Sports

  • Vere Thomas St. Leger Goold was born in 1853 in Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland, into an aristocratic family with a strong military background. The Goolds were part of the Anglo-Irish upper class, and young Vere was afforded all the advantages of a privileged upbringing: access to elite education, exposure to genteel society, and the leisure…

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  • We all know how Hitler used the 1936 Summer Olympics as a massive propaganda tool, and even in 2026 the second-largest sporting event in the world, the FIFA World Cup, remains deeply politicised. But this is nothing new. So, with the World Cup just a week away, let’s take a look back at the 1934…

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  • Battle of Santiago

    No this is not a piece on World War 2 or any other war for that matter,although it is often said that football is war. The Battle of Santiago  is the name given to a particularly infamous football match during the 1962 FIFA World Cup. It was a game played between host Chile and Italy…

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  • f you have ever stood on the terraces of Croke Park on a blistering August afternoon, you know that hurling is not just a sport; it is an opera of speed, leather, and ash. Dubbed the fastest field sport on earth, its ancient origins stretch back three millennia, woven tightly into the fabric of Irish…

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  • The History of Football

    Now that the preparations for the FIFA 2026 World cup are well on their way, it might be a good time to have a look at the history of Football. I will be referring to the sport as Football (and not soccer), because the name is Associated Football. It is one of the most if…

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  • Fortuna ’54, founded in 1954 in the city of Geleen, played a pioneering role in the history of Dutch football. The club, formed during a time when professionalism in Dutch football was still controversial, became one of the country’s first professional teams. Fortuna ’54 not only helped lay the groundwork for the development of professional…

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  • The Calcutta Cup

    Now that we are in the closing stages of the Six Nations Rugby Championship, it is a good time to turn our attention to one of the tournament’s often overlooked trophies: the Calcutta Cup. The Calcutta Cup is awarded to the winner of the rugby union match between England and Scotland, contested during the annual…

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  • Dutch football manager Rinus Michels once said, “Football is war.” The Estadio Nacional disaster was a tragic event that took place on May 24, 1964, at the Estadio Nacional in Lima, Peru. It is still the deadliest football disaster in history. Here are the key details of the disaster: On 24 May 1964, Peru hosted…

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  • Wimbledon 1877

    When you think of Tennis, you can’t but be thinking of Wimbledon too. Although there are many tournaments throughout the year , Wimbledon is the one tournament that every Tennis player aspires to win. But when did it all start? On July 9, 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club begins its first…

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  • In January 1942, Kenesaw Mountain Landis (1866-1944), the national commissioner of baseball, wrote a letter to President Roosevelt in which he asked if professional baseball should shut down for the duration of the war. In what came to be known as the “green light” letter, Roosevelt responded that professional baseball should continue operations, as it…

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