EMBRACING THE NFL MIGHT COME BACK TO BITE GAA

AN EMAIL dropped into the in boxes of sports desks on Monday afternoon informing reporters that Minister of Sport Charlie McConalogue would be holding a press conference on Friday.

- BY KIERAN CUNNINGHAM

There are many major sporting events in Ireland every year. All-Ireland finals in hurling and football. Six Nations games in rugby. Ireland soccer internationals. The FAl Cup final. The Irish Open in golf.

Big race meetings. National championships in everything from athletics to boxing.

It's very, very rare for the Minister of Sport to call a press briefing to talk about any of them.

So why is McConalogue doing so before the visit of the NFL's Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings to Croke Park?

A remarkable 600,000 queued online to try and buy tickets for Sunday's game. Dublin will be mobbed by American tourists. And successive governments have long been in thrall to the lure of the Yankee dollar.

But a visit to Leinster House on Wednesday showed us the other side of the coin. Outside, there was a demonstration calling for the government to enact the Occupied Territories Bill.