Blood and thunder

Liam O'Callaghan

£22.99

In stock

Despite the political partition of the island, Ireland competes at rugby internationally with an all-island team – and with a bespoke anthem that nobody loves but everyone tolerates. Ireland has become a leading rugby nation despite its tiny population and the fact that the sport is only the fourth most popular team game on the island by participation. Liam O’Callaghan’s book shows that the rise of Irish rugby is inextricable from the tensions, debates and divisions – of politics, religion and class – that have defined modern Irish history. In ‘Blood and Thunder’ O’Callaghan traces the sequence of events that led Ireland’s private Catholic secondary schools to embrace rugby – a game of the Anglo-Protestant elite – rather than soccer or Gaelic football: a choice that may have more to do with Ireland becoming a major rugby nation than any other factor.

ISBN: 9781844886616 Category:

Description

Liam O’Callaghan’s revelatory Blood and Thunder shows that the rise of Irish rugby is inextricable from the tensions, debates and divisions – of politics, religion and class – that have defined modern Irish history.

Despite the political partition of the island, Ireland competes at rugby internationally with an all-island team – and with a bespoke anthem that nobody loves but everyone tolerates. Ireland has become a leading rugby nation despite its tiny population and the fact that the sport is only the fourth most popular team game on the island by participation.

In Blood and Thunder, O’Callaghan traces the dramatic evolution whereby a rugby nation that was deeply attached to amateurism has made such a dramatic success of professionalism. From the sequence of events that led Ireland’s private Catholic secondary schools to embrace rugby, to the controversies and crises that have shaken Irish rugby – including the Northern Troubles, the Belfast rape trial, and the rising toll of head injuries – Blood and Thunder tells the rich and fascinating story of Irish rugby.

Blood and Thunder is more than a social and political history of Irish rugby. It is also a shadow-history of modern Ireland, rooted in brilliant original research and packed with terrific stories.

‘Rigorously researched and incisively written ? Blood and Thunder should be on every team bus.’ John O’Donnell, Irish Times

‘The whole book is a delight.’ Ciaran Murphy

‘Excellent ? O’Callaghan willingly challenges any hyperbole about the sport’s appeal here just as he keenly seeks to identify and explain some of the wonders of that reach’ Kieran Shannon, Irish Examiner

‘I really enjoyed it.’ Ken Early

‘O’Callaghan’s history of Irish rugby is a superb excavation of the place of that sport in Irish life.’ Paul Rouse, Irish Examiner

Additional information

Weight 0.544 kg
Dimensions 24.1 × 16.1 × 2.9 cm
Author

Publisher

Imprint

Cover

Hardback

Pages

288

Language

English

Edition
Dewey

796.33309415 (edition:23)

Readership

General – Trade / Code: K

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