ラグビーが統合する南北アイルランド

Given the ancient animosities, the path of unity has never been smooth. Especially challenging were the 30 years of The Troubles, the vicious sectarian conflict in the North which saw more than 3,500 people killed before the 1998 peace agreement. On the eve of the 1987 World Cup, three Northern Irish-born players were on their way to training in the south when a car next to them was blown up by the Irish Republican Army (IRA). They were not the target but injuries forced one of the players to retire.

Yet even in the darkest times old differences were somehow overlooked. At some points, the Irish team even included Protestant members of the security forces from the North, then fighting the Catholics of the IRA. "All differences were set aside when you put on that green Irish jersey for the afternoon," said former Irish Rugby captain Donal Lenihan, a Catholic from the republic, in a recent interview. Indeed, rugby came to be seen as emblematic of a spirit of co-operation. After a particularly bloody IRA bombing in 1996, the IRFU staged a "peace international" in Dublin between Ireland and a team of international stars with the proceeds going to a special North-South co-operation fund.