Irish Rugby Research Articles

The Development of Principles for Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) in Preclinical Spinal Cord Research: A Modified Delphi Study.

There is currently limited guidance for researchers on Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) for preclinical spinal cord research, leading to uncertainty about design and implementation. This study aimed to develop evidence-informed principles to support preclinical spinal cord researchers to incorporate PPI into their research. This study used a modified Delphi method with the aim of establishing consensus on a set of principles for PPI in spinal cord research. Thirty-eight stakeholders including researchers, clinicians and people living with spinal cord injury took part in the expert panel. Participants were asked to rate their agreement with a series of statements relating to PPI in preclinical spinal cord research over two rounds. As part of Round 2, they were also asked to rate statements as essential or desirable. Thirty-eight statements were included in Round 1, after which five statements were amended and two additional statements were added. After Round 2, consensus (> 75% agreement) was reached for a total of 27 principles, with 13 rated as essential and 14 rated as desirable. The principles with highest agreement related to diversity in representation among PPI contributors, clarity of the purpose of PPI and effective communication. This research developed a previously unavailable set of evidence-informed principles to inform PPI in preclinical spinal cord research. These principles provide guidance for researchers seeking to conduct PPI in preclinical spinal cord research and may also inform PPI in other preclinical disciplines. This study was conducted as part of a project aiming to develop PPI in preclinical spinal cord injury research associated with an ongoing research collaboration funded by the Irish Rugby Football Union Charitable Trust (IRFU CT) and the Science Foundation Ireland Centre for Advanced Materials and BioEngineering Research (SFI AMBER), with research conducted by the Tissue Engineering Research Group (TERG) at the RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences. The project aims to develop an advanced biomaterials platform for spinal cord repair and includes a PPI Advisory Panel comprising researchers, clinicians and seriously injured rugby players to oversee the work of the project. PPI is included in this study through the involvement of members of the PPI Advisory Panel in the conceptualisation of this research, review of findings, identification of key points for discussion and preparation of the study manuscript as co-authors.

An evaluation of the impact of the Irish Rugby Football Union Coach Education Framework on the coach–athlete dyad across the age and stage spectrum in rugby union

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the implementation of the novel Irish Rugby Football Union Coach Education Framework (CEF) on coach–athlete interactions and perceptions. Participants were coaches (n = 4) and athletes (n = 54) from two rugby union teams. Coaches were observed pre-intervention and post-intervention of an education workshop based on the CEF and had nine training sessions video-recorded and analysed using the Coach Analysis and Intervention System (CAIS). Their perceptions of their relationship with their athletes were measured using the Coach–Athlete Relationship Questionnaire (CART-Q). Athlete perceptions of their coaches’ behaviours were measured using the Coaching Behaviour Scale for Sport (CBS-S). CAIS results revealed coaches increased the use of ‘Management’ and ‘Feedback’ behaviours ( p < 0.05) post-CEF, without altering prominent high-volume behaviours (e.g. ‘Instruction’). Coaches utilised similar time proportions for CAIS ‘Practice’, ‘Playing’ and ‘Management’ states, respectively, with no significant change post-CEF. CART-Q and CBS-S results revealed predominantly positive perceptions between coaches and athletes for both pre-CEF and post-CEF. Coach education is a non-linear learning process requiring consistent application over long periods of time, however, the alteration in coach behaviours post-CEF, coupled with the largely positive perceptions of both agents of the coach–athlete dyad, is an encouraging step forward for the further implementation of the CEF.

Rugby union, class and ‘Middle Ireland’ in Irish media

Although graduates of elite Irish fee-paying schools are disproportionately represented in the Irish men’s national rugby union team, Irish international games are among the most popular on Irish terrestrial television, signifying rugby’s growth as a spectator sport in Ireland. This article examines the role of Irish print, broadcast media and related publications in popularising elite-level Irish rugby. Employing a principally Bourdieusian theoretical perspective it analyses how media representation obscures the significance of class background and elite schooling in facilitating players’ individual and collective social advancement and material gain prior to, in and beyond rugby careers. One is by highlighting players’ relatability and transcendence of class privilege as the antithesis of the popular Irish caricature of an arrogant, privately educated former schools rugby player, Ross O’Carroll Kelly. The second is the displacement of class, in media representations, onto narratives, and performances, of regional and stylistic variety that are contained within an all-encompassing, inclusive conceptualization of ‘middle Ireland’.

Media interpretation of sports-related concussion in Irish rugby union: reinforcing or reshaping the sport ethic?

Given that ‘sports injury reaches most people indirectly as a set of images transmitted by the mass media’, this article examines the role that the Irish media performs in promoting narratives surrounding sports-related concussion (SRC). Through a thematic analysis of the media coverage of two elite Irish rugby players’ concussion experiences, the article critiques whether the media’s presentation of SRC challenges the traditional norms of competitive team sport. A central dual narrative emanated out of the media’s framing of SRC, demonstrating both growing concern over the injury and a culture of risk continuing to exist. While concerns over SRC were emphasised, the narrative that playing through pain is a core ethos of sports participation was also reinforced. As such, the Irish media can be seen to simultaneously promote notions of caution towards SRC whilst solidifying the idea that certain ‘sport ethic’ dimensions remain significant to athletes themselves.

Flashpoint: How a Little-Known Sporting Event Fueled America's Anti-Apartheid Movement

Sports, race, and politics are deeply intertwined—just ask Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Naomi Osaka, or Colin Kaepernick. Derek Charles Catsam, an accomplished historian of race, social movements, and sports in South Africa, the United States, and globally, has authored an easy-to-read, fascinating, if perhaps misnamed, book. The book's subtitle contends the 1981 U.S. tour of the legendary South African rugby team, nicknamed the Springboks, “fueled America's anti-apartheid movement.” More accurately, the book focuses on the sociopolitical roles of rugby in South Africa and the world, including how antiapartheid activists targeted the sport because of its importance to white South Africans, particularly Afrikaners. Following a preface celebrating the first Black Springboks captain, only appointed in 2018, a strong introduction outlines the Springboks' U.S. tour, U.S. foreign policy toward apartheid South Africa and how Ronald Reagan's election changed the equation, America's nascent antiapartheid movement, sports boycotts in the global struggle against apartheid, white South Africa's fierce resistance to change, and the role of race in American sports. Subsequent chapters cover planning for the Springboks' U.S. tour, an Irish rugby tour to South Africa in 1981, the Springboks' 1981 New Zealand tour—which saw massive protests that rocked the nation—and the book culminates with several chapters on the Springboks' U.S. tour, with matches in Racine, Wisconsin, Albany, and tiny Glenville, New York. The U.S.-focused chapters present a blow-by-blow account of the planning of the events as well as the protests. The “Boks” destroyed every American team and, since rugby was an incredibly obscure sport in the United States, these matches drew only a handful of fans. For those interested in a film on antiapartheid protests of the Springboks, Connie Field's documentary series, Have You Heard from Johannesburg (2010), includes a wonderful episode, “Fair Play,” on Springbok tours to Australia, England, and New Zealand.

How to coach: A review of theoretical approaches for the development of a novel coach education framework

Coaching behaviours often derive from sporting traditions, instinct and previous experiences. Practitioners tend to follow traditional, inherited methods rather than adopt new evidence-based approaches associated with athlete development. This article reviews literature relating to theoretical constructs of a novel coach education framework (CEF) developed by the Irish Rugby Football Union. The three constructs included are: self-determination theory (SDT), explicit learning theories (ELT) and implicit learning theories (ILT). A total of 82 publications met the inclusion criteria (SDT: n = 18, ELT: n = 28, ILT: n = 36). This review supports the efficacy of these constructs in isolation for promoting effective coaching practices and provides a justification for future implementation of the framework and its evaluation. This framework may have the potential to address a shortfall in current coach education formats, which have traditionally focused on What content should be used for athlete development as opposed to How practitioners can coach more effectively.

Comparison Of Injury For Non-contact Sports (track) Versus Contact Sports (rugby)

PURPOSE: Contact events are considered as the main factor leading to injury in Rugby Union, induced by a high injury incidence. Running is an important part both in rugby and track athletics, and the injury incidence rates for running is significantly lower than contact event injuries in rugby. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the injury characteristics of rugby and track running, intended to inform the athlete, coach and strength and conditioning expert who may be involved with both sports. METHODS: Rugby injury characteristics were described by retrospectively analysing three seasons of injury data from 1,400 players collected by Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance (IRIS) from male and female amateur rugby clubs (contact sport), and comparing those findings with the results of high-quality experimental literature about track running injuries (non-contact sport) with more than 4000 runners. RESULTS: Contact events are the main cause of injuries for rugby players, especially for forwards position players. Strain (28.6%), sprain (24.3%), haematoma/contusion (11.1%), and concussion (11.3%) were the most common injuries, which were mainly located in the head (16.7%), shoulder (13.4%), thigh (13.2%), knee (11.7%) and ankle/foot (13.8%), and mainly occurred during matches. The data collected from the running literature show the significant difference of injury characteristic between running and rugby. Overuse is the primary mechanism of running injuries. The majority of injuries were musculoskeletal injuries. Injuries in lower extremities account for a large proportion of all running injuries (64-87%), and the knee was the most commonly injured joint (28%), followed by foot/ankle (26%), lower leg (16%). Rugby injuries mostly occur in match plays (81%), running injuries occur in training (73%). CONCLUSIONS: Contact events contribute to a large proportion of rugby injuries, whilst most running injuries were musculoskeletal injuries caused by overuse. For running injuries, improving the standard injury definitions and adhering to an international injury epidemiology study consensus will be beneficial to increase the consistency and comparability of different studies and across sports. Supported by the Irish Rugby Football Union, Irish Research Council, and the Health Research Institute UL.

‘We now have Catholics and Blacks’: Whiteness in a Northern Irish rugby club

Northern Ireland is often considered in terms of the two majority communities, Catholics and Protestants, and the inter-communal conflict which structured, and continues to structure, much of Northern Irish society. However, situated within often volatile situations, the small ethnic minority communities of Northern Ireland have often been overlooked. This article investigates a Northern Irish rugby club, and examines the way in which whiteness is normalised, racist discourses are dismissed, and the sectarian boundaries, which are normally so strongly maintained, are overlooked in the presence of ‘others.’ As such, this research offers a contemporary perspective of the way whiteness, racism and sectarianism intersect in Northern Irish society, and starts a conversation about the provision of sport for ethnic minority communities in Northern Ireland.

“Playing With Apartheid”: Irish and South African Rugby, 1964–19891

The struggle against apartheid was fought on many fronts. Internationally, the Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) across a number of countries engaged in a range of activities that highlighted the atrocities of the Pretoria regime and the plight of the majority in South Africa. An important site of struggle against apartheid was in the sports sphere. Ireland and the Irish AAM played a significant role in this regard. The AAMs in Australia, Britain, Ireland, New Zealand, and the United States, among others, recorded victories against apartheid through demonstrations, boycotts, and the ban on participation of South African teams in international tours, tournaments, and events. A number of scholars have highlighted the role of the international AAM and its campaigns against apartheid sport. To date, historical studies of the anti-apartheid struggle and South African sport have primarily focused on Britain and New Zealand and, to a lesser extent, the United States. Irish sporting contacts with South Africa extend back over a century. Thus, focusing on the case study of Irish AAM activism against segregated sport further adds to the literature on the sports boycott and the struggle against apartheid. This article draws on Jacob Dlamini’s notion of “moral agents” in understanding players’, teams’, and sports associations’ decisions to continue to play with apartheid, despite international opposition. Drawing from archives in Ireland and South Africa, this article adds new details to the struggle against apartheid rugby in South African sport between 1964 and 1989.

Liam O’Callaghan, Rugby in Munster. A Social and Cultural History

Rugby in Munster. A Social and Cultural History by Liam O’Callaghan was first published in 2011 in the wake of Munster’s 2006 and 2008 victories in the Heineken Cup (European cup), only a decade after the advent of professionalisation (1995) forced the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) to reorganise along provincial (1997) rather than the traditional club lines in order to lure Irish players back home and revive its international fortunes whilst ensuring the financial sustainability of the sm...

A blood biomarker and clinical correlation cohort study protocol to diagnose sports-related concussion and monitor recovery in elite rugby

IntroductionIn professional rugby, sports-related concussion (SRC) remains the most frequent time loss injury. Therefore, accurately diagnosing SRC and monitoring player recovery, through a multi-modal assessment process, is critical to SRC...

“It’d Just Be Banter”: Sectarianism in a Northern Irish Rugby Club

Nearly two decades after the Good Friday Agreement, sectarianism still functions to structure much of the Northern Irish society. While this is often considered in terms of high-profile cases of sectarian violence, most sectarian behavior occurs in everyday practices. This article explores how sectarianism is expressed and understood within the context of a Northern Irish rugby club. I conducted a season-long ethnography using participant observation, focus group discussions, and semistructured interviews to gain an understanding of the particular context which framed the sectarian discourses at the club. Rather than a purely oppressive model, Ballycross RFC showcased how the sectarian climate of the Northern Irish society can be used and experienced in a multitude of ways.

Relationship between Physical and Wellness Baseline Screening Measures and Seasonal Amateur Rugby Injury

There is an inherent risk of injury in Rugby, due to the physical demands and exposure to collisions. While injuries in professional Rugby are widely reported, little is known about the amateur game. Investigating relationships between physical and wellness screening measures may identify injury causal factors and aid the development of targeted injury prevention strategies. PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between physical and wellness screening measures, and seasonal injury in Irish amateur Rugby. METHODS: One hundred and thirty-seven amateur Rugby players [male n=113 (mean age=22.7±3.9), female n=24 (mean age=25.6±4.9)] were screened in pre-season and monitored throughout the season for injury. Questionnaires included: player background history and wellness; Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI); Athletic Coping Skills Inventory (ACSI-28) and Perceived Available Support in Sport (PASS-Q). Physical tests included; anthropometric measurements, knee-to-wall test, straight leg raise test and adductor squeeze test. Injury incidence data were gathered using a comprehensive Rugby-specific web-based surveillance system.Data were collected and analyzed in SPSS (Version 22, IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., USA). Logistic regression were used to estimate odds of sustaining an injury. Baseline measurements were compared between males and females and ‘Forwards’ (position 1-8) and ‘Backs’ (position 9-15) using Student’s t-tests. Significance was set a-priori at P = 0.05. RESULTS: Males had a higher incidence of injury than females with respective incidence rates of 51.2/1,000player hours and 42.9/1,000player hours (P<0.05). In the ‘Backs’, an inverse relationship between adductor strength at 0° knee flexion and groin injury was found (-0.307, P<0.05). No correlations between questionnaires and other physical measurements and injury were found. CONCLUSIONS: The Irish Rugby Injury Surveillance (IRIS) project is the first long-term injury surveillance system monitoring injury trends in Irish amateur Rugby. Reduced groin strength at pre-season was associated with more groin injuries during the season for ‘Backs’. Further investigation of groin strength and injuries in Rugby may inform future injury prevention strategies. Funding: The IRIS Project is funded by the Irish Rugby Football Union.

‘Smart, clued-in guys’: Irish rugby players as sporting celebrities in post-Celtic Tiger Irish media

Abstract Ireland’s ‘Celtic Tiger’ economic boom ended with the 2008 global financial crisis. There followed a series of severe ‘austerity’ budgets and public service pay deals involving cuts in public service provision and employment reform. These were accompanied by approving Irish media narratives of atonement for Celtic Tiger ‘excess’ and, more recently, of corresponding ‘recovery’ through collective and individual discipline and entrepreneurial endeavour. This article focuses on the interplay between Irish media narratives of austerity and recovery and constructions of gender, class and national identity in representations of rugby players as celebrities. It explores how elite players have been presented as exemplary of the neo-liberal management of physical and economic risk, and how the repeated focus on successful struggles with diet and injury and post-career educational and business investments highlights their optimizing of the physical and social capital afforded by celebrity status. The emphasis on discipline and ‘smart’ economic management chimes with the hegemonic political and media discourse of ‘no alternative’ government austerity, and with economic recovery through individual acceptance of responsibility.

Coaching and Coach Education in the Football Association of Ireland

The island of Ireland is quite unique in its dynamic due, in part, to the geographical and political separation between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Historically, the Island of Ireland had one governing body for association football. Currently, the Irish Football Association (IFA) governs Northern Ireland while the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) governs the Republic of Ireland in the south. Interestingly, not all sports (e.g., Irish Rugby Football Union) on the Island of Ireland have separate Governing Bodies. This paper provides a brief historical overview of this separation between the FAI and IFA. Following this, we explore the history of coach education in the FAI and an overview of the FAI Player Development Plan. Then, we explore how coach education was, and is currently, structured with particular focus on recent improvements in terms of how coach education courses are delivered and assessed. The final section provides a brief overview of the future of coach education within the FAI.

Fitness Profiles of Elite Adolescent Irish Rugby Union Players.

Wood, DJ, Coughlan, GF, and Delahunt, E. Fitness profiles of elite adolescent Irish rugby union players. J Strength Cond Res 32(1): 105-112, 2018-Rugby unions throughout the world are implementing player development models to prepare young players to meet the demands of professional rugby union. An example of this is the Irish Rugby Football Union Long Term Player Development model. The purpose of this study was to provide normative data relating to the physical fitness of elite adolescent Irish rugby union players and determine the differences in the physical capacities between players in the forward and back units as well as to provide descriptive data for the position categorizations within these units for this unique population. Players in the forward unit were significantly taller and heavier than players in the back unit (1.85 ± 0.06 m and 96.88 ± 9.00 kg vs. 1.79 ± 0.05 m and 81.97 ± 7.09 kg, respectively). Forwards (38.37 ± 4.00 cm) had a significantly lower countermovement jump height than backs (41.31 ± 4.44 cm). Forwards had a significantly lower triple hop for the distance score on their right (5.78 ± 0.52 m) and left (5.78 ± 0.55 m) legs compared with backs (6.26 ± 0.42 m and 6.33 ± 0.45 m, respectively). Forwards (1.85 ± 0.07 seconds) had a significantly higher 10-m sprint time than backs (1.77 ± 0.06 seconds). Furthermore, forwards (675.90 ± 82.46 m) had a significantly lower 150-m shuttle test score than backs (711.71 ± 27.46 m). The results of this study provide normative data for players who currently possess underage international potential and could be used by strength and conditioning coaches to guide the selection of players through talent identification processes.

Plucky Little People on Tour: Depictions of Irish Football Fans at Euro 2016

Plucky Little People on Tour: Depictions of Irish Football Fans at Euro 2016

‘From there to here’: narratives of transition, migration and national identity in Irish media representations of rugby union in the professional era

Irish media representation of rugby union in the post-1995 professional era has become a vehicle for the rehearsal of fantasies and anxieties concerning national identity in the context of the Republic of Ireland as a neoliberal state. Irish rugby’s reorganization and competitive successes have generated comforting images and discourses of centralized management, national cohesion and continuity while successive Irish governments’ neoliberal policies have focused on deregulation, facilitating foreign direct investment and reduced social services spending. Representations of advancements in management intersected with pervasive managerialist discourses in Irish media and politics during and following the 2008 collapse of the Celtic Tiger boom, but with a heavy stress on serving the ‘national interest’. Relatedly, the targeted import of foreign players and coaches is often depicted as reflective of Irish rugby management’s successful negotiation of the neoliberal environment of contemporary European and world rugby. However, concerns regarding the potential hindrance of ‘native’ player/coach development and the threat of economically driven out-migration evince anxieties concerning Irish rugby’s fragile economy and cultural identity that interconnect with broader concerns regarding Ireland’s enduring economic vulnerability following the 2008 financial crisis.

IRF Off: Connacht’s Fight for Survival and the Foundation Myth of a Rugby Identity

Last of the four provincial branches to be formed in 1885, Connacht has always been ‘fourth among equals’ in the pecking order of Irish rugby. In the late 1990s, spiralling costs associated with the administration of a game that was no longer amateur prompted the Irish Rugby Football Union to assess the viability of its constituent parts and to implement radical cost-cutting strategies, resulting in advanced plans to disband Connacht as a professional entity at the end of the 2002/2003 season. The response to the threat of extinction crystallized into an unprecedented movement of resistance which mobilized the western rugby community, garnered support from wider society and earned the backing of a number of senior political figures, culminating in the now famous ‘March on Lansdowne Road’ in January 2003. By the end of the month, it was announced officially that the IRFU would not proceed with its plans to disband Connacht. This article will revisit the near-death experience of 2002/2003, analyse the narrative and dynamics of the protest movement and consider the broader and lasting significance of the successful campaign to save Connacht Rugby, particularly in respect of regional identity and collective identification.

Transitioning Out of Professional Sport: The Psychosocial Impact of Career-Ending Injuries Among Elite Irish Rugby Football Union Players

This study documented the lived career-ending injury experiences among elite Irish rugby football union (IRFU) players. Three players took part in semistructured one-on-one interviews. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (Smith, 1996) revealed that the process of psychosocial injury rehabilitation and the subsequent transition process was for the most part a distressing one and evolved in a cyclical, yet stage-like (Heil, 1994), manner. The nature of the postinjury career transition appeared to be dependent on the interactional balance of participants’ psychosocial responses to injury, existing coping mechanisms, and other factors related to the injury and career transition process. Appropriate social support network, use of sport medicine and counseling professionals, as well as organizational officials are needed to best prepare elite rugby players for life outside of sport, and to ensure a healthy career transition (Taylor &amp; Ogilvie, 1994) out of sport.