The Olympic Games were beamed into our homes for what was a memorable fortnight and a bit – and then, as is the way of things, most of us forgot about the myriad sports that take hold of us every four years.
Of course, for the athletes whose lives can change at each Olympiad, the time in between is spent building towards the event. While the public gaze may not be as focused on them, the work is just as important.
For instance, Thursday night sees the Diamond League – the series for elite track and field meetings – pitch up in Lausanne in Switzerland.
Those who won medals in Paris will of course be keen to back up their victories while the competitors who missed out will welcome the chance to exorcise any demons.
Meanwhile, Paul O’Donovan has scarcely had time to rest following his gold medal with Fintan McCarthy before heading to Canada for the Rowing World Championships.
All going well, he will be in action in the final of the lightweight single sculls on Saturday, aiming for a seventh world title – he already has three singles and three doubles.
When success becomes so regular, it’s easy to almost become blasé about it but the level of consistent excellent required to achieve such feats is incredible.
It’s certainly not normal to have amassed such a collection of honours – O’Donovan is rightly hailed now but, such is the way of things that it’s probably only in retirement that the depth and breadth of his brilliance will be properly lauded.
Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear the comments of GAA President Jarlath Burns at the opening ceremony of the World Wallball Championships at the University of Limerick last weekend.
When success becomes so regular, it’s easy to almost become blasé about it but the level of consistent excellent required to achieve such feats is incredible
As well as noting how handball provides an example for the other associations as talks on integrating as it already caters for male and female competitions, he threw out the germ of an idea that might one day bear significant fruit.
While Gaelic games’ field sports have international elements, these are generally clubs set up and populated by ex-pats, or perhaps second-generation natives.
Handball is definitely the GAA sport with the widest global reach and Burns is hopeful that such exposure might even be increased.
The Uachtarán was recently in Paris for the Olympics, making the first tentative steps towards possibly adding sports of Irish origin.
“One of the events that I was at was skateboarding and I did watch the break dancing and I was thinking to myself, if handball cannot hold its own there…” he said.
It’s a fairly valid point and it would represent a huge leap if something like that did come to fruition. From a purely parochial point of view, it might lead to an even bigger Irish medal haul.
One issue to be dealt with is the fact that there is already a completely different Olympic sport called handball – soccer but with no kicking allowed – but nomenclature is surely a hurdle that can be overcome.
American football in Dublin
The gridiron arrives in Aviva Stadium this weekend as Georgia Tech and Florida State University clash in the College Football Classic.
The event is estimated to be worth around €180m to the Irish economy and will surely be a great spectacle but, if you don’t have tickets by this stage, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Around 27,000 supporters will be travelling from America for the game, which shows the level of engagement that college sport has there.
Beyond the actual football, there are other satellite events around the city and TG4 will provide live coverage. Should it be a success, it
would surely heighten the likelihood of an NFL game being played on these shores.
The league is keen to maximise its international dimension and, given that you have to go back to 1997 for the last time two professional teams played here – a preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears – a proper big-league game in
Ireland really is overdue.
Rover and out on televised matches
Leon Pohls and Josh Honohan of Shamrock Rovers celebrate the club's Europa League win over Celje. \ Ben McShane/Sportsfile
The statement released by Shamrock Rovers on Monday morning was not delivered in a sensationalist manner but it certainly packed a punch.
Next week and the week after, the League of Ireland champions will face Greek side PAOK in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League.
Making the group stages of that competition would be a fine achievement and, even if they were to lose, they would end up at worst in the third-tier Conference League.
However, anybody wishing to watch the games will have to do so on the LOITV streaming service.
“The club exhausted every avenue across the four rounds of European matches to deliver matches on a free-to-air national broadcaster, but to no avail,” was the main thrust of a message posted on social media, which linked to the full statement.
The last line of that included another kicker: “The club is considering if it will facilitate any future requests from the national broadcaster to show SSE Airtricity Premier Division fixtures from Tallaght Stadium in 2024.”
Last week, RTÉ showed the European Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atalanta while this week’s schedule included the Champions League qualifier between Young Boys of Switzerland and Galatasaray.
These are matches which the broadcaster is contractually obliged to show if they wish to also carry coverage of the Champions League and UEFA group the games into a package.
Perhaps the FAI might take note of such an approach when the next round of negotiations for coverage takes place, insisting that Irish clubs in Europe would receive proper exposure?
The gridiron arrives in Aviva Stadium this weekend as Georgia Tech and Florida State University clash in the College Football Classic.
The event is estimated to be worth around €180m to the Irish economy and will surely be a great spectacle but, if you don’t have tickets by this stage, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Around 27,000 supporters will be travelling from America for the game, which shows the level of engagement that college sport has there.
Beyond the actual football, there are other satellite events around the city and TG4 will provide live coverage. Should it be a success, it would surely heighten the likelihood of an NFL game being played on these shores.
The league is keen to maximise its international dimension and, given that you have to go back to 1997 for the last time two professional teams played here – a preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears – a proper big-league game in Ireland really is overdue.
The Olympic Games were beamed into our homes for what was a memorable fortnight and a bit – and then, as is the way of things, most of us forgot about the myriad sports that take hold of us every four years.
Of course, for the athletes whose lives can change at each Olympiad, the time in between is spent building towards the event. While the public gaze may not be as focused on them, the work is just as important.
For instance, Thursday night sees the Diamond League – the series for elite track and field meetings – pitch up in Lausanne in Switzerland.
Those who won medals in Paris will of course be keen to back up their victories while the competitors who missed out will welcome the chance to exorcise any demons.
Meanwhile, Paul O’Donovan has scarcely had time to rest following his gold medal with Fintan McCarthy before heading to Canada for the Rowing World Championships.
All going well, he will be in action in the final of the lightweight single sculls on Saturday, aiming for a seventh world title – he already has three singles and three doubles.
When success becomes so regular, it’s easy to almost become blasé about it but the level of consistent excellent required to achieve such feats is incredible.
It’s certainly not normal to have amassed such a collection of honours – O’Donovan is rightly hailed now but, such is the way of things that it’s probably only in retirement that the depth and breadth of his brilliance will be properly lauded.
Meanwhile, it was interesting to hear the comments of GAA President Jarlath Burns at the opening ceremony of the World Wallball Championships at the University of Limerick last weekend.
When success becomes so regular, it’s easy to almost become blasé about it but the level of consistent excellent required to achieve such feats is incredible
As well as noting how handball provides an example for the other associations as talks on integrating as it already caters for male and female competitions, he threw out the germ of an idea that might one day bear significant fruit.
While Gaelic games’ field sports have international elements, these are generally clubs set up and populated by ex-pats, or perhaps second-generation natives.
Handball is definitely the GAA sport with the widest global reach and Burns is hopeful that such exposure might even be increased.
The Uachtarán was recently in Paris for the Olympics, making the first tentative steps towards possibly adding sports of Irish origin.
“One of the events that I was at was skateboarding and I did watch the break dancing and I was thinking to myself, if handball cannot hold its own there…” he said.
It’s a fairly valid point and it would represent a huge leap if something like that did come to fruition. From a purely parochial point of view, it might lead to an even bigger Irish medal haul.
One issue to be dealt with is the fact that there is already a completely different Olympic sport called handball – soccer but with no kicking allowed – but nomenclature is surely a hurdle that can be overcome.
American football in Dublin
The gridiron arrives in Aviva Stadium this weekend as Georgia Tech and Florida State University clash in the College Football Classic.
The event is estimated to be worth around €180m to the Irish economy and will surely be a great spectacle but, if you don’t have tickets by this stage, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Around 27,000 supporters will be travelling from America for the game, which shows the level of engagement that college sport has there.
Beyond the actual football, there are other satellite events around the city and TG4 will provide live coverage. Should it be a success, it
would surely heighten the likelihood of an NFL game being played on these shores.
The league is keen to maximise its international dimension and, given that you have to go back to 1997 for the last time two professional teams played here – a preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears – a proper big-league game in
Ireland really is overdue.
Rover and out on televised matches
Leon Pohls and Josh Honohan of Shamrock Rovers celebrate the club's Europa League win over Celje. \ Ben McShane/Sportsfile
The statement released by Shamrock Rovers on Monday morning was not delivered in a sensationalist manner but it certainly packed a punch.
Next week and the week after, the League of Ireland champions will face Greek side PAOK in the play-off round of the UEFA Europa League.
Making the group stages of that competition would be a fine achievement and, even if they were to lose, they would end up at worst in the third-tier Conference League.
However, anybody wishing to watch the games will have to do so on the LOITV streaming service.
“The club exhausted every avenue across the four rounds of European matches to deliver matches on a free-to-air national broadcaster, but to no avail,” was the main thrust of a message posted on social media, which linked to the full statement.
The last line of that included another kicker: “The club is considering if it will facilitate any future requests from the national broadcaster to show SSE Airtricity Premier Division fixtures from Tallaght Stadium in 2024.”
Last week, RTÉ showed the European Super Cup between Real Madrid and Atalanta while this week’s schedule included the Champions League qualifier between Young Boys of Switzerland and Galatasaray.
These are matches which the broadcaster is contractually obliged to show if they wish to also carry coverage of the Champions League and UEFA group the games into a package.
Perhaps the FAI might take note of such an approach when the next round of negotiations for coverage takes place, insisting that Irish clubs in Europe would receive proper exposure?
The gridiron arrives in Aviva Stadium this weekend as Georgia Tech and Florida State University clash in the College Football Classic.
The event is estimated to be worth around €180m to the Irish economy and will surely be a great spectacle but, if you don’t have tickets by this stage, you’re likely to be disappointed.
Around 27,000 supporters will be travelling from America for the game, which shows the level of engagement that college sport has there.
Beyond the actual football, there are other satellite events around the city and TG4 will provide live coverage. Should it be a success, it would surely heighten the likelihood of an NFL game being played on these shores.
The league is keen to maximise its international dimension and, given that you have to go back to 1997 for the last time two professional teams played here – a preseason game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Chicago Bears – a proper big-league game in Ireland really is overdue.
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