Candidates play delicate game mixing sport and politics

And they’re off: even the terminology has a sporting tinge to it.

The general election, formally announced yesterday, has cast a shadow over the landscape for months, with issues like the recent floods likely to be raised on many a damp doorstep. What about sport, though? Does that ever become a hot election topic, apart from the tired horse-racing clichés used to describe the proceedings? A couple of experts say no, but they add some nuance.

“Sport and politics have long mixed in Ireland and in all sorts of ways,” says Professor Gary Murphy, head of DCU’s School of Law and Government.