Exactly 100 years ago on this day, the Tailteann Games saw more than 5,000 competitors compete in a remarkable range of sporting events. It was the biggest sporting event organised across the world in that year – bigger even than that year’s Paris Olympic Games.
Against the backdrop of a War of Independence, partition and a nasty civil war – and indeed partly because the legitimacy of the new state was so contested – the Games were a triumph for the government of the new Irish Free State.
This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in
