Background
to the Research
- Within
NI, prevailing community divisions can often be reflected in the sporting
domain and it has been asserted that beyond religion, the most important
sources of community divisiveness are educational background, neighborhood
affiliation and sporting preference. Despite this little is known
about the nature of the role sport can and does play in influencing
relations between the communities. This report attempts to examine
the impact of sport on the promotion of community relations, or indeed
community separation, in NI.
Research
Approach
- A sample
survey of those involved in the management of a number of the main participant
and spectator sports. Sixteen sports were identified to provide a sample
representative of both communities, of both sexes and of both team and
individual games. A detailed questionnaire was sent to contact persons
within each sport in the spring of 1993.
- Sports
identified as suitable for case studies in respect of the practice of
community relations were also targeted. Cycling, football, hockey and
boxing were chosen to take account of variables such as social class
and gender and differences between team and individual sports. In each
case detailed information on developments within the activity was obtained
and two sports (cycling and football) were examined in-depth. Interviews
being conducted with officials, participants and/or spectators.
- Subject
areas for discussion were based around issues arising from the sample
survey but the interviews were of an open-ended nature to allow for
any further points relevant to the sport and community theme to be raised.
Main
Findings
The Demographics
of Sport in Northern Ireland
- People
who take part in organised sport appear more likely to be middle-class,
and to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the particular activity
engaged in, somewhat likely to be from a younger age-group than would
be in the case in a typical cross-section of the population.
- The position
in respect of religion is more difficult to discern. It is perhaps understandable
that sports were somewhat less forthcoming providing estimates of their
religious mix than in respect of the other socially relevant characteristics.
In particular sports which appear to have a greater number of Protestants
than Catholics taking part in their activity were reluctant to estimate
the extent to which this is the case.
- What
does emerge from the basic information provided is that Catholics
do participate substantially in organised sport in NI, but to the
extent that this is done through activities organised by the GAA,
the meaningful contact that arises between the two communities is
likely to be limited.
- Relative
to their numbers in the total population, compared with Protestants,
Catholics are over represented in sports participation in NI. However
the overwhelming majority of Catholics who are engaged in sports do
so within the exclusive embrace of the GAA. Remove the GAA from the
equation and Catholics are found to be underrepresented within the
ranks of the other sports sampled which tend to be Protestant dominated.
- For whatever
reasons few popular sports bring Catholics and Protestants together,
although cycling, boxing and football may, to some extent, be exceptions
to the rule.
The Organisational
Politics of Sport in Northern Ireland
- The
sample suggests that the diversity of sports played and watched in
NI is grounded, more or less evenly, in both Gaelic and British traditions.
In terms of organisational structures however, it seems that all sports,
including Gaelic games, have borrowed heavily from the principles
of rational recreation which drove the development of English sports
and games in the 19th Century. Nevertheless, it is clear that views
of what cultural tradition a given sport belongs to has a crucial
influence in determining who plays what in NI.
- In
terms of international and regional sporting representation, NI's
status is made complex by the fact that individual governing bodies
of sport have determined in different ways what national or sub-national
configuration their players will represent. 13 of the 15 sports which
responded to this section of the survey are organised on an all-Ireland
and 9 county Ulster basis. The most notable exception is association
football which exists independently as a 6 county NI entity following
the pattern established by the four home associations of the United
Kingdom.
- The picture
is further confused because in certain cases national and/or sub-national
representation can change according to the nature of the competition.
- In most
cases it appears that the governing bodies and the sportsmen and women
they represent take a pragmatic approach when it comes to their sport's
national and regional organisational characteristics, wishing, for the
most part, to keep political matters at arm's length. However, because
representative sports can be viewed as the symbolic property of the
communities out of which they grow it proves difficult to insulate sport
from the political currents of the wider society.
External
Political Factors and Sport in Northern Ireland
- There
was recognition that from time to time the 'troubles' have had an
effect on the province' sporting life; restricted travel within NI
for sports associated with one or other religious tradition and/or
for sports which include members of the security forces was seen to
have been a problem for several governing bodies. Likewise, several
mentioned difficulties encountered when attempting to host competitions
and tournaments demanding the presence of teams and players from outside
of NI.
- The
GAA felt that its members were singled out unfairly by the security
forces when travelling to and from Gaelic games. It was also pointed
out that their share of public funding in NI had been restricted,
particularly during the hunger strikes of the 1908's, because of a
perceived association between them and the politics of Irish nationalism.
- The
impression of victimisation given by the GAA was, to a limited extent,
shared by several other sports which felt that if they had been affected
by the political conflict at all it was as unwilling and often accidental
bystanders. There was little appreciation by the governing bodies
that sport in NI could actually contribute to political conflict.
- There
was some acknowledgment that because of an association between certain
sports and one or other cultural tradition, their recruitment was restricted.
However, this was perceived largely to be predetermined by the province's
divided education system.
- One sport,
basketball, admitted that the 'troubles' and community division combined
to have a negative impact on standards, pointing out that the apparent
abandonment of the sport by Protestant secondary schools had seriously
threatened the sport's already narrow recruitment base.
Sport
and Community Relations in Northern Ireland
- When
asked in general terms to assess how much cross-community contact was
generated by their sports, most governing bodies responded 'a great
deal'. Even those sports which had confessed earlier to have a membership
which was virtually exclusive to one or the other community claimed
at this juncture that cross-community contact was 'moderate'.
- It does
seem clear that contact between Protestant and Catholic school children
in sport is severely limited. Where teams are concerned, the vast majority
of sports consider there to be little or no cross-community contact.
In contrast, at senior level most believe a great deal of mixing between
the two communities does occur. However, in the most popular sport played
by both communities, football, there is considered to be less contact
between Protestants and Catholics at senior level than at schools or
youth level in respect of the leagues system.
- In all
respects, there is no cross-community contact reported in Gaelic sport
which seems to reinforce the suggestion that the moderate degree of
mixing that was considered to exist in general terms may be exaggerated.
Estimates from ladies' and to a lesser extent, men's hockey also tend
to be lower when addressing specifics rather than making general assessments.
- There
was very little current involvement in sport focussed Community Relations
work being done by the governing bodies and they, for the most part,
did not believe this to be of relevance to their collective remit.
- Only
association football believed that Community Relations had a role to
play in the development of their sport. The majority of the other governing
bodies however, seem to take the view that by formally including Community
Relations as an area for development within their sports they are tacitly
admitting that sectarian problems exist therein. Many of the aims, objectives
and practices of Community Relations however, are buried within the
substructure of sport.
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