Scunthorpe United are to play a pre season tour in Ireland in July, sponsored by Volkswagen Ireland who are becoming increasingly involved in the sport here.
The British and European soccer seasons are not yet over but already the first of the summer’s pre season tours are being announced.  Many of the Premier League clubs are contracted to appear in Asian tournaments but there is a trend towards teams choosing Ireland.
Hibernian are here at present, staying in the Portmarnock Hotel and Country Club, having chosen to escape the fever of Edinburgh in the run up to their local derby against Hearts in the Scottish FA Cup Final.
Scunthorpe United play in League One in England, where they finished this season in lower mid table.  They have spent three of the past five seasons in the Championship and are one of the very few professional clubs in England to be debt free.
There are penty of Irish connections with club.  Four Irish players – Jimmy Ryan, Michael Collins, Niall Canavan and Robbie Gibbons – currently play in the first team squad while Andy Keogh played there before joining Wolves.
The tour will take in games against Bray Wanderers on July 17th and Leinster Senior League side Wayside Celtic two days later.  They will stay at the Carton House Hotel.
“It has been a real pleasure to help organise and sponsor Scunthorpe’s pre-season tour,” said Simon Elliott, Group CEO of Volkswagen Ireland and former Director of the club.  “It is a very short flight or ferry crossing, so I hope to see as many Scunny fans as possible here in Dublin.”
Volkswagen Ireland is the parent company of SEAT, sponsors of Shamrock Rovers and local franchise Connolly Motors sponsors Airtricity League table topping Sligo Rovers where former Scunthorpe manager Ian Baraclough is the man in charge.
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