Irish Sport Research Articles

Ireland’s footballers at the 1924 and 1948 Olympic Games: compromised by the politics of sport

ABSTRACT Wednesday, 28 May 1924 is a seminal date in the history of Irish sport. On this date, the footballers of the Football Association of the Irish Free State became the first representatives of independent Ireland to engage in Olympic competition. The footballers were representing an association that had its jurisdiction limited to the territory of the Irish Free State, at a time when the British Olympic Association were raising questions about the jurisdiction of the Irish Olympic Council which claimed to manage Olympic sport on an all-Ireland basis. Irish footballers competed in the 1948 Games at a time when the International Olympic Council had decided that the jurisdiction of the Irish Olympic Council did not extend to Northern Ireland. The Irish council fiercely resisted this move and this had implications for domestic sport, particularly athletics, and had the potential to prevent the Irish football team’s entry for the London Games.

Ingestion of Soil by Grazing Sport Horses.

Simple SummarySoil ingestion has been well documented for the majority of outside reared animals but not in horses. As soil can be a vector of environmental pollutants, such studies generally aim at controlling exposure to pollutant uptake in food producing animals. In horses, ingestion of soil may cause gastrointestinal disorders such as sand colic or intestinal damage. Therefore, soil ingestion has been studied in Irish sport horses grazing at three levels of herbage offer: 2, 3 or 4% of their body weight. Their soil intake was around 4% of the totally ingested dry matter corresponding to 543 to 648 g of dry soil per animal per day, which is quite similar to cattle in normal grazing conditions. Such amounts would clearly be an issue for food safety in areas with contaminated soil but also an animal welfare issue due to gastrointestinal damage. The height of the pastured grass sward seems to be a reliable criterion to indicate the level of risk of soil intake when horses graze short herbage in close proximity to the ground surface and should be moved to a new paddock.Data on soil ingestion in horses are lacking in contrast to other free-range animals. The importance of soil as a vector for environmental pollutants to food is less relevant in horses but several disorders secondary to soil ingestion, such as sand colic or enteritis have been reported. Therefore, soil ingestion has been studied on Irish sport horses grazing at three offered levels of daily herbage: 2, 3 and 4% of their body weight. Soil ingestion was estimated by the faecal recovery of a soil natural marker. Horses had 4.5, 4.1 and 3.7% of soil in their total intake respectively for the 2, 3 and 4% herbage offers. The 4% offer presented significantly less intake (543 g/d) compared to the more restricted offers (624 and 648 g respectively for 3 and 2%). The post-grazing sward height was significantly lower on the 2% offer (3.1 cm) compared to the higher offers (4.1 and 4.4 cm respectively for 3 and 4%). Thus, restricted herbage allowance made grazing closer to the ground and increased soil ingestion. The sward height appeared to be a reliable indicator to manage animal withdrawal from a pasture to limit soil ingestion and the risk of gastrointestinal pathologies caused by it.

From Novelty Act to National Association: The Emergence of Ladies’ Gaelic Football in the 1970s

In 1967 a county Cork farmer wrote to the Sunday Independent (Dublin) to express his hope that the Gaelic Athletic Association (G.A.A.) would ban women from attending the upcoming All-Ireland finals. The G.A.A is a male-only organisation, he argued, and the presence of women at Croke Park would take up ‘valuable space’. His letter generated many outraged responses from both men and women, all arguing against his opinion and illustrating that women played a vital role within the sporting community—whether as supporters, sandwich-makers or jersey-washers. The responses highlighted how people in Ireland were reconsidering the role of women in the public sphere more generally in the late 1960s. The emergence of ladies’ Gaelic football as a ‘serious’ sport for women in the 1970s is reflective of this changing society. Current Irish sports historiography is considerably lacking in its examination of the space women occupied in modern sport in Ireland. This piece will draw on newspapers and archival material to examine the emergence of what came to be known as ladies’ Gaelic football in the late 1960s and early 1970s and to analyse the debates about the changing position of women in sport and society at this time. In so doing, this piece will aim to bring the historiography of women in Irish society in conversation with the growing historiography on sport in Ireland.

Female Surfers Riding the Crest of a ‘New Wave’ of Irish National Identity

With surfing debuting at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics (postponed from summer 2020 due to the COVID 19 global pandemic) it is timely to consider surfing and the national identifications women in Ireland may have with this sport. As Lee Bush states, ‘with so little scholarship on surfing women, descriptive studies are needed as a foundation for launching future interpretive and critical studies.’[1] Twelve women who surf in Ireland spoke about the links their surfing may or may not have with their national identity. Previous academic inquiry on links between national identity and sport on the island of Ireland has almost exclusively focused on men’s experiences of team sports and issues of ‘Irishness’.[2] ‘Irishness’ is globally recognised and stereotypically linked to traditional and indigenous Irish sports such as Gaelic football and a range of other cultural activities. Research into women’s sport participation has largely been restricted to the study of soccer in the Republic of Ireland,[3] and gendered evaluations of various lifestyle and health surveys.[4] Katie Liston, a key researcher in sport and gender relations in Ireland, highlights that ‘there seems to be an increasing diversity in the kinds of activities in which people participate in’,[5] and that there is a shift towards ‘lifestyle’ activities for adults as diversity increases in young people’s participation in sports and leisure activities. Against the backdrop of Liston’s work, this article delves deeper into data collected as part of a wider research project, discussing whether or not women who surf in Ireland do so as part of a process designed to construct and reflect their national identities related to this arguably ‘postmodern’[6] ‘lifestyle sport’,[7] in which Ireland will be represented on the Olympic stage for the first time in 2021. [1] Lee Bush, ‘Creating Our Own Lineup: Identities and Shared Cultural Norms of Surfing Women in a U.S. East Coast Community’, Journal of Contemporary Ethnography 45, no. 3 (2016): 290–318. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0891241614556346, 262. [2] See the work of Alan Bairner, John Sugden, David Hassan and Mike Cronin for a broad range of work in this area. [3] See for example Katie Liston, ‘Women's Soccer in the Republic of Ireland: Some Preliminary Sociological Comments’, Soccer & Society 7, no. 2 (2006b): 364 – 384. Also see Ann Bourke, ‘Women’s Soccer in the Republic of Ireland: Past Events and Future Prospects’, in Soccer, Women, Sexual Liberation: Kicking Off a New Era ed. Fan Hong and J.A. Mangan (London: Frank Cass, 2004): 162–82. [4] Katie Liston, ‘A Question of Sport’ in Contemporary Ireland: A Sociological Map ed. Sara O'Sullivan (Dublin: University College Dublin Press, 2007), 159-180. [5] Liston, ‘A Question of Sport’, 161. [6] The idea of lifestyle sport as postmodern sport is discussed in Belinda Wheaton, ed., Understanding Lifestyle Sports: Consumption, Identity and Difference (London: Routledge, 2004). Also see: Lincoln Allison, Amateurism in Sport: An Analysis and a Defence (London: Frank Cass, 2001); R. Rinehart, ‘Emerging Arriving Sport: Alternatives to Formal Sport’ in Handbook of Sports Studies ed. Jay Coakley and Eric Dunning (London: Sage, 2000), 504-519. [7] The term is used by two leading researchers in the field. See Wheaton, Understanding Lifestyle; Rinehart, ‘Emerging Arriving’.

26 Detecting equine gait events in field conditions

As interest in analyzing equine gait in the real world grows, so does need for quantitative methods validated under field conditions. Gait analysis is predicated on accurate and precise detection of gait events– hoof on and off. Several methods of detection have been proposed which use inertial measurement units (IMUs); the most accurate is based on hoof mounted IMUs but attachment to the hooves is not always convenient. The aim of this research was thus to propose and test a novel gait event detection method using pastern mounted IMUs. Previous studies only focused on one hard surface; asphalt, grass and sand were investigated here. Eight geldings and 3 mares (mean(SD) height 154(21)cm and age 12(8) yr) including Irish Sport Horses, Warmblood and native breeds wore IMUs (Shimmer, 200Hz) to be led in a 25m straight line at walk and trot on asphalt, grass and sand (3 passes per gait). Stance durations (T) were calculated from hoof on and off obtained using both a reference (hoof) and novel (pastern) method. Error was assessed in terms of mean difference between pastern (Tp) and hoof (Th) calculated stance durations (accuracy) and SD of these (precision), as a percentage of total stride duration. Repeated measures ANOVA was used to compare errors under different conditions. Accuracy (Table 1) remained below 1% of a stride duration for most cases. Performance of the method was consistent on all surfaces, with no significant differences in most cases ( P = 0.4 fore and P = 0.08 hindlimb walk; P = 0.3 hindlimb trot). For forelimbs at trot differences between grass and sand compared with asphalt were significant ( P = 0.004 and P < 0.0001) but the magnitude of these, 0.5 and 0%, were negligible. To conclude, the novel method effectively detected gait events on 3 common surfaces for the fore and hindlimbs at walk and trot across multiple breeds, with high accuracy and precision on all surfaces. This will benefit future studies under field conditions, allowing reliable event detection on different surfaces.

‘Racy of the soil’: Jason Sherlock, Gaelic games and the performance of Irishness as a racial identity

This article uses critical race and performance studies to analyse the Gaelic games as a racialized performance of Irish national identity. As a key project of the Irish Revival, the Gaelic games are not only one of the most popular sports in Ireland but have from their inception been used as a strategic performance of Irish identity. Historically, the Gaelic games allowed Irish athletes to embody an aspirational White masculinity; since then whiteness has become nearly synonymous with Irishness. Yet this conflation of race and nation has become increasingly problematic as the demographics of Ireland shift. While the Gaelic games are often lauded as a space for the integration of new migrant communities, the reception of minority ethnic Irish athletes reveals the limitations of this inclusion. Examining the career of Asian-Irish Gaelic footballer Jason Sherlock – arguably the first ‘superstar’ of the Gaelic games – this article argues that while Irish sport offers a performative space where exclusionary definitions of Irish identity can be challenged, these spaces are often conditional and constrained by larger attitudes around race and racism in the nation at large.

Sports scholarships in Ireland: a review of the issues

Sport and education are two of the major institutions of our society. They interact with each other and with other institutions to contribute to what we commonly regard as culture and society. Sport (and education) is a form of collective action involving a host of different people connected in different networks and creating different sorts of sport (and education) products and performances. This article outlines the origins and evolution of sport scholarship programmes in the US, their introduction into Ireland in the late 1990s, along with changes in EU education policy pertaining to elite athletes and the essentials of dual careers. Attention is given to sports scholarship programme administration, structure and governance arrangements. By way of a single case study and drawing on primary and secondary data, the Irish HEI sports scholarship is depicted, detailing their aims, target markets, recruitment and admission procedures and student supports. Over the years, the sports scholarship package has changed – the emphasis is now more on student benefits and supports along with finance. With recent changes in Irish sports policy and governance, it is currently expected that the elite student athlete will progress to be a member of the national team representing Ireland in international competition.

Amateurism in an Age of Professionalism: An Empirical Examination of an Irish Sporting Culture: The GAA

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) has been synonymous with the sporting tradition of Ireland since 1884, and the links it has developed with the parishes and communities of Ireland have been based on the organization’s ethos of volunteerism and amateurism in Gaelic games. Modern Ireland has brought with it many challenges for the GAA, especially in relation to internal and external issues. The dynamic of sport in Ireland has changed with the introduction of professionalism in soccer and rugby, and this has caused the validity of the amateur status of the Gaelic Athletic Association to be questioned. The development of professional sports brands, such as ‘Munster Rugby’, and ‘Leinster Rugby’, has been achieved through an aggressive marketing policy within the rugby fraternity. This research is an examination of the Gaelic Athletic Association as an amateur sporting organization in an era of professionalism in Ireland. This study is particularly focused on analyzing the elements of the GAA that contribute to its success and investigating the competitive relationship between the GAA and the growth of professionalism in sport. The amateur ethos is defined in this research as a key metric for sustaining an amateur organization in an environment where the era of professional sports is becoming more prevalent in Ireland. The empirical research gathered for this study was based on a qualitative methodology consisting of 18 semi-structured, face to face interviews with individuals who had relevant but varied experience within the GAA, such as players, coaches, managers and administrators. This research study recommends that the GAA adopt an innovative approach, through strategic decision-making, to allow the GAA to maintain its amateur ethos, and, yet, successfully compete in the professional sporting market. The strong links with the community must be both nurtured and enhanced. The GAA and Gaelic games must embrace the challenges that the branding success of foreign sports has brought. Player welfare issues for the elite players must be addressed while continuing to protect the club and its amateur structures. The study looks at the key metrics that are required to evolve the GAA. This entails not only focusing on the perceived importance of the amateur ethos to the GAA, but also developing the marketing, branding and profiling of Gaelic games to enhance the performance of an amateur sporting organization in an era of increased professionalism in sport.

The Gaelic Athletic Association and Home Rule

When Michael Cusack founded the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, the political debate in Ireland was dominated by Home Rule. The creation of the GAA may have found inspiration in the growing nationalist movement led by Charles Stewart Parnell, but the Irish Parliamentary Party may also have been bolstered by the sporting organisation’s ideal of reviving the national identity through the preservation of its traditional games. The GAA undoubtedly conferred legitimacy on the political movement which peaked in December 1885 with a wide electoral success and then with the introduction of the first Home Rule Bill. But Home Rule did not exactly mean the same in sport as in politics. Even though Michael Cusack was not hostile to power sharing with the unionist leaders of existing athletic associations, the failure of his first attempts to democratise Irish sport led him to defend a more radical position implying total separation from his counterparts under British supervision. The Home Rule movement certainly benefited from the GAA’s nationalist and cultural stance to develop Irish consciousness. But the likelihood of self-government was compromised by the own image of the GAA’s administration whose sectarianism and internal disputes over its political nature could hardly convince unionists of their interest to agree with the principle of Home Rule.

Postanaesthetic brachial compartmental syndrome in a horse

A 9-year-old Irish sports horse gelding was anaesthetised out-of-hours for management of digital flexor tendon sheath sepsis after a left hind foot penetration. In the postanaesthetic period, the patient manifested...

In vitro addition of DHA and IGF-I increases the progressive motility of cryopreserved stallion semen

High seminal quality is important to achieve acceptable pregnancy rate following artificialinsemination with cryopreserved semen in the equine industry. Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) is anomega-3-polyunsaturated acid, which improves the integrity of the spermatozoa membrane duringtemperature changes. Insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is a protein hormone that helps mainlyglucose to enter spermatozoa and it is an antioxidant. The aim of this study was to assess the effectof the in vitro addition of DHA in combination with IGF-I to frozen-thawed stallion semen. Threeejaculates from each of three Irish Sport Horse stallions were collected, the gel fraction was removedand semen was diluted in a 1:1 ratio using extender, centrifuged (1.000 g) for 10 minutes at 32 °Cand ressuspended to 100 x 106 spermatozoa/mL in freezing extender. Semen was cooled to 4 °C,packed into 0.5 mL straws, frozen and stored under liquid nitrogen at -196 °C. Straws were thawedat 37 °C for 30 seconds, semen was diluted to 25 x 106 spermatozoa/mL and split in four treatmentsadding 0 or 1 ng of DHA /mL and 0 or 100 ng of IGF-I /mL: DHA0, DHA0 + IGF-I, DHA1 and DHA1+ IGF-I. Semen was incubated at 32 °C and after 30 minutes, total motility (TM), rapid progressivemotility (PM), viability and acrosome integrity were assessed. After 60 and 120 minutes, TM and PMwere assessed again. Post-thawed PM was higher (P &lt; 0.05) when DHA1 + IGF-I was added, butthere was no effect of the addition of DHA and IGF-I to TM, viability or acrosome integrity (P &gt; 0.05).Keywords: Equine. Spermatozoa. Omega-3. Antioxidant. Hormone.

Case of focal dystrophic calcification in the peritarsal soft tissues of a horse

A 12-year-old Irish sports horse gelding presented with a recently developed oval firm mass at the plantaromedial aspect of right tarsus, located between the gastrocnemius and deep digital flexor tendon....

The Forgotten Powerhouse: Analyzing the Brief Rise to Prominence of Lawn Tennis in Ireland in the Late-Nineteenth Century

Within the historiography of lawn tennis in Ireland, there remains considerable scope to discern how the sport rose to prominence – reaching its apex in the early 1890s – among the wealthy landed classes, and what influence it had upon the structure and culture of the sport globally. This is set against the assumed view of lawn tennis being a rather marginal sport during the late-nineteenth century when the fight for popularity between native Irish and British team sports dominated media narratives. Separated from much of this commotion, lawn tennis helped to forge landed aristocratic/gentry identity within urban/suburban locales across Ireland – principally in Dublin, where its leading clubs and championship were regarded almost on a par with its equivalents in London – and also emancipate Irish sportswomen, and a small number of working-class coaching-professionals who plied their trade in the leading clubs. Given the broader historical context of increasing land agitation and subsequent rising Irish populist nationalism, the growth of lawn tennis in itself remains an interesting phenomenon. Thus, the brief rise to prominence of tennis in Ireland, and specifically Dublin, is examined, contextualized within broader socio-cultural and politico-religious developments that pervaded the organization of Irish society, and British-Irish relations, during this time.

Transient bilateral blindness associated with presumptive idiopathic pachymeningitis in a 22‐year‐old Irish Sport Horse

SummaryA 22‐year‐old Irish Sport Horse presented following a period of bilateral blindness with subsequent spontaneous resolution. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated features consistent with pachymeningitis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis revealed increased numbers of basophils, suggestive of an immunologic or neoplastic aetiology. It was suspected that the enlarged meninges led to compression of the optic nerves in the optic canals, causing bilateral blindness. Initial spontaneous remission, as seen in this case, has been reported in human patients with this condition. Pachymeningitis should be considered as a possible cause of cranial nerve deficits, including bilateral and unilateral blindness, in horses.

Illuminated addresses, national identity and Irish sport, 1880–1901

ABSTRACTThis essay examines the cultural significance of illuminated sporting addresses in Ireland at the turn of the twentieth century. Illuminated addresses were used in civic society as a means of commemoration, celebrating retirement and relocation for instance, and they were also physical expressions of public sporting events in Ireland. Illuminated addressees are documents which provide an insight into the cultural histories of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Irish sport. This essay pays particular attention to illuminated addresses sponsored by members of the Gaelic Athletic Association and also considers the significance of a late 1890s example which was funded by supporters of the Irish horse-racing which sheds light on the sub-culture of the Irish turf. Illuminated addresses are meaningful documents and this essay recovers, for the first time, some of their hidden history.

Diagnostic investigation of an unusually large osseous cyst‐like lesion of the radial carpal bone

SummaryA 10‐year‐old Irish Sports Horse presented for intermittent, fluctuating lameness of the left forelimb. Nuclear scintigraphy, radiography and computed tomography identified a large osseous cyst‐like lesion (OCLL) occupying approximately 50% of the radial carpal bone with an articular communication to the antebrachiocarpal joint. A transcortical surgical approach was used to curette the lining of the lesion prior to injection with triamcinolone acetonide. This imaging report describes the detailed diagnostic findings of an unusually extensive OCLL in the radial carpal bone.

The Prevalence of Pseudoscientific Ideas and Neuromyths Among Sports Coaches.

There has been an exponential growth in research examining the neurological basis of human cognition and learning. Little is known, however, about the extent to which sports coaches are aware of these advances. Consequently, the aim of the present study was to examine the prevalence of pseudoscientific ideas among British and Irish sports coaches. In total, 545 coaches from the United Kingdom and Ireland completed a measure that included questions about how evidence-based theories of the brain might enhance coaching and learning, how they were exposed to these different theories, and their awareness of neuromyths. Results revealed that the coaches believed that an enhanced understanding of the brain helped with their planning and delivery of sports sessions. Goal-setting was the most frequently used strategy. Interestingly, 41.6% of the coaches agreed with statements that promoted neuromyths. The most prevalent neuromyth was “individuals learn better when they receive information in their preferred learning style (e.g., auditory, visual, or kinesthetic),” which 62% of coaches believed. It is apparent that a relatively large percentage of coaches base aspects of their coaching practice on neuromyths and other pseudoscientific ideas. Strategies for addressing this situation are briefly discussed and include changing the content of coach education programs.

Leisure and the Irish in the Nineteenth Century, ed. Leeann Lane and William Murphy

In recent years, research on Irish modern history has paid increasing attention to the role of leisure activities in the formation of Irish identities. This anthology is a response to this movement, gathering contributions based on papers presented at the conference of the Society for the Study of Nineteenth-Century Ireland in 2012. The chapters all address various aspects of the cultural history of leisure in the nineteenth century and are packaged as reactions to a recent move towards the role of leisure in research on Fenianism (mainly the contributions by R.V. Comerford) and Irish sports associations (mainly the Gaelic Athletic Association). The concise but illuminating introductory chapter by editors Leeann Lane and William Murphy highlights the way sports historians more and more consider the wider culture of leisure in their work, and the role of associations and various disciplining institutions (including the temperance movement) in supporting ‘de-Anglicised’ Irish identities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The ensuing twelve chapters may not always reflect quite the same perspectives and lines of inquiry, ranging from studies of cycling and tourism to photography and children’s playgrounds, but the theme of leisure is emphasised throughout and the quality of the chapters is consistently high.

Septic peritonitis secondary to a perforating gastric foreign body in an Irish Sport Horse gelding

SummaryA 17‐year‐old Irish Sport Horse gelding was referred to the University College Dublin Veterinary Hospital for low‐grade colic that had been nonresponsive to medical treatment. Diagnostic investigation revealed a marked septic peritonitis. The inciting cause was detected by gastroscopy to be a perforating foreign body in the pylorus of the stomach from a briar of a blackthorn plant (Prunus spinosa spp.). Successful removal of the foreign body was achieved surgically via gastrotomy. The horse subsequently developed a multi‐drug resistant abdominal incision site infection, which was successfully managed over a 2‐month period. Abdominal incisional herniation occurred thereafter. Six months post‐operatively, the horse was back in light work and no further adverse sequelae had been noted.

Progressive neurological deficits after general anaesthesia in a horse

An otherwise healthy eight-year-old Irish Sports Horse mare weighing 590 kg underwent general anaesthesia for bilateral tarsal arthroscopy and arthrotomy with subsequent removal of two osseous intra-articular fragments. The horse...