On the surface, you may not think the priests behind a covert Catholic Church plot, a superfan with a gun, and a tennis US Open finalist have much in common.
But they're just some of the colourful characters that have shaped the history of soccer in Dublin, and made the game what we know it to be today. Soccer and Society in Dublin: A History of Association Football in Ireland’s Capital is a new book by Trinity College lecturer and sports historian Conor Curran, which explores the the long and winding road - and all the little side streets - that "the English game" has gone down in the capital since the late 1800s.
The project began in 2019, and was meant to coincide with Ireland's scheduled Euro 2020 games in Dublin - but Covid-19, obviously, put paid to those plans. So Conor decided to spin his research into a book.
