ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the relevance of the concepts of colonialism and postcolonialism to Ireland using examples drawn from the world of sport. Specific attention is paid to Northern Ireland, because of its importance to nationalist and anticolonialist historiography and iconography. However, the whole of Ireland is also considered in terms of sport’s involvement in strategies of accommodation and resistance to British influence. Writing about the relevance of music to the construction and reproduction of Irish national identities, McCarthy argues that ‘in the history of any country, the transition from colonialism to independent nationhood is a traumatic one’ and there is an eagerness to establish ‘an identity that would define a national community and set it apart from other nations’. As regards the wider political context, the impact of the Donegal Celtic saga has been to underline the fact that northern nationalism, particularly in the urban context, has never coalesced around a single, pure conception of Irishness.
