Sport in Ireland plays an important role in Irish society. The many sports played and followed in Ireland include association football, Gaelic games , horse racing, show jumping, greyhound racing, basketball, fishing, handball, motor sport, boxing, tennis, hockey, golf, rowing, cricket, and rugby union.Football is the most popular team pursuit for males at 8.8% with gaelic football attracting 3.4%. Personal exercise 13.4% and running 8.9% are the most popular male activities. Team sports do not figure highly amongst females with dancing at 4.6% and yoga 2.4% are two of the highest shared activities. Of the €56 million allocated in the Irish government's Capital Sports Programme funding, €23.5 million went to the Gaelic Athletic Association, €7.25 million to soccer, €3.1 million to rugby, €2.64 million to tennis, golf €1.97 million, sailing €1.21 million, athletics just under €1 million, diving €451,000, with the remainder allocated among other sports and sporting groups.Gaelic Football in 2003 accounted for 34% of total sports attendances at events in the Republic of Ireland, followed by hurling at 23%, soccer at 16% and rugby at 8%, and Initiative's ViewerTrack study measuring 2005 sports audiences showed the sport's highest-profile match, the All-Ireland Football Final, to be the most watched event of the nation's sporting year. Football is the most played team sport in Ireland. Gaelic football, hurling, golf, aerobics, cycling, swimming and billiards/snooker are the other sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation in the Republic of Ireland.As Northern Ireland is a constitute nation of the United Kingdom it also sends a Northern Ireland Team to the Commonwealth Games. At the Olympic Games, a person from Northern Ireland can choose to represent either Ireland or Great Britain.
Continue reading...From
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.