Sport and Ireland – A History

Description

Sport and Ireland – A History – Paul Rouse

There are aspects of Ireland’s sporting history that are uniquely Irish and defined by the peculiarities of life on a small island on the edge of Europe. The Irish sporting world is unique only in part, however; much of the history of Irish sport is a shared history with that of other societies. Drawing on a vast array of sources—including government papers, the records of sporting institutions, private collections, poetry and song, and more than sixty local, national, and international newspapers

Paul Rouse assesses the place of sport in Irish life, tracing the origins of its ball games and the significance of animals to the Irish sporting tradition, from the role of horses and dogs in racing and hunting, to the cocks, bulls, and bears that were involved in fighting and baiting.

This volume offers an original insight into the history of Ireland. It depicts the local passions of Irish sport, the influence of the British Empire on Irish culture, the impact of partition, how sport shapes policy-making in modern states, and the ways in which sport has been colonized by the media and has colonized it in turn.
This is the first history of sport in Ireland, extending from the Middle Ages to the new millennium.
Ultimately, it is a story located within Irish political, social, and cultural history, and within the global history of sport.