HISTORY
Our Games, Our History: Sport and Irish Society
AUTUMN HN172
Tuesdays
Tutor: Richard McElligott 
Ireland is rightly considered a sports mad country. Why then has sport rarely been utilised to understand Irish history? Through a combination of class lectures and a field trip to Croke Park, this course will examine the role of sport in modern Irish history. It will trace the emergence and development of Irish sporting bodies and the processes which brought them about. The course will offer a detailed study of the political, social, cultural and economic context and relevance of sporting organisations. Essentially, the course will use sport as a window through which the modern history of Ireland can be viewed. Amongst the themes explored will be the manner in which the formal organisation of sport was involved in notions of education, religion, class and the prosecution of war. The course will investigate the extent to which sporting bodies were used to influence their ordinary members’ political, cultural and social beliefs.
Over ten weeks, the course will examine the origins of modern sporting organisations in Ireland. It will assess the impact of the political and cultural revival of Irish nationalism on sporting organisations like the GAA in the early twentieth century. It will investigate how Irish sports bodies were impacted by the outbreak of World War One and the Irish revolutionary period between 1916 and 1924. It will then examine the more important developments in Irish sport in post independent Ireland up until the modern day. The course will also look at sport and its impact on issues of identity during the troubles in Northern Ireland.
| BELFIELD | ||
| 9 Tuesdays | Sep 25, Oct 9, 16, 23, 30, Nov 6, 13, 20, 27 | 7.30pm - 9.30pm |
| 1 Saturday | Oct 6 | 2.00 - 4.00pm |
| FEE €190 | Print Open Learning Application Form 2012.13 or ring (01) 716-7123 for Laser/credit card payment |
Tutor Details:
Dr Richard McElligott was awarded a PhD from the Department of History UCD, in 2011 for his thesis on the establishment and early development of the Gaelic Athletic Association in Ireland. He currently works as a teaching assistant within the department. His research interests include sports history, Irish cultural and social history, military history and nineteenth and twentieth century Irish political history. He is the current president of the Sports History Ireland society.
Provisional list of key topics to be covered:
- Reasons for the emergence of codified sports across Ireland in the late nineteenth century.
- The impact of sporting organisations on Irish society.
- Influence of sports bodies on members’ political and cultural outlook.
- Sports impact on Irish nationalism and identity.
- Influences of religion and education on Irish sport.
- Sport and nationalism in Northern Ireland.
- Women and sport in Ireland.
- Media’s impact on sports evolution in Ireland.
Who is the course for?
This course will appeal to anyone interested in sport, its development and the greater political, cultural and social history of nineteenth and twentieth century Irish history.
Reading List:
The following is a selection of recommended texts for those interested in reading further around the course content. We advise that you do not buy books in advance of the course as your tutor will discuss the list and suggest the most relevant reading for particular interests.
Mike Cronin, Sport and Nationalism in Ireland, Gaelic Games, Soccer and Irish Identity Since 1884 (Dublin, 1999).
Mike Cronin, Mark Duncan and Paul Rouse (eds.), The GAA: A People’s History (Cork, 2009).
Richard Holt, Sport and the British, A Modern History (Oxford, 1990).
Tom Hunt, Sport and Society in Victorian Ireland, The Case Study of Westmeath (Dublin, 2007).
Liam O’Callaghan, Rugby in Munster: A Social and Cultural History (Cork, 2011).
Neil Tranter, Sport, Economy and Society in Britain 1750-1914 (Cambridge, 1998).
