sport

sport of various kinds has been played in Ireland since early times. For example, it is known that hurling in some form was being played 2,000 years ago. Legislation in the 14th century sought to restrain English settlers from playing Irish games, though as with laws passed in the Interregnum and post‐revolutionary years, such attempts to reform popular culture were largely unsuccessful. During the 18th century sport, already an appendage to fairs and festivals, and increasingly associated with patronage, became subject to a measure of commercialization. Horse racing, for example, supported by the wealthy, took on a new formality; jockeys were among the first professional sportsmen. Gambling, by way of prize moneys and side bets, was prominent in encouraging competition.

The first half of the 19th century saw a marked decline in traditional culture, reflecting the spread of new social aspirations and standards of behaviour, reinforced after 1845 by the disruption and loss of population caused by the Famine. Traditional sports, such as hurling and local forms of football, almost totally fell into abeyance. Meanwhile changing fashions, and the influence of the large Irish garrison, made English sports more popular and widespread. By 1860 cricket was probably the most popular sport in Ireland. The late Victorian era, in Ireland as elsewhere, was a period of rapid growth for organized sport. Games became codified and governing bodies were formed, while the emergence of the paying spectator heralded a new wave of commercialization. Many Irishmen, notably athletes, became affiliated to English organizations. But there was also disquiet at the social exclusiveness of athletics meetings, at the prevalence elsewhere of cash prizes and gambling, at the predominance of English sports such as rugby and cricket, and at the influence of English regulating bodies. The creation and rapid growth of the Gaelic Athletic Association (1884) was an important part of the ‘new nationalism’ of the period before the First World War. It gave the choice of sports a political significance that it retains, in Northern Ireland in particular, to the present day.

The First World War disrupted Gaelic games to a lesser extent than their Anglicized rivals, although political disorder (see anglo‐irish war) created factions in the GAA and chaos in all sporting programmes. Partition created some confusion in Irish sport, though only a minority of sports, notably soccer and athletics, did not continue on an all‐Ireland basis.

In the Irish Free State Gaelic sports became part of the officially sponsored culture, notably through the Tailteann games. Other sports received little official attention, though the Catholic middle classes quickly adopted the Anglicized sports, especially rugby. The first international team to compete as the Irish Free State was the lawn tennis team which entered the Davis Cup in 1924. Though Gaelic games retained their domestic supremacy, national rugby, hockey, and soccer teams received some official recognition following international success. Although Gaelic football is the premier spectator sport, soccer has higher levels of participation.

In Northern Ireland sport retained a sectarian bent, though national sides were selected primarily on grounds of ability. Sport could not be used as a means of consolidating the new state from 1920, mainly because of the persistence of both all‐Ireland and United Kingdom teams and officiating bodies. Gaelic sports, seen as inherently Catholic and nationalist, have continued to be largely shunned by the majority Protestant population. Soccer is the most popular spectator and participation sport. Most other sports, such as horse racing and golf, continue, though necessarily on a smaller scale than in the Republic. Renewed civil disorder from 1969 (see northern ireland conflict) temporarily disrupted domestic sporting programmes and international fixtures, but did little lasting damage.

Large‐scale professional sports have not developed in Ireland. This is due to the amateur ethos of the GAA, the attraction of leading sportsmen to established professional sports abroad, and the small potential internal market. Women's sport in Ireland has always been of limited appeal to both competitors and spectators. Camogie attracts few participants. Hockey remains the country's major women's sport, though interestingly Ireland now has internationally recognized female cricket and rugby sides.

There is no comprehensive history of sport in Ireland. Histories of the more important individual sports are noted at the end of the relevant entries.

Neal Garnham