Ambiguity, complexity and convergence: The Evolution of Liverpool's Irish football clubs

Abstract

Previously, the impact of ethnicity on association football in Britain has been discussed in terms of its contribution to the cultural development of Scotland and Northern Ireland. By highlighting the history of football clubs formed by the Irish in a major English city, such as Liverpool, this article seeks to broaden the debate on this aspect of British football out of the ‘Celtic-centric’ parameters it has exclusively been discussed in. Primarily, we seek to explain why, in contrast to the historical development of similar ethno-religiously divided towns and cities elsewhere in Britain, football clubs emerging from the Irish community in Liverpool did not become a serious cultural force within that city.