Irish National Sports Campus, Aviva Stadium, & Leinster Rugby

One of the most exciting elements of the Global Sport Industry trip is the ability to attend an elite level match in another country. In 2012, the students attended the Heineken Cup Final between Leinster Rugby and Ulster Rugby, won by Leinster. This year, the students were again treated to the Leinster vs. Scarlets in the semi-finals of the PRO12 Rugby League at Leinster.

The result was different for the Leinster side, as RTE Sport noted, Leinster “were repeatedly undone by loose kicking and knocking on or conceding penalties when in Scarlets territory.” For those unfamiliar with rugby, the simple way to say that is sloppy play and a lack of execution.

While the 27-15 defeat for the home side was disappointing, the enthusiasm the students and Leinster fans had for the match more than made up for the lackluster result. Additionally, the match was the culmination of a day that included visits to and tours of the Irish National Sports Campus, Aviva Stadium, and Leinster Rugby, before the match.

The day began at the National Sports Campus, which is similar in scope to the United States Olympic Committee facilities in Colorado Springs. The National Sports Campus currently comprises: the National Aquatic Centre (swimming, diving & ToneZone gym); National Horse Sport Arena (show jumping & dressage); National Diving Training Centre (diving, gymnastics & trampolining); NSC Multisport Pitches (hockey, Gaelic games, soccer, rugby, and American football amongst others with both synthetic and turf pitches available); National Pentathlon Training Centre (shooting & fencing).

In addition, the Campus is home to 20 Irish National Governing Bodies (NGBs) at Irish Sport HQ, the headquarters of the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) and the Irish Institute of Sport.  Work is continuing on the development of the National Indoor Arena, with other facilities, including a National Cross-Country Track, also under development (http://www.nationalsportscampus.ie/).

The students visited all of the training sites on the 500 acre property, of which only 240 acres have been developed for usage and some additional acreage is leased to potato farmers to supplement funds used to support Sport Ireland.

Following their visit to the National Sport Campus, the students took to downtown Dublin for lunch before heading to Aviva Stadium.

Aviva is the home to both the Irish National Rugby and Soccer teams, hosts approximately 25 events a year, and holds nearly 52,000 spectators. Construction on the stadium was completed in 2010 after the old Lansdowne Road stadium, where Irish rugby and soccer teams used to play was demolished in 2007. In its short lifespan, Aviva has hosted some major events, including the 2011 Europa League Final, the inaugural Nations Cup, and the 2013 Heineken Cup Final. Additionally, it has been selected as a host site for the 2020 EURO Soccer Championship Group Stage games and hosts NCAA football games on a biennial basis, most recently the 2016 Aer Lingus College Football Classic between Georgia Tech and Boston College.

Aviva Stadium is also the oldest continuous international rugby pitch, hosting its first international match in 1878. And, as the students toured these storied grounds they visited the media center, the players’ locker room, and the medical center, which has an X-Ray Center, dental facilities, and a concussion diagnosis area.   

With the National Sports Campus and Aviva Stadium checked off, the students headed to the Royal Dublin Society to visit the grounds of Leinster Rugby and meet with Marcus Ó Buachalla, the team’s Communications Manager.

Ó Buachalla provided an excellent history of the Leinster rugby team and the relationship the team has with the Royal Dublin Society, where they play the majority of their home matches. In something that would be incomprehensible for most American sports fans to understand, the pitch on which the Leinster team plays the majority of their home matches is actually an equestrian facility for show horses.

While the students weren’t able to get as intensive as behind-the-scenes tour due to the teams, officials, and staff preparing for the evening’s game, Ó Buachalla did take them onto the pitch and into the Media Center, where he provided them with a detailed explanation of Leinster’s social media strategy and positioning. Of specific note during the presentation was his explanation of Leinster’s objectives when it comes to social media. The six main objectives are, to be: innovative, informative, accurate, engaging, stimulating, and commercially-focused. It provided a solid framework of what to look for as he explained recent activities the club had undertaken to increase and focus their social media presence.

Following Ó Buachalla’s presentation the students had time to enjoy dinner in the Leinster-area of Dublin before heading back for the game. The result of the game wasn’t what they had hoped for, but the result of the day was.

For more information on the Baldwin Wallace University Sport Management program, please contact Asst. Professor Dr. Charles Campisi at ccampisi@bw.edu or visit https://www.bw.edu/academics/undergraduate/sport-management/.

Baldwin Wallace University Sport Management: Experiential Learning from Day One!