Popular Sports in UCC
UCC offers a wide range of sport from the traditional Irish sports like Gaelic Football and hurling as far as very different sports such as ultimate Frisbee and surfing. There is a club for almost any sport you can imagine.
Basketball
The basketball club is one of the most popular clubs in UCC which follows the trend that basketball is a very popular sport in Cork and across Ireland. Many local teams such as Neptune and Blue Demons provide a huge entertainment in local derby’s and have had many encounters in the big National Cup Finals which is the biggest basketball event in Ireland.
Ucc has a women’s and men’s freshers team and senior team. The freshers team consists of incoming first years which are given a chance to prove themselves for the UCC Senior teams in the future. A freshers tournament is held every year which includes teams from all over Ireland competing. In 2015 UCC girls freshers team claimed the crown and beat a Dublin team in the final (Ucc.ie, 2015).
Ultimate Frisbee
Ultimate Frisbee is an example of a very different sport that is on offer in UCC. Again there is both a boys and girls team. There is also many clubs across Ireland and you can represent Ireland in worldwide in competitions, this is all managed by the Irish Flying Disc Association, (the42.ie, 2014). It is played on a pitch which is quite big (64mx37m). There are seven players on the pitch at any one time. It is a non-contact sport therefore suitable for people who don’t like rougher games and still want to keep fit. To score a point you must catch the Frisbee in the other team’s end zone. It may also be played indoors which is more suitable to Irish weather conditions. UCC also won this year’s girl’s intervarsity’s competition against other Irish college teams, this is their third year in a row.
Surfing
The surf club in UCC is one of the most active and popular clubs also. They organise trips around Ireland to places such as Lahinch and Garretstown. For beginners they go to beaches with surf schools to help them to improve their skills while also availing of equipment. As the level of skill improves members take part in competitions and they also organise a trip abroad once a year. This year the trip is to Taghazout in Morocco which will take place in mid- January. As well as surfing they take part in on land fitness training, swimming and yoga to improve their skills. It also provides the chance to meet new people with a similar interest or maybe even try out a new sport completely.
|
|
Traditional Irish Sports
Famous Sports Stars
In Cologne
Stereotypes say, that the Germany's most popular sport id football and in Ireland it is rugby. But there are more “Faces of sport”
First of all we would like to present you the different sports of Cologne and Gummersbach on the basis of several examples. Therefore we took a look at the biggest clubs of each sport.
The first FC Köln was founded in 1948 by combining two local clubs of Cologne. It was one of the original members of the German “Bundesliga” and also the first winner of it. Currently it is a member of the German “Bundesliga”, but due to several circumstances in the last 20 years, the traditional club became just an average club. There are some famous players like Wolfgang Overath, Toni Schumacher and Lukas Podolski who played for 1.FC Köln and characterized several generations. For this reason many children get the dream of becoming a professional football player and start playing football for small clubs around Cologne. Especially for migrants it is a good solution to integrate themselves into the society. Through the fact of being a part of a big amount of children from several countries, they have the possibility to get in contact with other children.
The VfL Gummersbach, which was founded in 1861, is one of the most successful team handball clubs ever and currently part of the German “First League of Handball”. Handball is one the most famous sports in Gummersbach, which refers to the fact that the VfL has been very successful in national and international competitions. In the 1970’s Heiner Brand became one of the most successful handball players in the world when he played for the VfL. During this time, he won several titles in the league as well as in the national and international cups. Later he could share his knowledge with the national team of Germany, which led them to win the World Cup in 2007 in Germany. As you will see later in our study, handball is in Cologne not as popular as in Gummersbach.
The Kölner Haie is one of the most famous ice hockey clubs in Germany and was founded in 1972. It belongs to the younger sport clubs around Cologne. The Kölner Haie have won eight titles in the national league, so they belong to the most successful clubs in Germany. Due to the fact, that ice hockey became one of the most famous sports in America, the Germans also started to found ice hockey clubs on their own. That’s why the Kölner Haie and other members of the “German Ice Hockey League” were founded not a long time ago and till today it needs still a few American ice hockey players to fill up the squads of the teams. According to that, there can emerge some “clash of cultures” between the American and German players. In return to that, there are also German players who switch to the NHL in America to become a professional ice hockey player among the greatest in the world. One of them is Uwe Krupp who played for the Kölner Haie in Germany, but also became the first German ever, winning the Stanley Cup.
Of Course there are some people, who are not doing one of these sports. In fact of this, we listed some other sports which are in Cologne. Examples for other sports are:
It is common to start surveys to get more information about the requirements of inhabitants. This could be necessary if a new stadium is going to be built or a sports club must be founded. We had the idea, to conduct a survey for a representative opinion of the people in Cologne and Gummersbach about the most famous and popular sports. Therefore our partners asked 326 people on the Hohe-Straße/Schildergasse in Cologne. To get more impressions of the preferences of inhabitants in different cities, they also asked 140 people at the new built shopping mall in Gummersbach.
The choices of the survey were:
To take a look at the evaluation according to the prior study, we will firstly analyse the stereotype of football. This portrays, that the Germans are mostly playing and watching football than doing or watching other sports. This stereotype is affirmed by the fact of nearly given half of all casted votes with 48% in the city of Cologne. Comparing to that, 41% of all given votes were “football” in Gummersbach. This could be based on the actuality, that the German “Bundesliga” is the most visited sport league after the NFL, according to the spectators in the stadiums. Contrary to expectations, handball is really popular. To take a look at the regions, you can see, that handball is more popular in Gummersbach than in Cologne, because of the VfL Gummersbach. In Contrast to that, ice hockey is more popular in Cologne than in Gummersbach, because of the Kölner Haie. The level of popularity depends on the city you live in and what kind of famous clubs do exist there. On the basis of this awareness, it is possible to transmit it to other countries and sports, but it also depends on the cultural differences in each country.
To get a deeper look at the cultural differences, it is necessary to take a view at the iceberg metaphor of culture. Different stereotypes of a culture like the one we named before, Germans are mostly playing and watching football. To get to know the hidden culture, you have to take a look beneath the surface.. As we already mentioned, the reality shows that handball is more common than expected. Against all expectations a lot of women play football as well, even if this sport is known for men.
Conclusion
In conclusion we can say, that it was very interesting to work with the different cultures and sports between Cork/Ireland and Cologne/Gummersbach. We also noticed, our study mostly confirmed with our expectations. But when we took a deeper look at the cultural differences, for example at the iceberg metaphor of culture, the results were surprising in parts. As noted by our German partners, in Germany football is commonly known as a men's sport and this also highlights the similarity to controversy of sex in Gaelic football here in Ireland. We found this very interesting as it portrayed to us that this inequality is present in many different sports across a variety of countries and not just in the Irish traditional sports. Handball proved to be a very popular sport in Cologne which is in contrast to Ireland where there is a very low number of citizens are involved in the sport.
Stereotypes say, that the Germany's most popular sport id football and in Ireland it is rugby. But there are more “Faces of sport”
First of all we would like to present you the different sports of Cologne and Gummersbach on the basis of several examples. Therefore we took a look at the biggest clubs of each sport.
The first FC Köln was founded in 1948 by combining two local clubs of Cologne. It was one of the original members of the German “Bundesliga” and also the first winner of it. Currently it is a member of the German “Bundesliga”, but due to several circumstances in the last 20 years, the traditional club became just an average club. There are some famous players like Wolfgang Overath, Toni Schumacher and Lukas Podolski who played for 1.FC Köln and characterized several generations. For this reason many children get the dream of becoming a professional football player and start playing football for small clubs around Cologne. Especially for migrants it is a good solution to integrate themselves into the society. Through the fact of being a part of a big amount of children from several countries, they have the possibility to get in contact with other children.
The VfL Gummersbach, which was founded in 1861, is one of the most successful team handball clubs ever and currently part of the German “First League of Handball”. Handball is one the most famous sports in Gummersbach, which refers to the fact that the VfL has been very successful in national and international competitions. In the 1970’s Heiner Brand became one of the most successful handball players in the world when he played for the VfL. During this time, he won several titles in the league as well as in the national and international cups. Later he could share his knowledge with the national team of Germany, which led them to win the World Cup in 2007 in Germany. As you will see later in our study, handball is in Cologne not as popular as in Gummersbach.
The Kölner Haie is one of the most famous ice hockey clubs in Germany and was founded in 1972. It belongs to the younger sport clubs around Cologne. The Kölner Haie have won eight titles in the national league, so they belong to the most successful clubs in Germany. Due to the fact, that ice hockey became one of the most famous sports in America, the Germans also started to found ice hockey clubs on their own. That’s why the Kölner Haie and other members of the “German Ice Hockey League” were founded not a long time ago and till today it needs still a few American ice hockey players to fill up the squads of the teams. According to that, there can emerge some “clash of cultures” between the American and German players. In return to that, there are also German players who switch to the NHL in America to become a professional ice hockey player among the greatest in the world. One of them is Uwe Krupp who played for the Kölner Haie in Germany, but also became the first German ever, winning the Stanley Cup.
Of Course there are some people, who are not doing one of these sports. In fact of this, we listed some other sports which are in Cologne. Examples for other sports are:
- American Football
- Tennis
- Gold
- Swimming
- Boxing
- Gym
It is common to start surveys to get more information about the requirements of inhabitants. This could be necessary if a new stadium is going to be built or a sports club must be founded. We had the idea, to conduct a survey for a representative opinion of the people in Cologne and Gummersbach about the most famous and popular sports. Therefore our partners asked 326 people on the Hohe-Straße/Schildergasse in Cologne. To get more impressions of the preferences of inhabitants in different cities, they also asked 140 people at the new built shopping mall in Gummersbach.
The choices of the survey were:
- Football
- Handball
- Ice hockey
- Others
To take a look at the evaluation according to the prior study, we will firstly analyse the stereotype of football. This portrays, that the Germans are mostly playing and watching football than doing or watching other sports. This stereotype is affirmed by the fact of nearly given half of all casted votes with 48% in the city of Cologne. Comparing to that, 41% of all given votes were “football” in Gummersbach. This could be based on the actuality, that the German “Bundesliga” is the most visited sport league after the NFL, according to the spectators in the stadiums. Contrary to expectations, handball is really popular. To take a look at the regions, you can see, that handball is more popular in Gummersbach than in Cologne, because of the VfL Gummersbach. In Contrast to that, ice hockey is more popular in Cologne than in Gummersbach, because of the Kölner Haie. The level of popularity depends on the city you live in and what kind of famous clubs do exist there. On the basis of this awareness, it is possible to transmit it to other countries and sports, but it also depends on the cultural differences in each country.
To get a deeper look at the cultural differences, it is necessary to take a view at the iceberg metaphor of culture. Different stereotypes of a culture like the one we named before, Germans are mostly playing and watching football. To get to know the hidden culture, you have to take a look beneath the surface.. As we already mentioned, the reality shows that handball is more common than expected. Against all expectations a lot of women play football as well, even if this sport is known for men.
Conclusion
In conclusion we can say, that it was very interesting to work with the different cultures and sports between Cork/Ireland and Cologne/Gummersbach. We also noticed, our study mostly confirmed with our expectations. But when we took a deeper look at the cultural differences, for example at the iceberg metaphor of culture, the results were surprising in parts. As noted by our German partners, in Germany football is commonly known as a men's sport and this also highlights the similarity to controversy of sex in Gaelic football here in Ireland. We found this very interesting as it portrayed to us that this inequality is present in many different sports across a variety of countries and not just in the Irish traditional sports. Handball proved to be a very popular sport in Cologne which is in contrast to Ireland where there is a very low number of citizens are involved in the sport.