.
The previous day Boston College take on ‘the Fighting Irish’ Notre Dame in a college football clash at Fenway.
It is “a truly wonderful opportunity for us to exhibit hurling at a high profile US sporting venue, and there is none more iconic than the home of the Red Sox,” GPA Chairman Donal Óg Cusack said.
We believe that hurling ranks alongside the best sports in the world and the staging of this game in Fenway is part of our commitment to convey that message to a new and influential audience.
The last hurling match at Fenway, the home of the Boston Red Sox, saw then All-Ireland champions Cork take on an American selection in November 1954.
The Super 11s format was developed by the GPA to allow hurling to be played in stadiums around the world that are not big enough to accommodate the game in its traditional form. The adapted 11-a-side game is played on a smaller pitch and only goals can be scored.
“We are absolutely delighted and hugely proud to be able to bring hurling to the iconic Fenway Park in Boston,” said Declan O’Rourke, general manager at AIG Ireland who are sponsoring the Hurling Classic and Irish Festival.
I don’t need to explain the close ties the city of Boston has to Ireland and that is why it is a fitting venue to play host to one of our national games.
The weekend is shaping up to be a diverse one for GAA fans with the 2015 International Rules test between Ireland and Australia taking place the previous evening, 21 November, in Croke Park.
