Football In Ireland Research Articles

Corner Kick Characteristics: A Case Study of the 2020/21 Northern Ireland Football League (NIFL) Premiership Season

ABSTRACT In the 2020/21 NIFL Premiership regular season, 12% (70) of goals scored came from corner kicks. However, the effectiveness of corner kicks at a club level ranged from 5% to 17.5%. Thus, individual coaches ability to create effective strategies to impact corner kick outcomes justifies investigation. The aim of this study was to describe how corner kicks were taken across the 2020/21 (NIFL) Premiership season, and to assess the effectiveness of offensive and defensive corner kick strategies. From 195 matches, 1988 corner kicks from video recordings were analysed, examining 18 corner kick outcome variables. Results were recorded using a hand notation observation instrument and data analysed through Microsoft Excel v16.59 and IBM SPSS v27. 70 goals were scored (3.5% of corners taken), accounting for 12% of goals scored (581). Defending team quality (p = 0.034), venue (p = 0.005), and path of ball (p = 0.002) significantly affected the likelihood of an attempt at goal. Most goals came from inswinging corners (80%) and were most likely (5.4%) to be scored when the ball was delivered into the central area of the 6-yard box (GA2). To better understand individual corner style and contextual factors, further research should focus at team level.

‘More than likely the men come first. That’s just very frustrating’. A qualitative exploration of contextual factors affecting the implementation of injury prevention initiatives and the provision of effective injury management in elite-level women’s club football in Ireland

ObjectivesThe aim of our study was to explore the contextual factors that affect the implementation of football injury prevention initiatives and the provision of effective injury management in the Irish...

Soccer and society in Dublin: a history of association football in Ireland's capital. By Conor Curran. Pp 352. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2023. €35.00.

Soccer and society in Dublin: a history of association football in Ireland's capital. By Conor Curran. Pp 352. Dublin: Four Courts Press. 2023. €35.00.

Players’, Head Coaches', And Medical Personnels' Knowledge, Understandings and Perceptions of Injuries and Injury Prevention in Elite-Level Women’s Football in Ireland

BackgroundTo manage injuries effectively, players, head coaches, and medical personnel need to have excellent knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours in relation to the identification of risk factors for injuries, the implementation of injury prevention initiatives, as well as the implementation of effective injury management strategies. Understanding the injury context, whereby specific personal, environmental, and societal factors can influence the implementation of injury prevention initiatives and injury management strategies is critical to player welfare. To date, no qualitative research investigating the context of injuries, has been undertaken in elite-level women’s football. The aim of our study was to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of players, head coaches, and medical personnel in the Irish Women’s National League (WNL) to injury prevention and injury management.MethodsWe used qualitative research methods to explore the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours of players, head coaches, and medical personnel in the Irish WNL to injury prevention and injury management. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 17 players, 8 medical personnel, and 7 head coaches in the Irish WNL. The data were analysed using thematic analysis. Our study is located within an interpretivist, constructivist research paradigm.ResultsThe participants had incomplete knowledge of common injuries in elite-level football, and many held beliefs about risk factors for injuries, such as menstrual cycle stage, which lacked evidence to support them. Jumping and landing exercises were commonly used to reduce the risk of injuries but evidence-based injury prevention exercises and programmes such as the Nordic hamstring curl, Copenhagen adduction exercise, and the FIFA 11+ were rarely mentioned. Overall, there was dissatisfaction amongst players with their medical care and strength and conditioning (S & C) support, with resultant inadequate communication between players, head coaches, and medical personnel.ConclusionPoor quality and availability of medical care and S & C support were considered to be a major obstacle in the effective implementation of injury risk reduction strategies and successful return-to-sport practices. More original research is required in elite-level women’s football to explore injury risk factors, injury prevention initiatives, and contextual return-to-sport strategies, so that players, head coaches, and medical personnel can use evidence that is both up-to-date and specific to their environment.

Soccer and society in Dublin: a history of association football in Ireland’s capital

Soccer and society in Dublin: a history of association football in Ireland’s capital

Longitudinal relative age effects in youth soccer and youth Gaelic football in Ireland

Longitudinal relative age effects in youth soccer and youth Gaelic football in Ireland

Soccer and Society in Dublin: A History of Association Football in Ireland's Capital

Soccer and Society in Dublin: A History of Association Football in Ireland's Capital

The Irish Football Player Pathway: Examining Stakeholder Coherence Throughout and Across the Player Development System.

Maximizing the efficiency of the player development system is a strategic priority for any professional football club or association. However, the successful development of a young footballer is largely dependent upon the roles and relationships of the different stakeholders invested in the developmental process. This study examined the level of horizontal (i.e., extent to which stakeholders across a pathway stage work with players in an agreed fashion to optimize their experience) and vertical (i.e., extent to which multiple stages of the pathway are coordinated and build chronologically from previous involvement toward long-term needs) stakeholder coherence throughout the Irish football player pathway following a restructuring of development policies and the implementation of a nationwide academy system between 2016 and 2020 under the Football Association of Ireland's (FAI) Player Development Plan. As a second aim, we explored each of the key stakeholders' alignment to academic talent development principles in order to provide practical recommendations for future player and coach development policies. Accordingly, a series of interviews were conducted with 31 key stakeholders currently engaged in the player pathway. These key stakeholders consisted of parents, coaches and members of the FAI as the National Governing Body for football in Ireland. Data were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis, with findings highlighting a lack of stakeholder coherence across the pathway, both vertically and horizontally. Stakeholders displayed inconsistency in their understanding of the purpose of the player pathway and its long-term strategic aims, as well as demonstrating poor and incohesive relationships with each of the different stakeholders. Moreover, talent development principles between the different stakeholders appeared well-understood overall, although the practical implementation of several of these principles in applied practice did not appear to exist. Results highlight the need for organizational intervention and structural change across the Irish player pathway to maximize long-term player development in the future. Practical implications for the FAI are discussed and recommendations are made to support optimal player development policies moving forward.

Injuries in elite-level women's football-a two-year prospective study in the Irish Women's National League.

We investigated the pattern of injuries in elite-level women's football in Ireland, during a two-season prospective injury surveillance study in the Women's National League (WNL). Seven out of the eight clubs (271 players) in the WNL were followed prospectively during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. The injury incidence rate in matches (19.2/1000h) was 7.5times higher than in training (2.5/1000h). Players, on average, sustained 0.69injuries per season (266injuries/383player seasons), which equates to 15time-loss injuries per season for a squad of 22players. The majority of the injuries sustained by players were lower extremity injuries (85%), of which, 46% had a non-contact injury mechanism. Muscle, ligament, and contusion injuries were the most common injury types, while the ankle, knee, and thigh were the most commonly injured body sites. The most common injuries sustained over the two seasons were lateral ankle sprains (13.9%), hamstring strains (12.4%), knee meniscus/cartilage injuries (7.5%), adductor strains (6%), quadriceps strains (4.5%), and ankle contusions (4.5%). The injuries with the highest injury burden were ACL injuries (59days lost/1000h), knee meniscus/cartilage injuries (23/1000h), lateral ankle sprains (21/1000h), hamstring strains (12/1000h), MCL sprains (11/1000h), and quadriceps strains (11/1000h). There were 8 ACL tears documented over the 2seasons, which accounted for 28% of all time lost to injury with a mean days lost per injury of 247. We recommend that clubs in the WNL in Ireland should implement injury risk mitigation strategies, with a particular focus on injuries with a high injury burden.

Cross-sectional cohort study on the use of mouthguards by children playing Gaelic football in Ireland.

Up to 40% of dental injuries in children occur during sports and may be prevented by using mouthguards (MG). The use of mouthguards is mandatory in some sporting organizations. Knowledge of the benefits of protection does not always result in mouthguard use. The aim of this observational cross-sectional cohort study was to measure and compare knowledge of 9-16-year-old Gaelic football players and their parents on MG use and compliance with MG rules. A convenience sample of players and their parents was identified and were assessed at their sports facility. Parents completed a questionnaire while children were asked standardized questions and MG type was verified by a dentist. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression analysis for comparison. One hundred and twenty-one children with 118 parents participated in the study. According to players, MG use during competition (N = 119, 99.2%) was greater than during training (N = 97, 80.8%). As age increased, children were less likely to comply with MG rules during training (OR =0.18, p<.001). Children played a median of 2 contact sports (IQR=1). Only 32 parents (27.1%) and 17 children (14%) reported that the child wore a MG for all sports. Only four children (3.8%) had a custom MG even though most parents (N=87, 73.7%) believed that they provided superior protection. Knowledge of players and their parents on how to care for the MG was variable. Compliance with the Gaelic Atheletic Association's MG rules was lower during training than competition. Children were less likely to comply with MG rules during training as they grew older. Most parents believed a custom MG would best protect their child's teeth, yet few children had a custom MG. Players and parents had variable knowledge in relation to MG hygiene.

Part of the Game: The First Fifty Years of Women’s Football in Ireland and the International Context

Women’s football in Ireland started in 1895 when the British Ladies’ Football Club (BLFC) visited Belfast for the first time and was followed by a tour the next year, which included some matches labelled ‘Ireland vs. England’. After two decades of silence, World War I saw the restart of women’s football, thanks to Mrs Walter Scott, and this time it was played seriously. Right from the start, the focus was not only on local exhibition matches but also on international selective matches. On Boxing Day in 1917, women’s football history was written, with the first international match of two selected teams in Belfast. After the war, Ireland became part of the international women’s football boom, played several international matches and had close ties to the French Federation. After some years of decline, the 1930s saw the most flourishing years in Irish women’s football before World War II, culminating in the first Irish full international in France, against France, in 1936. After the war, Irish women’s football was back on the international scene again. In this piece, I will show that Ireland—like France, Belgium, Austria and England—was one of the key international players in women’s football history up to the early 1950s. As soon as serious football was played by women, starting in World War I, the Irish ladies were part of the international movement and played international selective matches. This distinguished them from other nations in the 20s and 30s, where women’s football was seen as a show-act and not as a serious sport.

When Women’s Football Came to the Island

This article looks at the early development of women’s football in Ireland, examining the cultural impact of the first women’s matches, and how this early heritage has laid foundations for future developments. Women took to playing association football not long after it was first established as a male bastion during the latter half of the nineteenth century. These early matches attracted large crowds, public and press criticism, and in some instances social disorder. The article first examines how the Irish press presented this sporting innovation and the first exposure to actual matches when the British Ladies Club arrived to play in Belfast in early June 1895. Beyond the expected disapproval, there is evidence that debate took place on women’s general role in society, and in particular how females could engage in sport. Also examined is the way British Ladies Club presented themselves as upper-middle-class, and how this contrasted with the way they were portrayed in the press. New research is presented, which casts doubt on the club’s middle-class image and shows how friction between the club and its main sponsor arose when a true picture of the players’ backgrounds came to light. In conclusion, the author contrasts the Irish response to the British Ladies Football Club with the women’s sides that played during World War I and the post-war period. It is shown that the early matches of the 1890s paved the way for a more appreciative and accepting audience.

The playing and working conditions of League of Ireland footballers in a part-time-professional football Euro 2021 host nation: the Republic of Ireland’s League of Ireland

ABSTRACT In 2021, the Republic of Ireland is scheduled to host four European Championship finals matches for the first time. However, studies of players’ experiences of top level soccer there are scarce. This paper discusses playing and working conditions within League of Ireland football. In particular, it explores the non-football related work experiences of part-time League of Ireland professional footballers. It discusses how a number of players have coped with having to work part-time and illustrates how they have utilized various forms of employment in order to play for professional clubs in a more homely environment. It will show that players have faced tough challenges in match and training preparation and have had at times to temporarily step down, or in some cases, retire from the game to fulfil non-football related work duties during the playing season. It demonstrates that some players have also turned down full-time League of Ireland football.

Early association football in Ireland: Embryonic diffusion outside Ulster, 1877–1882

ABSTRACT Recent scholarship has revised the traditional account of the origins of association football in Ireland, pointing to previously unacknowledged processes of diffusion independent of the developments in Ulster that were ultimately successful in establishing the code as a formally organised sport. This article completes this picture by presenting further evidence of early association football activity outside Ulster. It examines this activity in each of the provinces of Leinster, Munster and Connacht and analyses the types of teams that were involved. It concludes that the economic and social character of Ireland outside Ulster – in particular the lack of leisure time among the non-industrial working classes, combined with the earlier diffusion of rugby football to those classes who did enjoy leisure time, and the unwillingness of organisers to utilise Sundays – militated against the mass uptake of the code at this time.

And this is what we sing – what do we sing? Exploring the football fan songs of the Northern Irish ‘Green and White Army’

This paper draws upon digital recordings of Northern Ireland football fans singing in the stadium during all 10 qualifying matches for the 2016 UEFA European Football Championship. Supplemented by participant observation and interview data with 21 supporters themselves, the paper challenges assertions within the literature which focus upon the predominance of sectarian singing amongst a section of Northern Ireland football supporters. Although vocal manifestations of football fandom may initially appear to be randomly driven by irrational emotions, on the contrary, there is an underlying structure and sequence to fandom in the stadium in which certain factors promote collective singing at particular times. The paper identifies four key themes in particular: the timing in a match; whether or not a goal has been scored; if there is a lull or a break in play; and the use of musical instruments to encourage the wider collective to sing. We argue that it is important to understand the process by which collective singing occurs in the football stadium rather than fixating upon the alleged racist or sectarian psychopathology of the individuals involved. Such knowledge may assist in supporting those fan organisations that seek to challenge discriminatory behaviour in the stadium, particularly in the current context of the European (UEFA) and World football governing bodies (FIFA) punishing fans collectively, regardless of whether or not the majority in the stadium are opposed to what is being sung in their name.

The structuration of a sporting social system? Northern Ireland fans, Football for All and the creation of the Green and White Army

In terms of the extant literature to date on sport and fandom in the divided society of Northern Ireland, academic attention has focused almost exclusively on its apparently contentious nature. However, until now, there has been a dearth of actual empirical data to inform such analyses. This article is designed to help rectify this deficit by drawing upon interviews with Northern Ireland football supporters and Irish Football Association staff to explore their co-creation of the Football for All campaign, which aimed to challenge sectarian fan behaviour within the national stadium. This resulted in the previously variegated Northern Ireland fan base becoming the Green and White Army, an informal collective identity for supporters. In continually (re)producing the Green and White Army as a ‘social system’, it is argued that fans are knowledgeable actors who continually draw upon what Giddens refers to as practical and discursive consciousness. Informed by Giddens’ structuration theory, the article argues that in relation to the current policies of the Union of European Football Associations and the Fédération Internationale de Football Association to close stadiums in the event of ‘discriminatory’ fan behaviour, priority should instead be given to supporting fan activism to effectively challenge such behaviour at matches; particularly given the potential for social control over supporters in a situated geographical space.

Somewhat united: primary stakeholder perspectives of the governance of schoolboy football in Ireland

ABSTRACTDespite an independent report on the governance and organisational practices of football in Ireland, the National Governing Body continues to face criticism in relation to stakeholder management and communication. As positive outcomes in non-profit organisations are associated with quality relationships between organisations, the purpose of this article is to explore primary stakeholder perspectives of the governance of schoolboy football in the Republic of Ireland. The research questions to be addressed are: do tensions exist between stakeholders and does the FAI display effective governance behaviours in relation to its primary stakeholders. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven stakeholders from the football governance system. A lack of congruence across the system was identified, which resulted from ineffective stakeholder management (poor communication practices, perceptions of inaccurate disclosures, perceived lack of inclusion in decision-making, perceptions of organisational injustice, confusion over role clarity and responsibilities). Managing the quality of the relationships with diverse stakeholders within a sport governance system is key for strategic policy formation and implementation, yet this remains a challenging and multi-faceted concept.

Data analytics in performance of kick-out distribution and effectiveness in senior championship football in Ireland

Data analytics in performance of kick-out distribution and effectiveness in senior championship football in Ireland

The first prospective injury audit of League of Ireland footballers

ObjectivesFootball has the highest sports participation (10.6%) in Ireland ahead of its Gaelic counterpart (3.9%). Research into injury incidence and patterns in Irish football is non-existent. The aim of this...

The origins of association football in Ireland, 1875–1880: a reappraisal

ABSTRACTAccording to its foundation myth, association football was introduced to Ireland when one man, John McAlery, personally organised an exhibition match between two Scottish teams in Belfast in 1878 and went on to form the first Irish association club in 1879 and the Irish Football Association in 1880. Based on new research, this article seeks to revise this traditional account, by presenting evidence of earlier association matches, including one in 1875: the earliest recorded association match thus far discovered. It also uses primary sources and a critical re-examination of secondary sources to re-evaluate the role of McAlery, and suggests that others ought also to be credited for the efforts that were made to establish association football in Ireland from the mid-1870s. The article also considers, but dismisses, other extant claims of early association football in Ireland, and, taking stock of recent scholarship, points to the existence of other more informal, less organised and less successful processes of diffusion in Ireland, prior to and contemporaneous to, but independent of, that which was ultimately successful in Ulster.