Situated near the midpoint of the east coast of Ireland, Dublin straddles the River Liffey and is famous as being the home of James Joyce and William Yeats. As the capital, and the most populated city in the Republic of Ireland, Dublin is an important centre for Irish culture, finance, entertainment, industry, education, and sports. In addition to the many football, golf, and horse racing venues in and around the city, rugby is one of the major sporting events to which locals and visitors flock. School sports tours to Dublin are a great way to learn a bit about the history of rugby in Dublin (and Ireland), and get some valuable training by playing with local coaches and in matches against some local Irish teams.
If you time your school sports tours to Dublin to coincide with a major match, you will see just how serious this city is about rugby - it virtually comes to a halt when there is a high-profile rugby game taking place. Dublin has a number of major rugby teams (at least 15) that play in the AIB Irish Rugby League. In European and Celtic League competitions Ireland is broken into provinces, which makes all the local Dublin team players available to play for Leinster. To see the places where the matches take place be sure to take young sportspeople to visit the Aviva Stadium at Landsdowne Road and catch up with Dublin's professional rugby team, Leinster Rugby.
Aviva Stadium -- Located at 62 Lansdowne Road, the Aviva Stadium seats over 50,000 people and is a must-see on the itinerary of school sports tours. The original Lansdowne Road Stadium was built as a multi-sports arena in 1872 and hosted its first rugby trial between Leinster and Munster in 1876. In its old incarnation, the Lansdowne Road Stadium was the oldest sports stadium in Europe, but it was demolished in 2007. The current stadium, Aviva Stadium, was built on the same location at Lansdowne Road and opened its doors in 2010. As home to the Ireland Rugby Union Team, this stadium is a major locale for Irish rugby and will be the host venue for the final of the 2013 Heineken Cup.
Leinster Rugby -- Before your school sports tours leave Dublin, be sure to head over to the RDS Arena - the multi-sport stadium that is the official home to Leinster Rugby, Dublin's professional rugby union team. Leinster previously played at the Donnybrook Stadium before moving over to the RDS Arena, where they have been competing since the 2005/6 season. Since Leinster made the RDS its home, the site has undergone major renovations and now seats 18,500. It will remain the venue for Leinster's smaller matches (the larger ones are played in the Aviva Stadium down the road) until 2027.
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