Sport, Identity, and the People of the Irish Border Lands

Abstract

Among the of Northern Ireland?mostly members of the minor ity Catholic community?the most popular cultural pastime is sport, specifically Gaelic football, hurling, and camogie. These and other sports play a role in the construction of a unique identity for this section of Irish society. Understanding the interplay of local and national forms of representation, within the inherent ly limited context of sport, lies at the core of any complete understanding of how identity is formed along the northern part of the Irish frontier. Until recendy, research into the socio-historical role of sport in Ireland has been insuf ficient to allow us to address these issues with complete confidence. The seminal work of Alan Klein in Baseball on the Border: A Tale of Two Lare dos (1997) constitutes the most widely regarded study of the social significance of sport in the construction of identities. Spanning the spectrum from the complete recognition of the legal and physical imperative of borders through to the acceptance of cross-border institutions and structures, Baseball on the Border provides a theoretical backdrop for research in border studies. The observations of Hastings Donnan and Thomas Wilson in Borders: Frontiers of Identity, Nation, and State (1999) help to reveal how sport has allowed some nationalists to generate a regional identity that assumes preeminence over association with either of the two states on the island of Ireland. Referring specifically to the cultural rituals and symbolism played out at borders, Donnan and Wilson assert that despite sport being one of the least offensive aspects of cultures, generates some of the most emotional forms of cultural inte gration and disintegration at local and national levels.1 In an Irish context, the term border people requires definition. While this essay focuses on the specific experiences of Irish nationalists living along the Irish border, it also recognizes that, although this grouping represents the over whelming majority of who live in the region, there are also others who live there but would not define themselves as Irish nationalists. In particular,