Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Sport, the Media and Ireland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

2021; University of Illinois Press; Volume: 48; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.5406/21558450.48.2.16

2155-8450

Diarmuid Francis Bolger,

Sports, Gender, and Society

Sporting occasions between Ireland and England are renowned for creating iconic images. Ray Houghton's looping header in Ireland's Euro 1988 victory, the jubilation after Ireland's victory in the 2011 Cricket World Cup, or the respectful silence during “God Save the Queen” when England visited Croke Park in 2007 are examples. Another iconic image is that of seven-year-old James Eagar being brought onto the pitch at Dublin's Lansdowne Road by his father for safety when English hooligans rioted in the Upper West Stand. The terror and confusion on the child's face became a defining image of that infamous 1995 Ireland-versus-England soccer “friendly.”The media consensus was that this rioting was orchestrated by the far-Right political movement, Combat 18. But in his essay “The Lansdowne Road Riot of 1995: Ireland, the English Far Right and the Media” in this fascinating new book, historian Mike Cronin presents a more nuanced reading of the riot, highlighting how Irish and British media apportioned blame to Combat 18, despite any hard evidence. As Cronin notes, this narrative has endured in the face of an official government report and the testimony of “ordinary” English hooligans who stress how no organized far-Right elements were involved. As one English attendee lamented, this perception meant “our big day had been taken away from us” (88).Cronin's exploration is among fifteen engaging essays in Cork University Press's Sport, the Media and Ireland: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Edited by Neil O'Boyle and Marcus Free, it examines the media's interconnected relationship with sport in Ireland in an even-handed, accessible fashion. It explores how the media “report, shape and enter into sport” (1) and how, in reflecting Irish societal values, sports reporting “contributes to, obscures, and helps negotiate or contest collective identities, solidarities, divisions and hierarchies within and across nation states” (5).The media's relationship with sport has always been complex. John Connolly and Paddy Dolan's “National identity, Media and the Promotion of Gaelic Games” examines efforts made by Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) activists to promote their code through the media while decrying any coverage of “garrison games.” This led to GAA criticism of the media for not giving it a fair share of coverage and the GAA publishing its own journals in response. This attitude began to change during the 1960s. The change is exemplified in Paul Rouse's essay “The GAA and Sky Sports, 2014–2017,” where, through brutal use of statistics, Rouse analyzes how the GAA's move toward commercialization through Sky Sports in 2014 proved a disaster. Sky's viewing figures in Ireland were low. The 2014 All-Ireland quarter-final between Dublin and Monaghan on Sky averaged a viewership of 54,000. The 2013 quarter-final between Donegal and Mayo on TV3 had averaged 442,800. Rouse describes the decision to continue some matches behind a paywall as “at odds with . . . the imagery of its advertising, with the legacy of its history” (226). He explores the complexities in deals with the media for sports organizations trying to strike a balance between national representation and needing to make a commercial profit.This collection highlights flaws in sports coverage, best seen in the section “Women, Media and Sport in Ireland.” This section uses three articles and the transcript of a round-table discussion to dissect perceptions of female athletes in Irish media. Ciaran Dunne's analysis of photography of sportswomen—examining Irish Times sports supplements over a four-month period in 2015—highlights how less than 4 percent of images were solely of female athletes.However, Niamh Kitching and Ali Bowes can see some advancement in the portrayal of female athletes in Irish media in their examination of coverage of Irish golfer Leona Maguire by Irish newspapers. Analyzing 116 articles on Maguire from 2005 until 2018, they highlight how her portrayal contradicts traditional female sporting coverage by focusing on her as a legitimate professional golfer and former amateur world number one rather than focusing solely on her gender. They suspect that the timing of much of this coverage depended on lulls in activity in the male game but hold it up as an example of progressive reportage.The changing media platforms through which fans receive their information have become increasingly important. The rise of social media has led to the rapid growth of fan-controlled media content in opposition to official social media content created by clubs. Ciaran Ryan analyzes the relationship between Irish fans of Liverpool FC and the emotive fansite “The Anfield Wrap.” Such fan-created content can allow Irish-based fans to interact with fellow global supporters and gain more of a fan's perspective on a match compared to what is provided by the polished content on official Twitter pages.These fifteen essays highlight how the interconnected relationship between the media and sport is a vital component in understanding Irish society. This is shown in Anthony P. Mintyre's excellent analysis of the reaction to James McClean's “Poppygate,” in Conor Curran's discussion on the journalism career of footballer Charlie O'Hagan, and Lance Pennitt's study of George Best's relationship with the press between 1969 and 1973. The collection grows into a thought-provoking and mold-breaking exploration of the interdependence between sport and media in Ireland.