An examination of the photographic coverage of sportswomen in the Irish print media: a study of an Irish broadsheet newspaper

Building on a large body of extant international research, which has consistently found that sportswomen are underrepresented and marginalized in media reporting, this article presents a study examining the coverage of sportswomen over a four-month period in a major Irish broadsheet newspaper, The Irish Times. The findings, which are based on a data-set of 471 pages, reveal that less than 4% of photographs were of sportswomen. These findings indicate that the Irish situation mirrors international research on the topic and reflects a continuation of the status quo in terms of how sportswomen and women’s sports are (under)valued and (under)reported in the media. The implications of these findings are discussed as well as directions for further study. The article makes a useful contribution to the field given the dearth of research conducted on this topic in Ireland to date.     

Speaking Irish with hurley sticks: Gaelic sports,the Irish language and national identity in revival Ireland

The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) ban on foreign games, implemented nationally in 1905, affected not only GAA members but Gaelic League members also. The shared Gaelic heritage of both organisations led to their marriage in the Irish Ireland movement and the aims and ideals of both organisations were promoted alongside one another. GAA members were expected to promote and use Irish while Gaelic League members were to play only Gaelic sports. The commitment of GAA members to the language was to prove controversial throughout the Irish revival period, however, where lip service, symbolism and general lack of interest in the language led to the diminishing of GAA language policies. Nevertheless, GAA members enjoyed the status of being uniquely Gaelic. The same leniency was not afforded to Gaelic Leaguers with regard to vigilance in games. By tying itself to the GAA and the ban, the Gaelic League compromised its own ideals as regards the language forming the basis of Irish nationality and the importance of the games as part of Gaelic identity greatly increased. This corresponds with Timothy G. McMahon’s argument that the secondary aims of the Gaelic League came to obtain greater prominence in the Gaelic Revival than the language itself.     

Viscoelastic impact characterisation of solid sports balls used in the Irish sport of Hurling

In recent years, variability in behaviour of the sliotar, a small leather-bound ball used in the Irish sport of hurling, has become evident in championship matches. The inconsistency in performance was attributed to the range of constructions and material compositions of currently approved ball types. With a view to adopting a standard core, a new methodology has been commissioned to assess the dynamic impact behaviour of approved sliotar cores. In this paper, the relationship between the dynamic stiffness and the coefficient of restitution is presented with regard to material properties, ball construction and viscoelastic strain and strain-rate dependencies. The modern polymer ball types were shown to exhibit strain-rate sensitivity, while the performance of the traditional multi-compositional ball types exhibited lesser strain-rate dependence. The traditional balls types were shown to be up to 2.5 times stiffer than the modern ball types, with this finding having implications for ball energy dissipation.     

Lifestyles and gendered patterns of leisure and sporting interests among Irish adolescents

This paper strives to provide an insight into the multifaceted relationships that young people have, examining the social, cultural and institutional discourses, which shape their lives. We set out to discuss, from an empirical poststructuralist perspective, the way in which Irish adolescents write about the reality of their lives and privilege certain practices and forms of subjectivity. We are particularly interested in the role and significance of physical activity in the lives of young people, asking what institutional and cultural discourses are brought into play to construct particular identities and social practices associated with leisure and sporting interests. This paper focuses on a purposeful sample of 168 written narratives of Irish post-primary students (14–17 years of age), chosen to represent the gender of students, a range of rural and urban school locales from different geographic locations and single sex and co-educational schools. We focus on the inter-relationships between (1) family and friends; (2) community-localism and tradition; (3) commodification and globalisation; (4) popular culture; and (5) gendered patterns of leisure and sporting interests. The family is a strong focal point for these young people as are their friends and being part of a community. The young people (boys in particular) are significant consumers of ‘media sport’ and both girls and boys were knowledgeable of national and international politics. We also comment on the extent to which female and male adolescents negotiate, similarly or differently, culturally dominant discourses within physical activity and sport, with significantly more boys choosing to write about physical activity and sport in their narratives.     

Fundamental Movement Skill Proficiency and Health Among a Cohort of Irish Primary School Children

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the relationship between fundamental movement skills (FMS) and markers of health among a cohort of Irish primary school children. Methods: Participants (N = 296, mean age: 7.99 ± 2.02 years) were senior infant (n = 149, mean age: 6.02 ± 0.39 years) and 4th class (n = 147, mean age: 9.97 ± 0.40 years) students from three primary schools in Cork, Ireland. FMS proficiency (TGMD-2) and markers of health (BMI percentile, waist circumference percentile, blood pressure percentiles, resting heart rate, cardiorespiratory fitness, objectively measured physical activity; PA) measurements were recorded. Correlation and hierarchical stepwise multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to investigate the relationship between FMS and markers of health. Results: A small, positive relationship was found between FMS (Gross Motor Quotient; GMQ) and cardiorespiratory fitness with small negative correlations between GMQ and 550 m time SDS among 6-year-olds (r(129) = ?.286, p < .05) and 10-year-olds (r(132) = ?.340, p < .05). A moderate, positive correlation was found between GMQ and light PA (r(71) = .400, p < .05). Small positive correlations were revealed between GMQ and moderate PA (r(71) = .259, p < .05) and between GMQ and total PA (r(71) = .355, p < .05). After adjusting for age, sex, the interaction effect of age and sex, and school attended, FMS explained 15.9% and 24.8% of the variance in 550 m time SDS among 6- and 10-year-olds, respectively, and 6% and 6.5% of the variance in light PA and moderate PA, respectively. After adjusting for age and sex, FMS explained 11.6% of the variance in total PA. Conclusion: A wide range of FMS is important for children’s cardiorespiratory fitness and PA.     

Moving Well-Being Well: Investigating the maturation of fundamental movement skill proficiency across sex in Irish children aged five to twelve

ABSTRACT

Fundamental movement skills (FMS) are the basic building blocks of more advanced, complex movements required to participate in physical activity. This study examined FMS proficiency across the full range of Irish primary school children (n = 2098, 47% girls, age range 5–12 years). Participants were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development, 3rd edition (TGMD-3), Victorian Fundamental Movement skills manual, and the balance subtest from the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency 2 (BOT-2). Independent sample t-tests and a one way between groups ANOVA with planned comparisons were used analyse sex and age differences. Mastery or near mastery of skills ranged from 16% for overhand throw, to 75.3% for run. Girls scored significantly higher than boys in the locomotor and balance subtests with the boys outperforming the girls in object control skills. Improvements in ability can be seen over time (F(8,1968) = 70.18, p < 0.001), with significant increases in FMS proficiency seen up to the age of 10, after which proficiency begins to decline. The findings demonstrate the low levels of FMS proficiency amongst Irish primary school children, the differences between sex that exist, and highlights the need for more programmes that focus on developing these FMS at an early age.     

Sporting shades of green: a comparative analysis of sponsored national mythmaking in Irish rugby and soccer

This paper derives from an ongoing study of how modern sports contribute to the (re)definition of national identities in the context of increasing marketization and mediatization of sport at different levels. In this paper, we examine the symbolic tensions surrounding Three Ireland’s concurrent sponsorship of the Irish international football and rugby union teams via an analysis of two television commercials commissioned by the sponsor. We suggest that although different signifiers of Irish identity are employed in the football and rugby commercials examined – and that each ostensibly represents a different ‘version’ of Irish identity – both campaigns draw largely from a common fund of cultural authenticity. Our analysis suggests that Three Ireland has constructed broad texts that comfortably accommodate differing signifiers of Irish identity and that permit the sponsor to trade in limited and controllable degrees of cultural difference. More broadly, our paper demonstrates how national identity can function as a ‘multi-directional symbol’.     

Celtic FC’s 1967 Lisbon Lions: why the European Cup victory of the first club from Britain was a defining moment for the Irish diaspora in Scotland

ABSTRACT

In 1967, in Lisbon, Celtic Football Club, won the European Cup becoming the first club outside of Portugal, Spain and Italy to win it. The win was and is totemic for the Irish Catholic immigrant community in Scotland that has historically supported Celtic. We suggest the significance of the win reveals intersections of ethnicity, religion, nationalism, and the politics of ‘sectarianism’ in Scotland. During a period of discriminatory practices and attitudes towards Irish descended Catholics in Scotland, this iconic win for a Scottish based club born of Irish Catholics personified for this diaspora that (on one level) their day had arrived. This article explores the socio-cultural significance and legacy of ‘Lisbon 67? for insider and outsider groups in Scotland. We reveal that soccer remains a central component of group memory connecting the past, present and future. We suggest Celtic’s win offered confidence and hope to a marginalized group within Scotland.     

建立市场经济条件下我国大城市基层群众体育管理体制基本框架构想

随着2008年北京夏季奥运会的临近,人们都在思考奥运会后的中国体育走向,但无庸置疑的是,国家已经全面实施了“全民健身计划纲要”,10年来有了丰硕的成果。特别是在我国大城市群众体育已经进入到由无序状态向有序状态健康发展的关键时期,适时梳理,总结探讨运行机制,是群众体育管理部门和科研单位义不容辞的责任。本文正是在这样的背景下,对群众体育管理体制的模式进行科学归纳,提出群众体育管理的基本思路,为相关部门制定政策提供依据。