Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Solidarity)

Why is the red carpet being rolled out for the NFL in this State this weekend? Why is every second level school in the State being supplied with an American football starter pack and flag for a sport steeped in militarism, racism and macho culture? Why has the Irish Government agreed to fork out €10 million to allow the richest sports league in the world to play a game in Croke Park? This is for NFL owners, by the way, who are collectively worth almost $1 trillion.

This is the most jingoistic league in America. It celebrates the military at its games, has men and women marching in uniform, it prays for the Israeli army and it sends players over to the IDF while a genocide is taking place. It has received money from the US army to do so. The Government will say that this will generate a huge amount of income in the future but at what cost? The NFL is removing “end racism” signs from its grounds. It ended Colin Kaepernick’s career for taking the knee and it has multiple lawsuits for gender, race and age discrimination.

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