The Emerald Isle Classic was tied to the Irish tourism initiative The Gathering, which sought to encourage members of the Irish diaspora (especially in the U.S.) to visit their ancestral home in 2013. 2012 Ī return trip by the teams in 2012, held at Aviva Stadium, was confirmed by the two schools and stadium management in September 2010. Notre Dame won the game over Navy, setting the record for the longest winning streak over an annual collegiate opponent at 33 wins (Notre Dame added 10 additional wins to the streak, which remains the all-time record at 43 consecutive victories). The event, played at Croke Park, drew a slightly smaller crowd than the first Emerald Isle Classic. In 1996, Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy began a second American football event in Ireland called the Shamrock Classic.
College teams with particularly Irish or Catholic background were chosen in an effort to attract Irish nationals to the games as well. The game is intended as an annual event to attract some of the 40 million Americans of Irish descent back to their fatherland. Prendergast, who is a former president of the Irish American Football Association conceived the idea of bringing a major NCAA game to Ireland in the mid 1980s and started pitching the idea on both sides of the Atlantic. The originators of the game were Aidan J. The first game featured a 2–7 Boston College team led by Mark Kamphaus against the 8–1 Army Black Knights. The game was played at Lansdowne Road in Dublin, Ireland in the years 19.
The dubbed Emerald Isle Classic was the first NCAA-sanctioned American college football game played in Europe. US Ambassador Dan Rooney and Taoiseach Enda Kenny take part in the ceremonial coin toss before the 2012 game at Aviva Stadium
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