An attendance of 53,304 people, including some 20,000 from the USA, watched the American Football Classic game in Croke Park between Penn State Nittany Lions and University of Central Florida Knights on Saturday – while two travel trade teams were hosted in the hospitality suite, one by Colin Brodie of Visit Florida, the other by Lee Osborne of BookaBed and Adam McKnight, A2B Travel Extras.
A last-second, 36-yard field goal by Sam Ficken won the game for Penn State by 26-24, but the excitement had begun some three hours beforehand with all the razzamatazz that such a game brings, including a low fly-past by two US Air Force F16s (from a base in Italy) and ball deliveries by two parachutists, one of whom managed to actually land in the stadium, the other on the adjoining railway track!
It took a while for most of the travel trade attendees to learn the rules of the game, but that did not detract from their enjoyment of the day, only adding to it. Many did wonder, however – with the frequent stops between plays, the constantly changing teams of 11 from the 100-player rosters lined up on either side, and four quarters rather than two halves – just how long any one of the players would last on a soccer or rugby pitch, never mind in a GAA or hurling match.
