Canadian women’s rugby players learn camogie from under 11’s girls club
The Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 kicked off this week in Dublin, with 12 national teams participating. Rugby Canada and Tourism Ireland hosted a community event for the Canadian women’s team at a Dublin GAA club this week, to allow the team experience one of our unique national games.
Tourism Ireland arranged a fun camogie lesson and demo for the Canadian team with the under 11 girls at Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club, in Ringsend. Footage and photos captured at the event were then shared with Canadian media outlets, to highlight our unique national games and to remind potential Canadian holidaymakers about the warm welcome and fun that they can expect on a vacation in Ireland.
Dana Welch, Tourism Ireland’s Manager Canada, said: “We’re delighted to partner with Rugby Canada on this fun camogie event – helping to spread the word in Canada about our Irish sporting traditions, which play an important role in helping visitors to appreciate some of the unique aspects of a vacation here. We know also that it’s the warm welcome and the ‘craic’ here that resonates with our visitors and makes Ireland such a great choice for a vacation. Our message for Canadian rugby fans and potential visitors is that the island of Ireland is a fantastic place to visit – where they’re guaranteed a wonderful experience and the warmest of welcomes.”
Julianne Zussman, member of the Canadian women’s rugby team, said: “Today was a wonderful opportunity to be able to experience one of Ireland’s traditional sports and learn camogie from a great group of young ladies. We want to thank Tourism Ireland and the Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club for such a memorable experience.”
The President of the Camogie Association, Catherine Neary, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Canadian women’s rugby team to Ireland and to Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club in Dublin. We hope that they enjoy their stay here in Ireland and gain an insight into our culture and our sport here today. It is always great to share our wonderful game with friends from abroad, no less so than with a set of elite athletes such as the Canadian team. I would like to wish them the very best of luck in the Women’s Rugby World Cup which is an exciting event for Ireland and Irish sport.”
Tourism Ireland’s special Women’s Rugby World Cup promotional campaign has been rolling out in rugby-loving countries around the world over the past few weeks – to leverage the tourism benefits of the tournament. The organisation has been urging rugby fans and potential visitors everywhere to come for the games and then stay for the craic – reminding them that, in Ireland, we love our rugby and we’re set to be the perfect host for this year’s tournament in Dublin and Belfast.
With large numbers of visiting team members, officials, supporters and spectators expected to arrive here for the Women’s Rugby World Cup, the event is set to generate an estimated 15,000 bednight numbers and significant additional tourism revenue.
