How Irish rugby has been shaped by politics, culture and class

Liam O'Callaghan has penned a fascinating new book which examines how Irish rugby has been shaped by politics, culture and social class.

Blood & Thunder, Rugby and Irish Life: A History shows that the rise of Irish rugby is inextricable from the tensions, debates and divisions of politics, religion and class that have defined modern Irish history.

Liam O'Callaghan is orginally a native of Limerick and is a son of a well-known journalist Matt O'Callaghan. Liam O' Callaghan is a social historian at Liverpool Hope University, specialising in the social history of modern Ireland, with a focus on sport. He is also the author of Rugby in Munster.

The latest book Blood & Thunder is more than just a book on Irish rugby.

“It's not like your normal sports history book. It's not really concerned with the great players, great victories and great teams,” Liam O'Callaghan explained.

“It's more concerned with the role of rugby in Irish society and the political and cultural aspects of it and controversies it had to overcome throughout it's history.

“It's really concerned with how sport coped with war, revolution, the troubles and how rugby is dealing with a head injury crisis.”

O'Callaghan also looks at how the working class supported rugby in Limerick.

“There is this perception that rugby is an elitist game which is a fairly fair perception, but there's exceptions as well. In the 1880's in Limerick, rugby had a working class following which was completely at odds with the sort of elitist Anglo-Irish profile of the game elsewhere.”

The book goes onto to deal with rugby's relationship with Gaelic Games and the idea that rugby was a ‘foreign sport’.

“A lot of the people who played rugby back then would have been Unionists and a lot of Nationalists would have played rugby and eventually Republicans began to play rugby. It looks at all those complexities and controversies.”

Limerick's Garryowen Rugby Club was well supported in the 1880's. Rugby in Limerick was different at the time to rugby in other counties.

“From the late 1880's the game had two powerhouses which included Dublin and Belfast. Right from start, Limerick takes this wildly divergent path.

“That was mainly down to the fact that Nationalists and Catholics played rugby from the start in Limerick.

“ Limerick's great club for a lot of it's history was Garryowen. They were founded in 1884. They basically became a governing body for rugby in Limerick. They organised the junior game which was adult level below senior. Junior rugby around Limerick was organised around streets and laneways.”

Thousands of people used to show up to these rugby matches in Limerick.

“It was quite unique to have a vibrant rugby culture in an area of that size. Young Munster and Shannon started off as junior clubs that played on a Sunday.

“It wasn't until 1920's that Young Munster became a senior club and it wasn't until 1950's that Shannon became a senior club.”
O'Callagahan believes Munster rugby really began to take when off when the likes of Mick Galwey, Alan Quinlan and John Hayes all lined out in the All-Ireland League.

“Limerick clubs dominated the All-Ireland League in it's first 10 or 12 season.

“You had a great Shannon team that won four in-a-row in the AIL , Garryowen won it a couple of time and Young Munster won it.”

Blood & Thunder, Rugby and Irish Life: A History by Liam O’Callaghan is published by Sandycove and is on sale now in Hardback and e-book. 

Liam O'Callaghan is a social historian at Liverpool Hope University, specializing in the social history of modern Ireland, with a focus on sport.