Sport and the Media in Ireland

Abstract

The symbiotic relationship that has existed since the mid-19th century between sport and the mediafrom the popular press, through newsreels and radio, to television, and beyondis so well established as hardly to require comment. However, the very familiarity of this long and successful marriage should not blind us to its abiding, and abidingly remarkable, affective power, both for individuals and for communities, real and 'imagined', of all kinds. We may thus legitimately pause to reflect on the key role played by the media in establishing the local, national, and international significance of what are inherently ephemeral and objectively trivial corporeal practices. Whether it be through the national football cultures of England and Scotland, or the national cycling cultures articulated through Spain's Vuelta, Italy's Giro, and, especially, the Tour de France, sport annually continues to mobilize millions of spectators, whether physically present or, especially, by means of the mass media. This is even more obviously true of such major international competitions as the World Cup, European Championship, and European Champions League competitions in association football. To pursue a little further the example of the Tour de Francean event launched in 1903 by the specialist sports newspaper L'Auto, as part of a combined commercial and political circulation war with its rival Le Vélo in the wake of the Dreyfus Affairwe might even argue that France's 'great bike race' is actually and annually brought into existence by the media. As Jacques Marchand, one of the event's most seasoned reporters, once remarked: 'cycle road racing

Irish Gymnasts on Tour: The Women’s League and Women’s Exercise in 1940s Ireland

“…One stream in Irish sport history writing has reiterated the importance of the media in supporting, and advertising, sporting organisations within the country. 104 Rather than an objective observer of events, the media has continually played a role in attracting interest and/or creating drama in Irish sport. In the realm of women's sport, Katie Listen and Mary O'Connor's study of modern media in Ireland made clear the importance (or lack thereof) of media coverage for women's sport.…”