Today sees the start of the third annual conference of Sports History Ireland (SHI), held in connection with the Centre for Irish Studies, NUI Galway. It will conclude tomorrow and its range of international speakers represents the strides made by SHI in its inaugural few years.
Dr Paul Rouse of UCD is one of the founders of the body, dedicated to the development of the study of the history of sport among amateur and professional historians. He will be delivering a paper on GAA founder Michael Cusack, the centenary of whose death occurred last November.
Rouse believes the whole area of sports history is developing within Ireland.
"It hasn't always had the sort of presence it deserves but things are improving. We are seeing studies like an upcoming survey by Tom Hunt of sport in Westmeath and the changes that happened in the Victorian era, looking at class differences and who was playing Gaelic games when they started."
He believes the perspectives on sports history have neglected the real importance of the subject. "Most study has looked at sport through the prism of politics, such as the impact of the GAA on the Rising and vice versa instead of the GAA as the greatest social movement of our times and how it continues to strengthen having grown out of a very English sporting environment."
One of the most significant developments is the addition of sports history to the Leaving Certificate curriculum as an option. This has led to considerable interest from secondary students in the innovative lecture series organised by the GAA Museum.
Although the weekend's programme of lectures and discussion is wide ranging there are a number of Gaelic games items. Aside from Rouse's paper on Cusack, originally written for the GAA Museum's symposium on the association's founder, there will be talks by Donal McAnallen and Seán Crosson.
McAnallen's subject is the early GAA in the city of Derry, titled - "Gaelic games versus "Cromwell's game: the GAA and association football in Derry City, 1884-1934" whereas Crosson looks at cinematic representations of Gaelic games.
A special feature of this presentation will be the screening of the Oscar-nominated Paramount Pictures short on hurling, Three Kisses (Justin Herman, 1955), reshown more recently on RTÉ's GAA chat show Park Live.
