KINGSTON, R.I. – Oct. 7, 2026 – Nine University of Rhode Island Harrington School of Communication and Media students spent two weeks in Ireland this summer exploring the country’s sports culture while putting their reporting and storytelling skills to work.

That experience left a profound impact on the students that went well beyond their reporting on the action inside the stadiums there.

As part of the inaugural study-abroad program, the students—led by URI Sports Media and Communication Associate Professor Matthew Hodler—ventured through Dublin, Howth and Belfast. They toured various places, including Croke Park, The Curragh and Northern Ireland’s Football Stadium at Windsor Park, plus watched rugby and soccer at Aviva Stadium.

Beyond visiting Ireland’s iconic sporting venues, the trip offered students a chance to see sports from a different perspective while developing their skills outside the classroom. They experienced firsthand how sports are connected to local communities and culture in ways that look very different from the United States.

“Sports in Ireland are very participatory and community-based,” Hodler said. “A lot of students have compared it to how sports in the United States are very corporate and commercially driven.”

That difference stood out to Harry Hunt ’29, a sports media major from Cranford, New Jersey, who was interested in the connection between athletes and their hometown clubs in Ireland. He noticed right away how loyalty is ingrained in Ireland’s sports culture.

“Something that is very common in the U.S. is for people to transfer clubs or leave their team, but what I loved about Ireland was seeing the dedication to one club,” Hunt said. “If you played for one club as a kid, you played for that club your entire life, which I thought was very special.”

Eliza Smith ’29, a communication studies major from New Woodstock, New York, said seeing Ireland’s sports culture up close and personal made her think differently about the role athletics can play in a community.

“You can tell that they live, breathe and die for their sports,” Smith said. “It really made me reflect on our sports culture.”

Students practiced their storytelling throughout the trip. They created social media content for their Instagram account @rhodyrhodeireland26, conducted interviews, wrote reflections and worked on multimedia projects. Rather than simply documenting where they went, students had to decide what stood out to them and how they could turn those moments experiencing Irish sporting culture into stories.

Hunt wrote five journal entries about some of his favorite and most interesting days, along with a final project featuring photos and reflections from the trip. Smith experimented with several storytelling forms, including creating an Instagram post highlighting four amateur sports sanctioned within the Gaelic Athletic Association. 

“I also did a few postgame interviews after our small tournaments, which was super fun,” Smith said. 

Through their daily reflections, students were also encouraged to think critically about what they saw, what surprised them and which moments best captured their time in Ireland. Working in a new environment challenged them to adapt their reporting and storytelling as they went. 

“I knew that countries had different cultures, but when you focus on one specific part of that country, you realize how different and historical it can be,” Smith said. “It never occurred to me that you can do sports in different ways.”

Getting to know each other and making new friends became one of the most memorable parts of their trip.

“I went into this trip not knowing anyone, and I have gained some amazing friends and even better memories,” Smith said. “One of my favorite memories was our last dinner. We went to see Riverdance, and I ended up going on stage to dance with the dancers.”

The trip also encouraged students to think more about their futures. Hunt said the experience expanded his view of career opportunities available in sports media, including the thought of living and working in Ireland to pursue his dream job.

Smith concurred, saying the trip solidified her goal of wanting to see more of the world and its vibrant cultures. “It made me think more broadly that I don’t have to work in my own country, but wherever I can in the world,” she said.

“This has influenced my future goals because I could definitely see myself living and working in Ireland with some of the organizations we visited,” Hunt said. “It helped me understand the different careers that can come out of this major.”

For Hodler, giving students the opportunity to navigate a new country was just as important as what they learned about sports communication. 

“My hope is that they have gained some confidence about navigating the world and realize they can figure things out all on their own,” he said. 

This story was written by Sydney Capello, an intern for the Harrington School of Communication and Media’s Social Media Agency.