Former US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy attended a Gaelic football match in Gaelic Park in the Bronx, watching on as a New York All-Star team defeated Dublin on October 19, 1964.
Robert F. Kennedy followed a marching band including bagpipes around the Gaelic Park pitch and addressed the 12,000-strong crowd before the match began.
He spoke about his brother John F. Kennedy's visit to Ireland in June 1963, describing it as the "happiest moment" that he had enjoyed abroad over the past four years.
JFK was assassinated just four months after returning to his ancestral homeland.
Speaking to the crowd in Gaelic Park, RFK said: "I think back on the last four years and I think the happiest moment abroad was when President Kennedy went to Ireland.
"He got to Dublin that night and then the following day he went to Wexford, to New Ross, and explained to the people there that if our great-great-grandfather hadn't come over from County Wexford, he might be working in the factory across the street (in New Ross).
"And I'd be working there too," Kennedy said, drawing laughter from the crowd.
"We remember where we came from and every morning before breakfast, my children say up Wexford."
After finishing his speech, RFK took charge of the throw-in, getting the eagerly-anticipated match underway.
Dublin, who had won the All-Ireland Football Championship in 1963, fielded a strong team consisting of several All-Ireland winners, including the talented forward Mickey Whelan.
They were no match for New York, however, who prevailed on a scoreline of 2-12 (18) to 1-13 (16) to claim the world championship and Ireland's National League Cup.
A New York Times report from Gaelic Park notes that the game ended with both sets of players "swinging at each other" before a fan charged onto the field to join the fisticuffs.
"The fan emerged with‐a blackened eye," the New York Times noted.
*Originally published in March 2023. Updated in August 2023.
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