This book examines the development of a nationalist agenda within Irish sport and searches for a definition of nationalism in this context. The question of what Irish nationalism is, and what forces shape it, has stretched the minds of generations of Irish historians and political scientists. For some the answer has been found within the realms of political history, while others have examined how the cultural impact of Irish literature and drama has shaped nationalism. These genres relied on elites, be they political or literary, within Irish society to understand the evolution of nationalist thinking and the operation of nationalism as an ideal. Sport offers a new way of looking at nationalism as it offers mass-consumed low culture as a vehicle. Since the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) in 1884 through to the current popularity of soccer, sporting events have been played by tens of thousand and watched by hundreds of thousands of Irish people both at home and as part of the diaspora. This means that sport has a greater resonance and meaning for the experience of the multitude of the Irish in stark contrast to the operation of Dublin-centred politics and literature. This book defines sporting nationalism through the experience of Gaelic games and soccer as examples of mass spectator sport. The choice of a mass spectator sport which a nation chooses to support will demonstrate the perceived place of that nation within the world and the trends prevalent within its society, thereby intrinsically defining the state of its nationalism.

This text examines the political nature of sport and leisure in Northern Ireland as an (often overlooked) aspect of the divided community. The politics of partition are integral to the rivalry between clubs, to the support the clubs receive, and even to the very choice of games played and watched.

This is the first history of sport in Ireland, locating the history of sport within Irish political, social, and cultural history, and within the global history of sport. Sport and Ireland demonstrates that there are aspects of Ireland's sporting history that are uniquely Irish and are defined by the peculiarities of life on a small island on the edge of Europe. What is equally apparent, though, is that the Irish sporting world is unique only in part; much of the history of Irish sport is a shared history with that of other societies. Drawing on an unparalleled range of sources - government archives, sporting institutions, private collections, and more than sixty local, national, and international newspapers - this volume offers a unique insight into the history of the British Empire in Ireland and examines the impact that political partition has had on the organization of sport there. Paul Rouse assesses the relationship between sport and national identity, how sport influences policy-making in modern states, and the ways in which sport has been colonized by the media and has colonized it in turn. Each chapter of Sport and Ireland contains new research on the place of sport in Irish life: the playing of hurling matches in London in the eighteenth century, the growth of cricket to become the most important sport in early Victorian Ireland, and the enlistment of thousands of members of the Gaelic Athletic Association as soldiers in the British Army during the Great War. Rouse draws out the significance of animals to the Irish sporting tradition, from the role of horse and dogs in racing and hunting, to the cocks, bulls, and bears that were involved in fighting and baiting.

Sport has played a central role in modern Ireland’s history. Perhaps nowhere else has sport so infused the political, social and cultural development and identity of a nation. During this so-called ‘Decade of Centenaries’ in Ireland (2014 to 2024) recently there has been an exponential growth in interest and academic research on Ireland’s sporting heritage. This collection of chapters, contributed by some of Ireland’s most preeminent sport and social historians, showcases the richness and complexity of Ireland’s sporting legacy. Articles on topics as diverse as the role of native Gaelic games in emphasising the emerging cultural nationalism of pre-Revolutionary Ireland, the contribution of Irish rugby to the broader British war effort in World War 1, the emergence of Irish soccer on the international stage, and the long running battle to gain official recognition within international athletics for an independent Irish state, are presented. This work’s intention is to illustrate some of the latest and most vibrant research being conducted on Irish sports history. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Explores the relationship between sport and national identities within the context of globalization in the modern era.

Richard English's brilliant new book, now available in paperback, is a compelling narrative history of Irish nationalism, in which events are not merely recounted but analysed. Full of rich detail, drawn from years of original research and also from the extensive specialist literature on the subject, it offers explanations of why Irish nationalists have believed and acted as they have, why their ideas and strategies have changed over time, and what effect Irish nationalism has had in shaping modern Ireland. It takes us from the Ulster Plantation to Home Rule, from the Famine of 1847 to the Hunger Strikes of the 1970s, from Parnell to Pearse, from Wolfe Tone to Gerry Adams, from the bitter struggle of the Civil War to the uneasy peace of the early twenty-first century. Is it imaginable that Ireland might – as some have suggested – be about to enter a post-nationalist period? Or will Irish nationalism remain a defining force on the island in future years? 'a courageous and successful attempt to synthesise the entire story between two covers for the neophyte and for the exhausted specialist alike' Tom Garvin, Irish Times

Consides the relationship between sport, national identities and gender in a contemporary Irish context