American Green : Dublin Welcomes Midshipmen but Loves the Irish

The peaceable Irish invasion of Dublin by large green-clad foreigners bearing such names as Bertelli and McGurk, Statuto and Murphy, is nearly complete. The natives are friendly. What remains is the Navy.

Ryan Gee watches it all from the novel perspective of a vertically challenged young American--from Spokane, Wash.--whose job is to parade through Ireland’s capital in a Kelly green suit, pixie hat and red fringe beard.

“I was curious how the Irish would react, but people have been wonderfully friendly,” Gee said as middle-aged Americans jostled for position around him. “I think the Irish are really amused at the way we have romanticized their history.”

It’s not every day a football fan far from home gets the chance to have a picture taken with the official leprechaun from the University of Notre Dame. Rhymes in American with “voter name,” said one Dublin newspaper, reminding readers that at least 10,000 Americans, most of them at least metaphorically Irish, are in town for the weekend.

“I don’t understand the game, mind you, but it’s lovely music,” said Dubliner Fiona Grouse, cradling wide-eyed son Sam as two American university marching bands good-naturedly hurled fight songs at one another across historic St. Stephen’s Green on a bright fall afternoon Friday.

The Fighting Irish have come home to Ireland. And the Midshipmen have come to play in the land of forebear John Barry, founder of the American Navy. This afternoon, they meet on a storied old playing field here in the name of sportsmanship, education, international friendship, cultural exchange, big bucks and the greening of the auld sod.

Notre Dame (4-2) is favored. Navy (5-1) is dangerous.

This is Notre Dame’s first game since an upset by Air Force two weeks ago, Notre Dame Coach Lou Holtz reminded reporters.

“I haven’t been a happy camper on the field and we haven’t had a lot of happy players on the field either,” he said. “We’re going to have to play a complete game. . . . Wishbone offenses are always dangerous.”

Navy thinks Holtz protests too much.

“We play the same kind of offense as Air Force and they’ve had plenty of time to get ready,” said Gene McKeehan, a Navy assistant coach. “We must be sure to do what we do as well as possible. We have to execute.”

Dubliners marvel at the former players, parents, alumni and fans who have combined a foreign holiday with football passion to see Notre Dame play in Ireland for the first time.

Missing, except for the bands and cheerleaders, are the students. So, too, the sense of menace familiar to European capitals that have learned by hard experience to be wary of foreign sports fans.

Instead of lager louts or soccer hooligans, Dublin this weekend is blessed with sweet-singing credit card canaries, middle-aged-and-more Americans with deep pockets out for a good time. There’s not a hotel room or a restaurant reservation to be had. Nothing moves in downtown traffic. Daytime streets are packed with laden shoppers in green and yellow shirts, sweat suits and baseball caps.

Navy is outnumbered, but its spirit shines.

“The Irish have been wonderful to us, nicer than people in other parts of Europe where I’ve been,” said Alberto Alota, a retired Navy petty officer from San Diego, come with his wife in blue and gold to see their son Gervy play free safety for the Midshipmen.

“And we certainly have met many people from Notre Dame. Some of them have been nice too,” Alota joked.

Somebody, a Notre Dame fan, according to Navy, bought a $40,000 set of crystal Friday. Teasing, the Irish Times said avid shoppers were telling cat-ate-the-cream Dublin merchants that American law requires all travelers to bring at least two wool sweaters back from Ireland.

A game in Dublin, long bruited according to Navy Athletic Director Jack Lengyel, has been a great magnet for both schools. Across town Friday, old friends met with familiar greetings and fraternal concerns. It was Dublin, all right, but it might have been South Bend or Annapolis.

“They run a lot and we always have trouble with running teams,” said Art Statuto, a center who went from Notre Dame to play with the 1950 Los Angeles Rams. Jim McGurk, the 1945 Notre Dame fullback, nodded in agreement, observing, “The service academies are always smart, strong; teams tough to play.”

“Navy beat Air Force; Air Force beat us,” was Angelo Bertelli’s concise take on the game.

It is 53 years since Bertelli became Notre Dame’s first Heisman Trophy winner, in 1943, and Irish supporters still nudge one another and point him out as he walks through a hotel lobby.

Football-knowledgeable Americans will be well represented in a crowd of around 50,000 at Croke Park, named after a turn-of-the century archbishop and site of regular Gaelic football and hurling championships. Ladis and Muineghan, the last two county squads to play, were still on the scoreboard Friday as groundskeepers did final manicures.

The park, resodded for its first encounter with American football, was the site of a massacre on Nov. 21, 1920, by British troops who opened fire during a Gaelic football match between Dublin and Tipperary.

“They just appeared over there on Hill 16 by the railroad tracks [where one end zone is now], and opened fire,” said Frank Hughes, in his 49th year at the Gaelic Athletic Assn. A plaque at the field remembers Tipperary player Michael Hogan and 12 fans killed in the attack. Historians recall that Irish Republican Army leader Michael Collins orchestrated the murder of key British intelligence agents in Ireland that same Sunday morning, catalyst for the revenge attack.

The field was soft Friday as painters laid the colors of home team Navy across the midfield stripes, perhaps an augur for Notre Dame, which passes more than Navy.

In a sense, though, the game is everybody’s victory, according to both Irish and American officials.

“The value of this game is immense,” said promoter Jim Aiken, who in the last year has filled the stands for concerts by Neil Diamond and Tina Turner. “It is the most positive sports story ever to come out of a country that many people around the world associate with violence.”

Said Navy’s Lengyel, “This is a tremendous win-win situation for everybody.”

Both teams will have seen the sights before returning to the United States and, with a game guarantee of $4 million, each school should come away with about $500,000 after costs, according to Lengyel.

“This is a great educational experience,” Holtz said. “The kids have all read about time differences and now they can live it. They will learn about different customs just by being here.”

Navy linebacker Bobby Brown said, “The people are really nice and a lot of what I have seen so far looks like New Orleans to me.”

For the game, Navy has turned to the town of Puck in County Kerry for its mascot goat, Bill, one more Irishman.

Like the old-time Notre Dame player who was greeted in a Dublin hotel Friday by another old player’s wife: “You’re Giardelli, aren’t you?”

“ ‘Fraid not,” came the reply. “My name’s Murphy.”

To which she replied, “Aw, go on. Everybody here this weekend says he’s named Murphy.”

She wandered off with a friendly wave in her Fighting Irish colors.

“I’m really glad I came to Dublin, being Irish and all,” said a somewhat bemused Andy Murphy, who played for Notre Dame in the 1940s.

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NOTRE DAME (4-2) vs. NAVY (5-1)

* SITE: Dublin, Ireland

* TIME: 5 a.m.

* TV: Channel 2, 9 a.m.

* RADIO: KIEV (870)

* RECORDS: Notre Dame (4-2); Navy (5-1)