When sport registered on the Irish psyche

Diarmaid Ferriter’s new book on Ireland in the Seventies highlights the sporting influence on the nation’s culture, writes Michael Moynihan

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.