ラグビーが統合する南北アイルランド

And to the confusion of fans worldwide, for Rugby players there continues to be just one Ireland. When a bitter civil war ended in 1921 with the island's partition, the IRFU opted to overlook the new frontier. For an explanation, try class. Rugby was - and largely remains - a game played at private fee-paying schools whether in the North or South. And for much of the bourgeoisie the old ties of education were more important than any new line on the map. "All-island governance was maintained owing in part to the social class and political composition of (the IRFU's) members," says Katie Liston, of the School of Sport at the University of Ulster in Belfast.

There were good pragmatic reasons, too, for staying together. Creating two new nations meant sharing an already small Irish talent pool. "Keeping a single team required a lot of people to swallow hard but they had to do it to make sure that the North could still field a competitive side," says Paul Rouse who has written a history of Irish sport.