A note about the Irish and their sport...they absolutely love it, especially around Limerick. From my discussions with students and other people around the school it seems that Limerick is the sporting capital of Ireland.
The University's gym/pool/workout facility is by far the newest and nicest building on campus, and is home the the countries first 50 meter swimming pool. The turf field by my housing village is never empty, whether it's students practicing soccer or local helmet-clad children playing a hurling match. I even saw a soccer match between two teams of mentally challenged players, which was neat to see. Boy, girl, young, old, able or disabled, everyone seems to talk their sports seriously.
Rugby is the sport of choice around campus, with a very talented University of Limerick team, and an even more popular Munster team playing within the city walls. The pubs get packed when matches are on, and just like Sundays in America, everyone walks around with their favorite team's jersey on, and flaunting their colors. It's fun to watch and even more interesting to learn the rules of a sport that is just taking off in America. Although Penn State is home to both women and men's rugby national champions, I have yet to see a game. When I get back to the States I'm going to take by re-ignited passion for watching new sports to the Penn State rugby matches.
It probably would be interesting to compare how some of those sports are officiated in Ireland too, since local customs and possibly some different rules might change the sports a decent amount.
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