The Irish love of sports - Reaching for the stars was never easy

IF the communist economist Karl Marx was to frame his famous and oft-hijacked phrase — “religion is the opium of the people” — today he’d probably swap the word religion for sport. Sport is a modern religion venerated through the high altar in the corner of our living room or, occasionally, a sideline or a terrace.

The Irish are as enthusiastic in our adoration as any nation. Clonmel in February, Cheltenham in March, Croke Park on a September Sunday, and Thomond Park on a spring afternoon when one of the giants of European rugby comes to visit.

Those are the top-of-the-tree events but anyone who has seen a Junior B football match between neighbouring parishes or one of soccer’s local derbies will know that the size of the stage has little or no influence over the emotion invested in the competition. Irish sports fans are equal opportunity supporters — it’s the integrity of the cause that matters, not its setting or grandeur.