Sport culture and home rule

• • Cultural nationalism focuses on promoting a national identity shaped by shared cultural traditions and language.
  • Many Irish nationalists felt that Ireland was becoming too anglicised, with English culture spreading and influencing Irish life.
• The Gaelic League

  • Founded in 1893 by Eoin MacNeill and Douglas Hyde, the Gaelic League aimed to promote the Irish language.
  • The League published the newspaper An Claidheamh Soluis (The Sword of Light) with poems and stories in Irish.
• The Irish Literary Revival

  • A movement to promote Irish literature, led by William Butler Yeats.
  • The Irish Literary Society was founded in 1892, and the Irish Literary Theatre opened in 1899, followed by The Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1904,
• The GAA and Its Role in Irish Life

  • English sports like tennis, cricket, soccer, and rugby were popular in Ireland, while Irish sports were declining.
  • On November 1, 1884, a meeting in Thurles, Tipperary was held, leading to the foundation of the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) for sports like hurling, Gaelic football, handball, athletics, and weightlifting.
  • The GAA banned people from Gaelic sports if they also played or attended "foreign sports" and promoted the Irish language, linking sport and nationalism.
• • First Home Rule Bill (1886): was defeated.
  • Second Home Rule Bill (1893): Passed in the House of Commons but blocked by the House of Lords.
  • Third Home Rule Bill (1912): Introduced by Herbert Asquith, it passed due to the Parliament Act (1911) but was delayed by WWI.