Sport and the Partition of Ireland

Abstract

This chapter examines how Irish sporting bodies reacted to the creation of the border in Ireland in 1921. The chapter looks at a wide range of sports including soccer, athletics, cycling, the GAA, rugby, bowls, cricket, hockey, boxing, tennis, racing and motor sports. Partition created issues for many sports related to the national political environment. The border forced all sports to look at their internal governance structures. Most Irish governing bodies managed to maintain unity by considerable compromise as issues of political symbolism were tailored to accommodate diverse political and cultural interests. There was a readiness of sports to incorporate inoffensive and neutral flags, anthems and emblems to maintain unity. Great efforts were also made to democratize the internal governance structures of those sports. A common trend for most of the sports that remained united was to share national committee representation amongst provinces on a basis of equality, provincial councils in most cases were afforded large degrees of autonomy to manage their internal affairs, and significant energy was made to accommodate provinces, particularly Ulster, in selections for international contests and in choice of venue for internationals and committee meetings.