When sport registered on the Irish psyche
DIARMAID Ferriter’s newest book is Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s.
It’s a good title for any number of reasons. There was a raw edge to the politics of the day, hardly surprising with a bloody war raging 100 miles to the north of the capital. Running in parallel with the headline events, however, was the sporting life of the nation. Ferriter’s credentials as a serious historian are not in doubt, so his evaluation of the importance of sport as a prism which filtered attitudes of the time carries plenty of weight.
