Dublin turns purple, gold and black as NFL makes historic debut in Ireland

Dublin was full of NFL fans on Sunday as supporters of the American sport travelled from across the world for the first regular season game to ever be played in Ireland.

The craic was mighty – but with a distinctively American twist – on the streets of the capital, which were awash with the distinctive black and gold of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the purple of the Minnesota Vikings.

“I don’t see too many Vikings fans, that’s for sure”, roared one Steelers fan, wielding one of his team’s “terrible towels” in the queue for the merchandise shop.

There were also plenty of neutrals in town, including former Philadelphia Eagles centre Jason Kelce, whose brother Travis is engaged to pop star Taylor Swift.

Kelce visited Dublin Fire Brigade ahead of the big clash at Croke Park, but remained tight-lipped over who he was supporting and maintained his neutrality pitchside, diplomatically donning an Ireland rugby jersey.

Excitement had been building across the week, with glimpses of Croke Park’s transformation to an American football pitch and even some of the capital’s pubs picking sides to support.

The Steelers made their presence felt with the “terrible towels tour” working its way across the island between Dublin, Kilkenny, Limerick, the Cliffs of Moher, Galway Bay, Londonderry and Belfast. The team’s owners, the Rooney family, trace their roots to Newry, Co Down.

However, scores of Vikings fans were evident on the walk from the city centre to the stadium.

Chris and Jamie Knopik, from Minnesota, who were proudly dressed from head to toe in Vikings colours, had arrived in Ireland just the night before.

Chris and Jamie Knopik from Minnesota travelled to Dublin to see the Minnesota Vikings play the Pittsburgh Steelers at Croke Park (Rebecca Black/PA)

“We’re lifelong Vikings fans, through the tears and the joys,” they laughed.

Mr Knopik said the fixture had worked perfectly for him because he had always wanted to travel for a match.

“It worked out great being able to get both an Irish and a London game in the space of a week,” he said.

The Vikings play the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium next Sunday.

Ms Knopik added: “It was unbelievable, a dream come true.”

They said it was a different experience to games they are used to going to in Minnesota with 60,000-plus other Vikings fans.

“But we’re excited for the game, Vikings for the win, skol!” they added.

New England Patriots fans Mike and Marielle Bonani, from New Hampshire, loaned their support to the Vikings on Sunday (Rebecca Black/PA)

New England Patriots fans Mike and Marielle Bonani, from New Hampshire, were also backing the Vikings for the day, wearing Patriots shirts but Vikings hats.

Ms Bonani said they made the choice because the Vikings are not specific rivals of their own team, whereas the Steelers are.

“It’s been an amazing experience, it’s fun to see so many different shirts from NFL teams here in Ireland,” she said.

“We arrived early on Friday, and we’re only staying till Monday but we’ve done a river boat cruise on the Liffey, Jameson Distillery, the Guinness Storehouse, Trinity College, the Book of Kells and the Molly Malone statue, so we’ve packed a lot in.

“We previously travelled to an NFL game in Frankfurt, and we’d like to travel to a game a year. Next year might be Brazil.

“It’s exciting to see so many people across the world getting so excited about the NFL.”

Mr Bonani added: “We’ve got speaking to people from all over Europe who are NFL fans”.

Rosann Armour (left) and Terri Coleman Hufnagel, from Pittsburgh, were cheering on the Steelers (Rebecca Black/PA)

Lifelong Steelers fans and former college roommates Rosann Armour and Terri Coleman Hufnagel said their trip to Ireland was the most fun they had had since college.

The said they were “Steelers fans since we know what football was”.

Ms Armour, a season ticket-holder, said they also travelled to London in 2013 to see the Steelers play.

Ms Hufnagel added: “I never expected to have this much fun, but everyone has been fantastic, the weather couldn’t have been better, and we even kissed the Blarney Stone.

“The atmosphere is amazing, the only difference is you don’t have tailgate (parties) – everyone drives to our stadiums, and you park in giant parking lots and you party there before the game, and after the game.”

They estimated the travelling support to be around three to one of Steelers fans to Vikings fans in the previous days, but said they were seeing more rivals fans ahead of the game.

“Pittsburgh travels well, all over the world, anytime there is a game, Pittsburgh will go, but what’s been great, we’ve all been very friendly, wishing each other good luck, there hasn’t been any animosity,” Ms Hufnagel said.