Irish Examiner view: We are all the winners when everyone can access sport

The International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament was a roaring success for the participants — but also for society at large

Ballincollig Trailblazers competing with Rugby El Salvador from Spain during the International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament at Musgrave Park, Cork. Picture: Tom Maher/Inpho 

This week’s International Mixed Ability Rugby Tournament in Cork is one of those rare opportunities to celebrate the breaking down of barriers surrounding social inclusion and the participation of people of all abilities in sport — and not just rugby.

The widely anticipated event, the opening of which over the weekend at Musgrave Park was attended by around 4,000 people, has brought together a band of brothers and sisters who might otherwise have been excluded from an international sporting occasion.