This weekend will see Red Bull's insane Crashed Ice coming to Belfast, and to celebrate we have decided to take a look at the greatest international sporting events to have been hosted in Ireland.
Special Olympics 2003
These were the first games to be held outside of the United States and the biggest sporting event to ever be hosted on our shores. 7,000 athletes representing 150 countries competed in 18 different sporting disciplines. The games were a great success with a wonderful feature being the 177 towns that hosted athletes from all over the world in the lead up to the games. The spectacular opening ceremony took place in Croke Park and featured Nelson Mandela, Muhammed Ali, Arnold Schwarzenegger with a performance from U2 and the largest Riverdance troupe ever assembled on one stage.
>> Buy Crashed Ice tickets here
Ryder Cup 2006
Kildare's K Club played host to the largest event in world golf. The country became gripped by golfing fever as everyone became obsessed with potential pairings and who had ended up "in the drink".
Thankfully Europe ran out comfortable victors with a 9 point margin avoiding potential riots from the new golf fanatics. The victory proved exceptionally emotional for recently appointed Ryder Cup captain Darren Clarke. He was competing for the first time after the recent loss of his wife to cancer, it was touching to see the support he received from his team-mates and spectators as a whole.
Tour de France 1998
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOEqHMzPXnw
The world's biggest road race was kicked off in Dublin in 1998 as Ireland held two stages of the Tour De France. Belgian rider Tom Steel won the opening stage before the tour headed to Cork. It's safe to say that every inch of the 386km that we hosted was packed full of bandwagon cycling fans as everyone in the country lined every stretch of road to catch a glimpse of the tour whizz by.
After playing host to the Giro d'Italia successfully last summer there are rumours that we may see the Tour de France return to these shores in the near future.
>> Buy Crashed Ice tickets here
UFC Dublin
The O2 was packed to the rafters in July of last year to see Conor McGregor defeat Diego Brandao in the first round of their middleweight encounter. The dubliner's success has seen a massive rise in interest in the sport in this country and fans turned out in their droves to show their support. It proved a great night as the Irish fighters taking part had a clean sweep with Paddy Holohan, Cathal Pendred, Norman Parke and Neil Seery also winning.
Rugby World Cup 1991
The rugby world cup was jointly hosted by the participants of the then 5 nations. Landsdowne Road held two Pool 2 games, a quarter-final and a semi-final. But it is the quarter-final that will live longest in the memory in which Ireland were agonisingly beaten by Australia by a one point margin. Ireland trailed the heavy favourites for the whole encounter up until the 73rd minute when Gordon Hamilton scored a famous try that looked to be sending us through to the semi-finals. Unfortunately that only lasted three minutes as Michael Lynagh broke Irish hearts with a late try to give the Aussies an 18-19 victory.
Muhammed Ali in Croke Park 1972
On July 19 1972 Muhammed Ali fought Alvin Lewis in Dublin in a non-title fight. Michael "Butty" Sugrue, put up £300,000 and persuaded Ali to make his first visit to Ireland and fight. Ali won the fight with a TKO in the 11th round but Lewis impressed many by rallying following a fifth round knock down and even launch some decent offense. The whole story is documented in the RTE documentary When Ali Came To Ireland.
>> Buy Crashed Ice tickets here
Europa League Final 2011
To celebrate the opening of the Aviva as Ireland's only UEFA Elite stadium in 2010 they were awarded the Europa Cup Final for 2011. It was Ireland's first-ever European football club competition final. The game was contested between 2 Portuguese sides with Porto running out 1-0 winners over Braga. The match was attended by 45,000 people. Radamel Falcao bagged the winner for a Porto side managed by Andre Villas Boas, both men's reputations were at an all time high, I'm sure either would be happy enough to turn the clock back to that time.
Fast forward to this weekend and we've got Crashed Ice in Belfast. Not sure what it is? Watch the video and try tell me it doesn't look mad!
