A window into how sport changed over the centuries

Growing up in Offaly in the 1970s and 1980s, the annual sports days were a huge part of every year, writes Paul Rouse.

Fri, 09 Jun, 2017 - 01:00

Paul Rouse is an historian, author, broadcaster… and former Offaly football boss. He specialises in sport and Irish culture.

Traditions can survive in the most pleasant of ways. For any child living in rural Ireland the local sports day is a tradition that is anticipated and celebrated with some relish. It is also a tradition that extends back across the centuries.

Growing up in Offaly in the 1970s and 1980s, the annual sports days were a huge part of every year. In Durrow, Co Offaly — on the road between Kilbeggan and Tullamore (not as the imposters who live in the Durrow, Co Laois that sits on what used to be the main road between Cork and Dublin) — it was a highlight in every year, a tremendous occasion. June 9 was the centre-piece of the summer.