NFL franchise in Europe a ‘possibility’ – Bettis

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NFL: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Minnesota Vikings

Date: Sunday, September 28th, 2018 Kick-off: 14:30 BST

Jerome Bettis, the Pittsburgh Steelers legend, fondly recalls his first appearance in Dublin in 1997.

He believed that those who attended Croke Park to watch his team play against the Chicago Bears were “understanding and digesting” the largely unheard game.

There was a common sense of curiosity among the 25, 000 or so people who entered the Gaelic Athletic Association’s (GAA) headquarters for a game billed as the “American Bowl,” despite the fact that there were many American expatriates and local fanatics present.

Even the Hall of Fame running back, who scored a touchdown in the Steelers’ 30-17 victory, is more fond of the time spent enjoying what he refers to as Irish “hospitality” than anything that took place on the field of play.

With a 75, 000-sell-out crowd guaranteeing the historic fixture is the hottest ticket in town this weekend, the NFL will return to Dublin for the city’s first ever regular-season game against the Steelers and the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Bettis told BBC Sport NI, “I think it shows that the NFL has grown in acceptance.”

“I anticipate that Croke Park jamming because the game has grown a lot more in Ireland.”

Bettis believes that technological advancements and the development of social media have contributed to the game’s exponential growth.

While those who were local supporters of the game in 1997 relied on a highlights show to stay informed about the games played the previous week, there are now numerous live competitions and related programming that are broadcast weekly.

Meanwhile, visiting stars like Aaron Rodgers of the Steelers and Justin Jefferson of the Vikings are closer than ever thanks to social media.

When you consider how the technology has evolved, “I believe it has allowed for players to be in your living room on a regular basis,” said Bettes.

You can now identify with the players thanks to TikTok and all these different media. You are aware of the quarterback’s status. You become a fan of the star wide receiver and their team because you are aware of who they are.

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I believe this will be a regular event.

The Steelers’ visit in 1997 had a special significance for the organization because the Rooney family’s ancestors from Newry in County Down in the 1840s immigrated from there.

Indeed, it is believed that the team’s starters continued playing for longer than usual in an effort to secure what would normally be regarded as a simple victory due to the desire to mark the return to the Rooney family’s homeland with victory.

If that meant Bettis had a bigger pre-season workload than expected, he now has a chance to see more of the Emerald Isle this time around thanks to his ambassadorial role for the Steelers on Sunday’s game.

With visits to Belfast and Newry also on the itinerary, a round of golf at the K Club, where Rory McIlroy won the Irish Open this month, has proved to be a special highlight.

Bettis believes that Dublin’s first regular-season game won’t be its last due to the welcome received from the traveling contingent.

“You get a chance to experience the culture and people of Ireland when you visit as a fan and spectator.” It’s just a wonderful place and you get to interact with people a lot more.

The people have been fantastic to everyone, and I believe this will turn out to be a regular occurrence.

“I believe this is a commitment the NFL will make to Irish fans and demonstrate how significant it is,” he said.

Does Bettis think we might eventually see a full-time franchise on this side of the Atlantic given that Dublin will become the fourth city in Europe to host a regular-season game after London, Frankfurt, and Munich, and that Berlin and Madrid will follow suit in November?

He said, “I just think that question will continue to be raised as the game continues to expand.”

related subjects

  • Northern Ireland is a sport
  • American Football

Sarah Ferguson actress donates TV drama salary after ‘inexcusable’ Jeffrey Epstein emails

After emails to Jeffrey Epstein were leaked, Natalie Dormer, who plays Sarah Ferguson in an upcoming ITV drama The Lady, criticized the Duchess of York’s “inexcusable” behavior.

Former Game Of Thrones actress Natalie Dormer, who is set to play Sarah Ferguson in an upcoming ITV drama, has now refused to promote the show and will be donating her salary to a charity supporting childhood sexual abuse victims.

In a public statement, Natalie, 43, criticized the Duchess of York for recently disclosing emails to alleged child molester Jeffrey Epstein. In the upcoming ITV drama The Lady, Natalie will play Fergie in the true story of Jane Andrews, a former dresser to Fergie who was found guilty of murder in 2001.

Recently, Fergie was dropped from a string of charities in the wake of a disclosure of an email to peadophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, in which she described him a “supreme friend”.

READ MORE: Royal expert raises fears for Archie and Lilibet as Prince Harry deals with ‘baggage’READ MORE: Sarah Ferguson ‘scared for her life by Jeffrey Epstein’ as pal issues live TV plea on her behalf

Following the revelation that she apologized to the sex offender in April 2011 after publicly denouncing him in the media, several charities cut ties with the duchess on Monday.

In response to the most recent revelation, actress Natalie has also spoken out, saying that she will no longer promote the show.

“Since the project is complete, new information has emerged that makes it impossible for me to reconcile my values with Sarah Ferguson’s behavior, which I find to be inexcusable,” said Natalie.

I won’t participate in the project promotion because of this. In keeping with my commitment to the welfare of children, “

She stated to The Telegraph, “I have given the National Association for People Abused in Childhood (NAPAC) and the Child Sexual Abuse Center my entire salary.”

The British Heart Foundation announced that Fergie was no longer a serving ambassador to the charity following a 2011 email in which Fergie appeared to apologize to Epstein over her public criticism of him, while the Duchess of York has been dropped by a number of charities over the past two weeks, including Teenage Cancer Trust, Wiltshire and Dorset-based children’s hospice Julia’s House, Prevent Breast Cancer, Prevent Breast Cancer, and The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation.

Fergie’s friend Lizzy Cundy, later appeared on The Jeremy Vine Show and said her friend is in a “terrible way” and shares deep regrets over her links to Epstein. “I’m afraid, he is a toxic person – even from the grave,” she commented.

While Sarah’s Duchess of York title has been criticized, Cundy thinks the royal should “lay low” and let this go. What would you do if someone told her, “I think this is a shock, but he was so aggressive, so unpleasant, and I think he was so aggressive and unfavorable.”

“The fact is when she did condemn him, which she did publicly, it got very nasty. He got huge lawyers onto her as well. She thought she was going to be embarrassed, not only her own family but the rest of the Royal Family,” Cundy said when trying to defend her pal.

Cundy questioned why Ferguson would be afraid of legal action from a convicted sex offender when MP Dawn Butler inquired whether a private email would have been sufficient to resolve the issue. She said, “Paedophilia is abhorrent,” instead of “Look, I didn’t actually call you a paedophile,” as she put it. She was trying to calm him and control his ego.

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“Cundy also shared on the Channel 5 show that Sarah is absolutely devastated about losing the charities. Particularly the cancer patient, who recently received a cancer diagnosis, is devastated. She is going through hell because she is a human being and a mother.

The Teenage Cancer Trust stated in a statement that “we have made the decision to end our relationship with the Duchess of York.” As of right now, she is no longer a Teenage Cancer Trust supporter. The Duchess has been informed of this decision. The Duchess of York has given us many thanks for your support.

Gov Sani, Gates Foundation Sign Accountability Framework On Health, Agriculture

The Gates Foundation and Kaduna State governor, Uba Sani, have signed the state’s Mutual Accountability Framework (KaMAF). &nbsp,

The UN General Assembly’s 80th session in New York marked the signing of the framework.

The Gates Foundation’s strategic partnership aims to advance primary healthcare, boost maternal and child health, promote sustainable agriculture, boost productivity, and promote market access.

In order to ensure a transparent budgeting process, the framework will also strengthen data systems to support decision-making, monitoring, and evaluation.

Additionally, it will improve financial and digital inclusion, with a particular emphasis on women’s resilience.

Governor Sani described the Gates Foundation’s Mutual Accountability Framework as a crucial step in Kaduna State’s development journey at &nbsp, noting that the framework will improve Kaduna State’s food security, health outcomes, and economic inclusion.

Flood: Ikota, Lekki Residents Urge Govt To Act Against Illegal Structures On Waterways

Residents of Ikota and the Lekki axis have urged the state’s governor to immediately stop developers from erecting illegal structures on waterways and canals.

Read more about flooding in Lekki, Ikorodu, where “Move Now” warns residents in some areas.

The residents lamented that homes and roads were completely submerged in water as a result of Tuesday’s downpour.

According to them, the floods forced families to scramble to save as much as they could as well as destroying businesses.

There is no way to live like this. Every blizzard causes disaster. A distraught resident yelled out, “We are losing everything while the government watches.”

The Lagos State government has urged caution in the wake of the severe rainfall.

The victims attributed the persistent flooding to human-caused illegal structures constructed along canals and drainage channels, particularly System 156 and 157 drainage channels.

They accused Lagos State Government of failing to follow the laws that were passed by developers who obstructed the waterways.

Read more about flooding: The Lagos government calls for calm following a downpour.

The flooding won’t stop, a homeowner standing in knee-deep water said. “Until the government restores this area, according to the original master plan, this area won’t stop.”

FILE: Emergency workers in Lagos State rescuing some flood victims

According to town planners, the state’s master plan forbids building on waterways, but there hasn’t been much enforcement, despite this.

Many residents think that powerful developers are spared from sanctions, leaving regular Lagosians to bear the brunt of the consequences.

The flooding damages homes, destroys livelihoods, and threatens public health because stagnant water raises the risk of illness outbreaks.

Environmentalists are concerned.

Environmental rights activists warned that unless illegal encroachments are removed and canals are urgently cleared, Lagos is on the verge of a major disaster.

Once the rains come, “every illegal structure is a ticking time bomb for nearby communities,” a protester retorted.

In the country’s commercial capital, streets and homes were completely submerged on Tuesday due to a severe downpour.

Many commuters were left stranded by submerged vehicles.

Ex-EastEnders star’s son bags new role for semi-retired ‘nepo dad’

Graham Clark, who portrayed Gary Webster in EastEnders in the 1980s, jokes that he has grown up to be a ” nepo-dad” after his 22-year-old son, Freddie, accepted him for a theatre job.

Forget about nepotis: Gary Webster is a nepo-parent in this situation.

Gary, 61, is set to play his son Freddie, 22, in the role he was given by the young actor.

From September 30 through October 26, both father and son will appear in the play Blessings at London’s Riverside Studios.

Gary jokes, “I’m the nepo dad,” while speaking about Freddie and his wife, Wendy Turner, 58, author, and animal welfare activist. When Freddie was cast, he claimed that his father was lying on his backside and doing nothing. They might want to look at him, perhaps.

Gary – whose TV credits include Ray Daley in Minder and Graham Clark on EastEnders – is used to acting being a family affair. In fact, it’s what brought him and Wendy together.

In a panto in Cambridge in 1997, they first met as Robin Hood and Maid Marian during the photo call to promote the film.

I had been sleeping until the early hours of the morning because Wendy had flown in overnight from New York. Both of us were exhausted. However, fortunately, the theater had unloaded the car. We were taken back to London after the photos were taken, and we both slept through the night.

We’d better keep quiet about this because we don’t want it to spread, I said when I woke up. “

Wendy is confident that her husband and son will shine in Blessings because they were married in 1999 and are proud parents to Freddie, who graduated from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in May, and Jack, who works in corporate finance.

She continues, “I’m assuming they’ll be brilliant on stage together.” I had no reservations when I first heard about the news. I did cartwheels around the kitchen, and I was thrilled.

And Gary, who has written a film and appeared in a number of plays recently, including 12 Angry Men and Dial M for Murder, says the story, which centers on a working-class family’s daily routine in 1969, is similar to most families.

However, Freddie found acting through an open mic night rather than his parents’ showmanship.

When he recalls playing acoustic guitar at an open mic night, “That’s when I realized I wanted to be in front of the camera.”

He is now looking forward to playing Gary’s father, who is well-known. “The icing on the cake,” he says, “is to my father playing my father.”

Wendy, a patron of Animal Aid, is about to begin working with her sister Anthea Turner on an Amazon documentary about non-verbal testing in partnership with the organization.

Recalling how her dad Brian unwittingly brought them together in 2021 after a rift – by mastering WhatsApp on his new mobile phone – Wendy says: “I was teaching him how to send photos via WhatsApp to Anthea.

She called right away to find out how he had handled it. I then told him, “For God’s sake, pass me the phone!” in a conversation that created so much confusion.

Anthea and I were suddenly conversing.

Soon, they were discussing a gift for their parents’ 67th wedding anniversary and e-mailing each other about their documents. When they both returned from their visits to Stoke-on-Trent, Wendy says, “When we saw each other, the years just melted away.”

Unfortunately, they also lost their 91-year-old mother, Jean Turner, to pneumonia the same year.

Wendy, whose father now lives nearer the sisters in London, continues to resent the fact that she has fallen out with Anthea. “What family, from princes to paupers, doesn’t have dramas along the way? We are the same as everyone else.

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Meghan Markle ‘calling the shots’ amid ‘tension’ over Prince Harry’s latest UK plan

According to reports, Meghan Markle and Harry have been weighing whether to send their children to UK or US schools.

There could be fresh tension brewing for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, if rumours of him scouting British schools for their kids are true.

Speculation that the Duke of Sussex is contemplating sending Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet to school in the UK erupted after singer Joss Stone spilled the beans on a recent chat she’d had with the royal.

After having lived in the country for over a decade, the singer revealed Harry seemed “genuinely interested in our move home” and praised the “how wonderful the schools are here and how important community is for children” in the country.

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Then, according to reports, Harry allegedly looked into Eton College for Archie, who was six years old, in part because of the “high profile and politically exposed kids there” and because of Britain’s much stricter gun laws.

Team Sussex issued a blunt response to the rumours, stating: “ Prince Harry has not put his son’s name down for Eton, nor does he have any plans to do so.” Despite the denial, there’s still much chatter about whether he might have his eye on one of the many other elite British schools known for their royal and aristocratic alumni.

Royal expert Lydia Alto believes the issue of schooling could become a “fault line” dividing public opinion on the couple given Meghan’s rumored finding the idea of boarding schools “barbaric” and showing no signs of desire to return to the UK for a short time.

She claims that “it could very well turn into a major source of tension in the future.” “Hugh will almost certainly back down if Meghan consistently presents herself as the decision-maker in their family,” she said.

If Meghan believes it to be cruel, he might find it difficult to imagine him fighting for a British education despite his desire for the children to follow in his own footsteps. Unlike day schools, boarding schools offer a sense of stability, independence, and opportunity for some, especially royals or military families with demanding duties.

She adds that Meghan “calling the final shots” would likely help to resolve the problem. Harry’s past willingness to sacrifice his military responsibilities, his family ties, and even his reputation in the UK for Meghan’s comfort suggests that he won’t fight for their children.

“As a result of Meghan’s attempts to educate them here, it would be another bridge that has been quietly burned, and it would also be another factor making Archie and Lilibet grow up more aloof from their British parents.”

Harry first began his education at Ludgrove School, just like William had done a few years prior, at London’s private Wetherby School, before enrolling in Ludgrove School at the age of eight.

He re-enrolled at Eton College at the age of 13, but his later tales reveal that he had nothing but a good time.

Harry described his time at the Berkshire school as a “profound shock” in his bombshell autobiography Spare, claiming that despite being “heaven for brilliant boys, it could only be purgatory for one very unbrilliant boy.”

He also revealed that his big brother William had a bad attitude toward settling in in 2023. Harry claims that he even told the newcomer to act as though they weren’t acquainted.

The Duke addressed Anderson Cooper, a television host, by saying, “At the time, it hurt.” “I couldn’t understand it,” he said. Apart from any potential educational benefits, royal watcher Lydia believes that sending Archie and Lilibet to a British school would be very helpful for Harry in establishing his family’s presence in the country.

He’s also made no secret of his desire for his kids to “feel at home” in the UK, and said after his recent visit here – which included a much talked-about cup of tea with his dad, King Charles – that he has always and will always “love” his homeland.

You can see why Harry might want his kids to be educated in the UK, Lydia said. It’s important to focus on heritage, tradition, and maintaining lifelong bonds while attending an elite level of education, especially for students at the elite level.

Sending his children to a British school could be a way to make sure they aren’t completely disconnected from his side of the family, according to a prince who insists he hasn’t turned his back on his country. Whatever his reservations may be, he still values his British heritage, which would be reinforced by this statement.

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More uncertainty surrounds Harry’ future after his recent trip to the UK, which was officially his first encounter with his father in 19 months and was held for the annual WellChild Awards.

Speaking after the trip, Harry said: “It’s been good to reconnect with the causes I am passionate about… It is hard to do it from far away,” possibly hinting he could become a more frequent visitor. But whether Archie and Lilibet will factor into the decision remains to be seen.