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Sport and Community Relations in Northern Ireland
John Sugden and Scott Harvie (1995)

Publication contents

 

CHAPTER 3

The Organisational Politics of Sport in Northern Ireland

Senior officials from the governing bodies included in the sample survey were asked a series of questions concerning the bases on which they were organised. Information was sought regarding the structure of each activity; the use of flags and anthems; and the origins of the sport. All 15 sports (or divisions of sports) who took part in the survey provided answers to these questions.

3.1: Structural Basis

Respondents were asked to provide information concerning the structure of their sport in respect of the following categories; economic status; organisational basis; and international competition.

3.1.1 - Economic Status

In this category sports were asked to place their activity on a scale according to the level of amateurism/professionalism within their activity. A choice was to be made between the following values; wholly amateur; mainly amateur; mixed; mainly professional; and wholly professional. Table 3 shows the number of sports which selected each value.

Table 3

Wholly Amateur:	9
Mainly Amateur:	6
Mixed:	0
Mainly Professional:	0
Wholly Professional:	0

All sports are reported to be either mainly or wholly amateur in status. the picture is distorted to some degree by the fact that professionals in certain sports such as boxing and cycling, which were both deemed to be wholly amateur, do not come under the auspices of the governing bodies for the sports in Northern Ireland. Other sports which considered themselves to be wholly amateur have paid development officers and/or coaches but funding for these is often at least partially met from external sources. Despite this it is clear that the vast majority of sportsmen and women in Northern Ireland participate in their activity for love of the game rather than for the prospect of any financial rewards.

3.1.2 - Organisational Basis

Sports were asked two questions in respect of their organisational basis. First they were asked to provide information as to the constituency within which their sport currently operated. To this end a choice of five structural bases; all-Ireland; UK; Northern Ireland (6 counties); Ulster (9 counties); and Other; was offered in both amateur and (where appropriate) professional categories. Table 4 details the selections made.

Table 4

Sports	Amateur	Professional
ANG	All-Ireland/Ulster
BAD	All-Ireland
BAS	All-Ireland/Ulster	All-Ireland
BOW	All-Ireland
BOX	All-Ireland/Ulster
CYC1	All-Ireland/Ulster
CYC2	UK/N Ireland
EQU	All-Ireland/UK
FOO	N Ireland	N Ireland
GAA	All-Ireland
LGO	All-Ireland	All-Ireland
LHO	All-Ireland/Ulster
MHO	All-Ireland/Ulster
MCYC	All-Ireland	All-Ireland
RUN	All-Ireland

Although organised on an all-Irish basis boxing reported that they were also treated as a province of the British Amateur Boxing Association for certain specific purposes (Commonwealth Games). Equestrian sport, represented by the British Horse Society, reported being organised on an all-Irish basis at top level and on a UK basis below.

Clearly, the vast majority of sports which took part in the survey are organised on an all-Irish basis, with provincial branches or councils directly responsible for their activity within a nine county Ulster. The most notable exception, football, reported being an all-Ireland body until the 1950’s when they officially recognised the break-away by the (Dublin based) Football Association of Ireland. The sport of cycling is split between bodies organised on all-Ireland/9 county and UK/6 county bases.

Respondents were then asked which organisational basis they considered most appropriate for their sport. The same choice of alternatives was offered. Table 5 shows the selections made.

Table 5

Sports	Amateur	Professional
ANG	All-Ireland/Ulster
BAD	All-Ireland
BAS	All-Ireland/Ulster	All-Ireland
BOW	All-Ireland
BOX	All-Ireland/Ulster
CYC1	All-Ireland/Ulster
CYC2	UK/N Ireland
EQU	All-Ireland/UK
FOO	N Ireland	N Ireland
GAA	All-Ireland
LGO	All-Ireland	All-Ireland
LHO	All-Ireland/Ulster
MHO	All-Ireland/Ulster(UK)
MCYC	All-Ireland	All-Ireland
RUN	1. All-Ireland 2. UK

The vast majority of sports expressed a preference for their current basis of organisation. Partial exceptions were provided by rugby union where a second preference was expressed for being part of a UK structure for the sport due to the improvement it would bring to standards in club rugby within the province and subsequently to the prospects of players from Ulster being selected for the (Irish) national team. Differing viewpoints were expressed in men’s hockey, one respondent expressing a preference for a UK structure due to its "better resources, better organisation, etc."

Bearing in mind that the respondents completing the sample survey were representatives of the official bodies responsible for each sport, the fact that most are satisfied with their present organisational structure may not be seen as particularly surprising. However, it is perhaps a reflection of feelings within certain sports with strong British associations, played disproportionately by people from middle-class Protestant backgrounds that a degree of unease with an all-Irish structure, however well established, may yet be discerned.

3.1.3 - International Competition

Sports were asked to provide information concerning the international and/or regional team(s) which their top sportsmen and women were eligible to compete for. A choice of 4 representative sides was offered; Northern Ireland; Ireland; UK/GB; and Ulster. Table 6 lists the selections made by each sport.

Table 6

Sports	World/Olympic	C'wealth/Home Int	Provincial/Regional
ANG	Ireland	N Ireland
BAD	Ireland/UK	N Ireland
BAS	Ireland	N Ireland	Ulster
BOW	Ireland	N Ireland
BOX	Ireland	N Ireland	Ulster
CYC1	Ireland	N Ireland	Ulster
CYC2	UK	N Ireland
EQU	Ireland/UK
FOO	N Ireland
GAA	Ireland
LGO	Ireland/GB (&Ire)	Ireland	Ulster
LHO	Ireland/UK
MHO	Ireland/UK		Ulster
MCYC	Ireland/UK	Ireland	Ulster
RUN	Ireland/GB (&Ire)	Ireland

Football is the only sport of those included in the sample survey where top class performers from Northern Ireland can represent neither Ireland as a whole nor the UK. However, given the criteria for international selection which currently apply, a player from Northern Ireland who opts to hold an Irish passport or whose parents or grandparents were born in the twenty-six counties would be eligible to represent the Republic of Ireland.

Five sports offer individuals a choice between playing for Ireland or the UK at the highest level. In 2 sports joint sides representing the British Isles compete alongside all-Irish teams, although only on an occasional basis. The two separate cycling organisations, despite their many differences, are able to form a joint committee for the purpose of nominating competitors for the Northern Ireland team at the Commonwealth Games.

A follow-up question asked if the selection of sportsmen and women had led to any problems within the respondent sport. 6 sports reported problems in this respect. Ladies and mens hockey mentioned difficulties which had arisen from the fact that in the past individuals had been able to play for both Ireland and the UK whilst they could now only compete for one nation or the other. Mens hockey, which estimated there to be a 95% Protestant and 80% middle-class predominance within the sport, placed emphasis on a "clash of loyalties between the UK birthright and eligibility to play for Ireland’s hockey side". Football reported problems arising over the eligibility criteria mentioned above for the selection of international players. Basketball mentioned a feeling that in the past there had not been equal opportunities for players from Northern Ireland in the (Irish) national side. Angling reported the presence of a lobby within the sport for Northern Ireland to compete separately at world level. One cycling organisation cited the division of the sport into two separate bodies whilst the other considered there to have been no problems in this area.

Even allowing for the fact that the information obtained represents a more or less official viewpoint from the governing bodies of the sports concerned and may therefore be liable to underestimate such difficulties, a fair number and, perhaps more significantly, a range of problems were reported.

They can perhaps be divided between those which arise over the whole format of the international selection process - whether it should be carried out on an all-Irish, UK or Northern Irish basis; and those which develop from the mechanics of selection - concerning which players are eligible and which players are ultimately chosen. The latter set of problems may arise in any sport in any nation. However, difficulties over the bases on which the selection process rests are more specific to sport in Northern Ireland and add a particular political edge to the more typical set of problems concerning selection.

Once again, these seem to be especially pertinent in sports such as hockey and rugby union where there appears to be a lack of congruence between an all-Irish organisational base and high levels of participation from middle-class Protestants, perhaps most likely of all groups in Northern Ireland to hold and articulate British attachments.

3.2: Flags and Anthems

Sports included in the sample survey were asked to provide information on the flags and anthems used in their activity. Issues arising from their use were thought to have some influence, at least at a symbolic level, on the relationship between sport and the community in Northern Ireland.

3.2.1 - Flags

Respondents were first asked to identify the flag or flags used by their sport for the purposes of international competition. A choice was to be made from the following flags; Tricolour [Ireland]; Union Jack [UK]; Northern Ireland/Ulster flags; European Community/United Nations flags; Other flag; and no flag. A supplementary question asked for details of different occasions on which different flags were used. Table 7 shows the selections made by each sport.

Table 7

What this information appears to suggest is that a substantial degree of pragmatism is exercised by sports in the flying of flags. Examples of different flags used on different occasions across a number of sports supports such a view. In basketball, for example, the Tricolour is flown at world level and for events staged in locations such as West Belfast; the Union Jack is used for home international fixtures; and the Ulster provincial flag for commonwealth championships.

However, amongst the most popular sports in the sample flags appear to take on more meaning and it is more difficult to sustain a pragmatic approach. Given its traditions and social composition Gaelic sports can fly the Tricolour without fear of internal dissension. Football, reported to be much more evenly divided between the communities in respect of participation, flies the Union Jack and the Northern Ireland flag. These symbols have become associated almost exclusively with the Protestant community. Yet, given football’s organisational structure and the likely composition of its support base, particularly where the national team is concerned, any change in the use of flags for internationals would be most problematic. In cycling the flags flown by the alternative governing bodies do quite clearly indicate the nature of the social and political gulf between them.

3.2.2 - Anthems

Respondents were again asked to identify the anthem or anthems used in their sport for the purposes of international competition. A choice was offered from the following anthems; Soldier’s Song [Ireland]; God Save the Queen [UK]; Londonderry Air [Northern Ireland/Ulster]; Other; and no anthem. Another supplementary question was included to elicit details of the different occasions on which different anthems were used. Table 8 lists the selections made by each sport.

Table 8

As with the flags issue, sports appear, at least on the surface, to display a considerable amount of flexibility in the use of anthems. This was reflected in one of the smaller participant sports which did not use anthems at all despite competing at both Olympic and Commonwealth level, intimating that they had no need since they had never stood a "cat in hell’s chance" of winning any medals. Where anthems are required, as with boxing, competitors and administrators from Northern Ireland seem to have had little difficulty in accepting the use of both the ‘Londonderry Air’ and the ‘Soldier’s Song’ at the respective Commonwealth and Olympic levels of competition. However, this clearly does not apply in cycling where officials have to make special arrangements to come together for Commonwealth Games purposes, whilst for the Olympics and other events they stand to separate anthems, largely according to political affiliations.

Amongst the most popular participant sports, the religious homogeneity of the GAA’ s constituent base militates against any anthem other than the ‘Soldier’s Song’ ever being used. Football does, however, appear to occupy a somewhat idiosyncratic position in this respect. Whilst organised on a Northern Irish basis and played by both communities in fairly substantial numbers, the British national anthem is used for international competition.

It was certainly true in the past that ‘God Save the Queen’ was played before international matches involving all home. nations, as the official anthem of the sovereign state which they jointly comprise. More recently a degree of flexibility has been shown, particularly in Scotland’s case where the British national anthem was regularly and noisily jeered due to its perceived associations with England and its reference to crushing "rebellious Scots". As a result ‘Scotland the Brave’ has been adopted instead of or in addition to ‘God Save the Queen’ for most internationals.

In Northern Ireland’s case the issue is much more difficult to resolve since its support base is vociferously pro-unionist and despite, at the very least, ambivalent feelings towards England, regards the playing of the British anthem as a symbol of the maintenance of the union between Great Britain and Northern Ireland. In stark contrast to Scottish international matches ‘God Save the Queen’ is cheered and sung with vigour by Northern Ireland’s predominantly Protestant supporters. Discretion has been exercised over recent matches with the Republic of Ireland where the anthem of the visiting side has not been played due to the sensitivities of the occasion.

In sports associated with people from more middle-class Protestant backgrounds such as rugby and hockey this issue has also been a sensitive one due once again to the clash between British loyalties and the all-Irish structure of the games concerned. It has been resolved to some extent by playing the ‘Soldier’s Song’ at international games staged in the south and the ‘Londonderry Air’ at fixtures located within Northern Ireland. However the fact that so few matches, particularly in respect of rugby union, are held in the north has caused some dissatisfaction and added an extra edge to complaints over alleged bias against players from Northern Ireland in the international selection process. That such issues do still carry weight is reflected in the use by the IRFU of different anthems for the Irish rugby union side at the two World Cups staged to date; the ‘Londonderry Air’ for games played in New Zealand in 1987 and the ‘Soldier’s Song’ for matches, significantly based in Dublin, in 1991.

Generally the sensitivities involved in the use of flags and anthems by sports in Northern Ireland are illuminated by the complaint received from one sport involved in the sample survey that the questions asked on this subject were biased since the Tricolour and Soldier’s Song were listed first amongst the alternative selections!

3.3: Origins of Individual Sports

Sports were also asked to identify the historical roots of their particular activity. A choice was offered from the following categories; British; Irish; and World. Table 9 details the selections each sport made.

Table 9

For the most part the information obtained here bears out expectations as to the origins of the sport concerned. It is perhaps worth noting that the two cycling organisations within Northern Ireland take different views of the process by which their sport developed. Respondents from both ladies’ and men’s hockey trace the origins of their sport back to the development of hurley and therefore consider hockey’s historical roots to be based in Ireland. This appears to contradict the view of hockey as one of the sports with the strongest British associations. However, the manner in which it was introduced as an organised and codified game and the way it has developed since, particularly in so far as it is played predominantly by one community in the north suggests that the influence exerted by its ancient Irish roots has largely been lost. Overall, in respect of the sports included in the sample survey, there seems to be a fairly even division between those activities which have British origins, those rooted in Ireland and those which first developed beyond the British Isles.