This book assesses association football's history and development in Ireland from the late 1870s until the early twenty-first century. The chapters were originally published in a special issue of Soccer & Society.

1. Introduction to 'going beyond the ''garrison game'': new perspectives on association football in Irish history' Conor Curran and David Toms 2. Association Football in the Shamrock Shire's Hy Brasil: The 'Socker' Code in Connacht, 1879-1906 Paul I. Gunning 3. 'Who were the Shoneens?': Irish militant nationalists and association football, 1913-1923 Aaron O¿ Maonaigh 4. ''Inciting the roughs of the crowd': soccer hooliganism in the south of Ireland during the inter-war period, 1919-1939' Mark Tynan 5. Football unity during the Northern Ireland Troubles? Cormac Moore 6. Linfield's 'Hawk of Peace': pre-Ceasefires reconciliation in Irish League football Daniel Brown 7. Harry Cannon: a unique Irish sportsman and administrator Tom Hunt 8. How it all began: the story of women's soccer in sixties Drogheda Helena Byrne 9. The development of schoolboy coaching structures for association football in Ireland, 1945-1995 Conor Curran 10. Pedagogy, game intelligence & critical thinking: the future of Irish soccer? Seamus Kelly 11. Supporter ownership as a method of football governance: the concept of a Supporters' Trust and its operation within England and the Republic of Ireland Shane Tobin 12. Rule changes and incentives in the League of Ireland from 1970 to 2014 David Butler and Robbie Butler