Paul Rouse: Why did Irish rugby stop for a Royal funeral?

The death of King George led to the cancellation of rugby matches in Cork and Limerick in independent Ireland in 1936.

Way back then: Members of the Irish rugby team practising a scrum-down at the H.A.C. ground in Finsbury, London, before a match against England. 12th February 1937. (Photo by E. Dean/Topical Press Agency/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

There were two small match reports in the sports pages of The Cork Examiner on the day before the funeral of King George V which caused a fair bit of trouble.

The paper came out on Monday, 27 January 1936 and the funeral took place in London on the following day.