Earlier this week banners appeared on street signs across Dublin marking the arrival on August 9th of one of the most prestigious international sporting events the city has ever hosted.
As an official Partner of the Women’s Rugby World Cup Dublin City Council has been pushing the message that this is a tournament for us all to really get behind.
Over recent months it has given over space on its inventory of poster sites around the city and it has clearly worked. Every single ticket for each of the match days at UCD has now completely sold out.
Canada yesterday became the first of the international sides to arrive in the country and they will be housed along with all the other competing teams on the University Campus.
They will come into Dublin City Centre on Sunday night, August 6th for the Official Welcome Party being hosted by the Lord Mayor at the Mansion House. There will be an opportunity for fans and tourists alike to see the teams on their way in and to meet them before the action gets under way.
The City has also been active in promoting the Trophy Tour that has been landing in schools and clubs, helping to push the message that Rugby is a sport for girls as much as boys.
It has helped that star forward Marie Louise Reilly is a Sports Officer working with the Council and acting as an unbeatable role model for youngsters who have likely never been engaged by the sport.
She joined Lyndsay Peat, Nora Stapleton and former Ireland Captain and Chair of the Dublin City Council Sport and Wellbeing Partnership Fiona Coghlan at a special meet and greet with staff in June, hosted by Sport for Business.
This is a chance for Dublin to shine as a world class venue for sporting events. The flags and the parties show us in a good light but it is the work behind the scenes in enabling all the working parts of the city to come together that constitutes the real value of having the city on board.
