Sport In Ireland Research Articles

An Assessment of Existing Sport-Related Concussion Guidelines in Ireland: The Need for a United Approach.

In 2014, an Irish parliament white paper called for greater addressing of sport-related concussions (SRCs) in Ireland, requesting the adoption of the Concussion in Sport Group's (CISGs) guidelines and greater consistency in SRC return to play (RTP) management. Ten years later, it is unclear how these requests have been addressed. Recently, the United Kingdom's government centralised guidelines to one SRC document for all grassroots sports. This study aimed to investigate all publicly available SRC guidance in Irish sports and national governing bodies (NGBs) to determine if centralised guidelines are warranted. Sport Ireland and the Irish Federation of Sports were searched for all recognised NGBs and sports in Ireland. Websites were searched for any information pertaining to SRCs and data were extracted and collated in Microsoft Excel. In total, 15 of 83 sports and/or NGBs included SRC guidance, nine of which provided RTP protocols. Various iterations of the CISGs guidance and tools were implemented. Several sports with a documented SRC risk had no guidelines present. The findings indicate disjointed and outdated guidance across Irish sport. Additionally, there are sports with a documented concussion risk that have no SRC guidance available. This study provides support for centralised guidelines to be adopted in Irish grassroots sports.

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’.

"Exposing force": the COVID-19 pandemic and women's sport in Ireland during 2020-2021.

An analysis of how the pandemic served to highlight neglected weaknesses and inequalities with regard to the structures and supports available to facilitate women's sport in Ireland. A survey conducted in the summer of 2021 with 194 female athletes across the island of Ireland. These athletes were engaged with the sports of camogie, Ladies Gaelic football, hockey, and rugby, and each responded to a 28-question survey. Our findings indicate that the experiences of female athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic raise serious questions regarding equality in sport across gender lines. Concerns expressed by the surveyed athletes, especially in relation to access to facilities, inadequate sponsorship, and funding reveal salient aspects of the experiences of Irish female athletes during the pandemic, and its role as an "exposing force" of inequalities within Irish sport. The COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland has been a challenging and revealing period with regard to sport in Ireland, acting as an "exposing force" of the existing inequitable structures for both the support and coverage of women's sport. Such challenging periods can also offer opportunities to learn, progress and improve and already in the past year there is evidence of positive developments for women's sport in Ireland, developments that we contend were expedited due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland.

The cost of injury in Ladies Gaelic football: A nine-year analysis (2012–2020) of the LGFA's Injury Fund

<h2>Abstract</h2><h3>Objectives</h3> Ladies Gaelic football is a popular women's sport in Ireland and internationally. An injury fund is available to Ladies Gaelic football players for claims to cover excess medical bills/lost wages, facilitating a longitudinal analysis of claim data over time. This study aimed to report Ladies Gaelic football injury claim numbers, rates, and associated costs, and consider claim trends over time. <h3>Design</h3> Descriptive epidemiology study. <h3>Methods</h3> All approved injury claims from Ladies Gaelic football players between 2012 and 2020 were analysed. The frequency of injury claims, cost of the injury fund, and specific treatment expenses were calculated for the overall sample, and for adults and youths. Claim rates per 1000 players, per 1000 adults and per 1000 youths were calculated and Poisson regression was used to examine trends over time. <h3>Results</h3> A total of €6,200,557.68 was allocated to 9348 claims, averaging €663.30 ± 1387.15 per claim. There were 12.98 (95 % confidence interval 12.72–13.25) claims per 1000 players and 1.15 (95 % confidence interval 1.12–1.17) per club. No significant injury trends over time were observed whilst the average inflation-adjusted claim cost increased by 71.9 %. Lower extremity injuries accounted for most claims (63.8 %) and most costs (83.4 %). The knee, ankle and hamstring were most frequently injured and knee injuries accounted for 70 % of injury costs. <h3>Conclusions</h3> Claim rates remained prevalent between 2012 and 2020 though average claim costs increased substantially during this time. Investment towards injury prevention strategies targeting lower extremity injuries, particularly knee injuries, is strongly supported by these data.

The Implementation of a National Strategy to Encourage Injury Prevention Program Uptake in a Community Female Sport in Ireland: A Camogie Case Study

Community sports play an important role in maintaining sporting participation across all ages, from childhood to adulthood. Maintaining participation for females, however, can be a challenge. Injuries can negatively impact sporting participation, both in the short and long term. Thus, reducing the risk of injuries in community sports is essential. While there are developed injury prevention programs available, the uptake of such programs in community sports can be limited. Here, we outline how a female community sport in Ireland, namely, the Camogie Association, has developed and implemented an evidence-based strategy to improve the uptake of an injury prevention program nationally across all ages of their membership. We use the RE-AIM (Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation and Maintenance) sports setting matrix as a guiding tool for evaluating this strategy. Varying settings and levels were targeted in this six-step implementation sequence, including the national sporting organisation, regional sporting organisations, alongside the individual coaches and players. The main outcomes of the strategy were that the Camogie Association formally adopted the developed injury prevention program (the Camogie Injury Prevention Program) and the adapted age appropriate programs from 8 years of age and upward. The Camogie Association also embedded this program within their coaching training course. The developed education workshop successfully improved coaches’ attitudes and perceived ability to implement the Camogie Injury Prevention Program. The majority (72.5%) of coaches, 4 weeks after conducting the workshop, had implemented the program, and 95% felt the program could be maintained over multiple seasons. This program may provide guidance to similar national or regional sporting bodies that want to embed injury prevention programs within their respective governing body and maximise the implementation of an injury prevention program by their coaches and players.

Benchmarking successful performances in elite Ladies Gaelic football

ABSTRACT The lack of sport science research conducted on female sport, makes it challenging for coaches and sport science practitioners to develop an evidence-based approach. Ladies Gaelic football (LGF) is the most popular female sport in Ireland with over 200,000 members, however there has been no research to benchmark performance. The current study investigates the game characteristics of LGF by developing analysis system which could provide benchmark profiles of successful performance at elite level and evaluate the transferability of the game intelligence available within LGF’s brother sport, Gaelic football (GF). Thirty-one games (62 performances) were analysed from the 2019 and 2020 TG4 All-Ireland Senior Ladies Football Championship using NacSport Scout+. Statistical differences between winning and losing performances were identified using paired sample t-tests (p ≤ 0.05) and Wilcoxon signed ranked tests (p ≤ 0.05). Winning teams were found to be significantly superior to losing teams, demonstrating superior ability to gain and use possession. LGF and men’s GF teams adopt different strategic approaches to the game. The current study provides a first insight into the nature of LGF with benchmark data, facilitating a better understanding of the game demands of LGF and the key points of difference between male and LGF.

‘In the Ráth Camp, rugby or soccer would not have been tolerated by the prisoners’: Irish Civil War attitudes to sport, 1922-3

ABSTRACT Traditionally, the historiography of sport in Ireland has largely been dominated by writings on the Gaelic Athletic Association. This phenomenon is even more pronounced when one considers the historiography of sport during the Irish Revolution (1912–1923). Owing no doubt to the numerous intertwining relationships between the GAA’s codes, its administrators, players, and the campaign for Irish independence this is hardly surprising. However, more recently historians have begun to shed light on some lesser-known connections between non-Gaelic games and the movement for Irish independence. This article focuses specifically on the period known as the Irish Civil War (1922–1923) and examines the political and cultural significance of sport during the fraternal conflict.

Evidence for the irrelevance of irrelevant events

AbstractThe expectation that voters behave rationally has been challenged through studies suggesting that “irrelevant events” like natural disasters and sports results change voting behavior. We test the effect of irrelevant events by matching candidate-level election results from Irish general (1922–2020) and local elections (1942–2019) with games in the men's Gaelic football and hurling championships, the most popular sports in Ireland. Although Irish citizens care deeply about sports, we fail to find any relationship between match results and support for incumbents or politicians of government parties. These findings hold when applying an “unexpected event during survey design” to two representative surveys. Our results contribute to the literature on political accountability and point to conditional effects of irrelevant events.

Sport, the Media and Ireland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Sport, the Media and Ireland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Training Load Monitoring Considerations for Female Gaelic Team Sports: From Theory to Practice.

Athlete monitoring enables sports science practitioners to collect information to determine how athletes respond to training loads (TL) and the demands of competition. To date, recommendations for females are often adapted from their male counterparts. There is currently limited information available on TL monitoring in female Gaelic team sports in Ireland. The collection and analysis of female athlete monitoring data can provide valuable information to support the development of female team sports. Athletic monitoring can also support practitioners to help minimize risk of excessive TL and optimize potential athletic performance. The aims of this narrative review are to provide: (i) an overview of TL athlete monitoring in female team sports, (ii) a discussion of the potential metrics and tools used to monitor external TL and internal TL, (iii) the advantages and disadvantages of TL modalities for use in Gaelic team sports, and (iv) practical considerations on how to monitor TL to aid in the determination of meaningful change with female Gaelic team sports athletes.

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.

Honour and Shame in Women’s Sports

This piece, first delivered as a keynote address, examines the role of honour and shame in understanding the many stories of women's involvement in sport in Ireland from the eighteenth century onwards, and especially in the modern era. While women's sporting involvement was regarded as shameful, especially in those sports imbued with traditional associated masculine norms, the prospect for women's sports is different today than in the past. Yet the struggle for honour is ongoing, seen in topical debates concerning gender quotas and the recommendations made by the Citizens Assembly on gender equality. Bringing the analysis up to date, the piece outlines ad hoc policy initiatives around gender equality in sport from the mid-2000s (in which the author was centrally involved) to the publication of the first formal statutory policy on women in sport, in 2019. Here it is argued that the guilt and shame of previous generations has influenced the public debate on gender quotas and it is as if, in the desire for perceived equality, the current generation of sportswomen do not wish to be associated with quotas. In this way, honour is conflated with merit. The piece concludes by suggesting that merit is honourable, personally, but equally, quotas are by no means shameful in public struggles.

The London Olympics 1908: The Games of the Irish Diaspora

ABSTRACT The Olympic Games of 1908 featured Irish-born emigrant athletes representing the United States, Canada and Great Britain whilst Irish-domiciled athletes also represented the latter. The competitors of the Diaspora enjoyed an exceptional success rate especially those representing the USA and Canada. The USA success in athletics was powered by members of the Irish-American Athletic Club (I-AAC). Some members visited Dublin after the Games for an international athletics match against Ireland and were exposed to the politics of the sport in Ireland as two rival associations strived to control the sport, the nationalist Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) and the politically more conservative Irish Amateur Athletic Association (IAAA). This division is reflected in the complex reception that these athletes received on their return to Ireland as Irish domiciled athletes who competed successfully in track and field representing Great Britain returned to Ireland without fanfare. Martin Sheridan and the New York-native John Hayes were wined, dined, and eulogised in their public appearances across the country with Sheridan using his appearances as a platform to support the position of the GAA and express his nationalist sentiments.

‘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.

The match-play running performance of elite Camogie players across halves of play

Camogie is one of the most popular female sports in Ireland, yet the demands of match-play are unknown. The current study aimed to examine the match-play running performance of elite Camogie players between halves of play and playing positions. GPS (STATSports, Apex 10-Hz) collected data from 36 players (23 ± 4 years, height: 168 ± 5 cm body mass: 65 ± 6 kg) over 22 games. Activity was characterised into total distance [TD] (m), relative distance (RD) (m min−1), distance (m) at walking (< 7.9 km h−1), running (8–15.9 km h−1), high-speed running [HSR] (16–19.9 km h−1) and sprinting (≥ 20 km h−1), number of sprints (n) and mean length of sprints (m). The TD, RD, HSR, and sprint distance was 5881 ± 906 m, 98 ± 15 m min−1, 546 ± 259 m and 183 ± 130 m, respectively. Decrements in TD (ES: − 0.46), RD (ES: − 0.43), HSR (ES: − 0.15), sprint distance (ES: − 0.18), and the number of sprints (ES: − 0.25) were found between halves. Full-backs covered less TD, RD and HSR than half-backs (ES: − 0.65 to − 1.14), midfielders (ES: − 0.66 to − 1.10), half-forwards (ES: − 0.71 to − 0.75) and full-forwards (ES: − 0.57 to − 0.63). Half-backs performed more sprints than full-backs (ES: 0.76) with no difference between any other position. Midfielders, half-forwards and full-forwards had a longer mean length of sprint compared to half-backs (ES: − 1.00 to − 1.17) and full-backs (ES: − 0.78 to − 1.00). This is the first study to report the running performance of elite Camogie match-play. The data can aid the coaching process by allowing for the development of sports-specific training methodologies for elite Camogie players.

‘The iron rusted and decayed in our clubs’: the failure of weightlifting in early twentieth-century Ireland

ABSTRACT As a branch of sport history, the historiography of weightlifting lags behind other areas. The field is growing but much work needs to be done on its origins. Seeking to provide some context as to the origins of organised weightlifting in Europe, the following article uses Ireland as an ideal case study. The first two major efforts to form an Irish weightlifting organisation in the 1910s and early 1920s failed owing to a series of material and ideological problems. Exploring this point, the article begins with a discussion of weightlifting as an informal sport in Ireland in the nineteenth century before discussing the failure to establish an Irish weightlifting organisation in the early 1910s and early 1920s. Where one organiser, a Mr. W.A. MacPherson failed owing to a lack of material resources and a poor network of contacts, those following him, like the Irish weightlifter Michael Stokes, were hampered by warfare and political conflict. For historians of sport, a study of Irish weightlifting in this vein reiterates the many factors needed to establish formalised pursuits and serves as a timely reminder of the many barriers facing individual athletes wishing to compete.

Injuries in Collegiate Ladies Gaelic Footballers: A 2-Season Prospective Cohort Study.

Although Ladies Gaelic football is one of the most popular female sports in Ireland, just 2 previous injury surveillance studies have been completed, and both were retrospective in nature. To prospectively examine the injury incidence and injury profile in collegiate Ladies Gaelic football over 2 seasons. Prospective cohort study. College. Patients (or Other Participants): Adult Ladies Gaelic footballers from one collegiate institution (season 1: n = 50, season 2: n = 82). All time-loss injuries that occurred were recorded by certified athletic therapists and student-athletic therapists and trainers over 2 seasons. A standardized injury report form was used to record the injury onset, mechanism, location, nature, and outcome. Injury incidence proportion, repeat incidence proportion and total, match and training injury rates, and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated. The frequencies and proportions were also calculated. The match and training injury rates were 42.48 and 7.93 injuries per 1000 hours, respectively. A low repeat incidence proportion per season was noted (11.7% and 0.0%). The injuries were predominantly acute (74.68%) and noncontact (66.25%), with hamstring injuries (21.52%) and strains (36.71%) the most frequent location and nature of injuries noted. Strains (104.92d absent per 1000h) and knee injuries (106.46d absent per 1000h) led to the greatest injury burden. Further investigations were not frequently required, with an X-ray and magnetic resonance imaging ordered in 8.00% and 6.67% of the cases, respectively. Surgery was completed following one injury. This is the first study to provide prospective injury data on Ladies Gaelic football. Priority needs to be given to preventing hamstring and knee injuries due to their occurrence and negative impact on player availability to play. Collegiate Ladies Gaelic football teams should be encouraged to implement an injury-prevention warm-up, such as the GAA15+, at training and matches.

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.

Para athlete activism: A qualitative examination of disability activism through Paralympic sport in Ireland

ObjectivesLittle attention has been given to how Para athletes use their platforms for disability activism. This paper fills this gap by examining how Irish Para athletes take actions to create social change around disability. MethodsA qualitative methodology was adopted. 28 elite-level Irish Para athletes were recruited and participated in interviews. The data set was analysed using a reflexive thematic analysis. ResultsThree themes: ‘Para athlete activisms’ captures different ways of doing disability activism; ‘tensions between different activist identities’ concerns (hyper)critical discourses about various activist identities; ‘ableist influences on Para sport culture’ captures contexts that enable or prevent performing disability activism. ConclusionsThe central theoretical contribution is an interpretation of Para athlete activism in terms of a contextually informed continuum of behaviour change. This article is an evidence base for Para sport cultures that wish to connect with disability activism. Practical opportunities are discussed around the psychology of adversity, social legacy value, identity politics and challenging ableism.

Introduction: sport in Ireland from the 1880s to the 1920s

The study of sport in Ireland in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries has – to risk a cliche from the sports world itself – progressed in leaps and bounds in recent decades. The period...