US football rivals rally troops at RDS

NOT SINCE Twink at the Fine Gael ardfheis of 1991 has the RDS witnessed such theatre as it did last night, when the opposing sides in today's American football game gathered for the traditional pregame "pep rally".

It started with a man in a Darby O'Gill costume vying with a giant ram to encourage thousands of rival supporters into demonstrations of mutual hatred. Then it got a little bit over-the-top.

Brass bands burst into noisy accompaniment at the slightest excuse, and spindly-legged majorettes were hurled into the air as batons are during Twelfth of July marches.

People as respectable as the US Secretary of the Navy climbed on stage to say things like how good it was to be in Ireland and, by the way, "we're gonna kick Notre Dame's butt tomorrow".

A captain of the US Marine Corps, Bert Pangrazio, went on stage to say how much he loved being in Ireland but, even so, he was here to see Navy trash Notre Dame today.

Bert admitted afterwards that he helped train some of the Navy team, as well as providing liaison between the two wings of the defence forces. He admits his side is smaller but says they play with "heart". But the heart is pretty lousy at football. Navy haven't beaten Notre Dame since 1963.

Part of the reason for this is supplied by the Irish Guards, the kilted wing of the Notre Dame band. A minimum height of 6 ft 2 in each, they don't play instruments. They dance jigs, and the sight of them jigging is as scary as the New Zealand All Blacks performing the haka.

"We're part of the visual aspect of the band," said guardsman Alex Andreichuk, who had to bend to avoid the rafters of the RDS main hall. Visual aspect is putting it mildly. When the guards stood shoulder to shoulder during the team songs, they looked like a section of the wall around the British embassy, just down the road.

The history books aside, the omens are good for Navy this year. They recently beat Air Force and Air Force recently beat Notre Dame, as Darby O'Gill was forced to admit to a loud riposte from the Navy brass band's percussion section.

On the evidence of last night moreover, they can throw their majorettes a lot further than Notre Dame. If they're half as handy with the ball today, they could cause an upset.