On Wednesday afternoon, Community Sports Development Officers from Ulster Rugby, Ulster GAA and the IFA ran a 'Game of Three Halves' as part of Peace IV's Sport uniting Communities programme.
The event was held at Aquinas Grammar School, under the backdrop of Kingspan Stadium, the home of Ulster Rugby, with 60 participants from Aquinas Grammar School and Wellington College taking part.
The purpose of the event was to engage people from various backgrounds and offer them the opportunity to build a peaceful relationship through sport using the three main sports in Northern Ireland (GAA, Football & Rugby). The idea was to record the participants’ feelings regarding working with people from different backgrounds to their own prior to the event and then re-assess this after the event has taken place.
The day began with an Introduction from the CSDO’s (Andy Waterworth, Jennifer Boyd and Ryan McShane) outlining the details of the event and what we are trying to achieve. The participants were then surveyed using the ‘walking debate’ format.
Participants were mixed with others from various backgrounds, and in mixed groups received coaching on basic skills and games from CSDO’s in GAA, Rugby and Football skills. After a short break, the participants were mixed into teams with the idea that they would be closely working as part of a team with people from a variety of backgrounds and sporting interests. In these teams, the participants took part in full matches in GAA, Rugby & Football.
The day was completed with a final survey were participants were asked again about their thoughts on working with others from different backgrounds in order to assess if the event had a positive impact on bridging divide and uniting communities through Sport.
An important finding from the survey revealed that the percentage of participants who said they felt comfortable engaging with people from different backgrounds rose considerably from before the event (32%) to after the event (80%).
The event was held at Aquinas Grammar School, under the backdrop of Kingspan Stadium, the home of Ulster Rugby, with 60 participants from Aquinas Grammar School and Wellington College taking part.
The purpose of the event was to engage people from various backgrounds and offer them the opportunity to build a peaceful relationship through sport using the three main sports in Northern Ireland (GAA, Football & Rugby). The idea was to record the participants’ feelings regarding working with people from different backgrounds to their own prior to the event and then re-assess this after the event has taken place.
The day began with an Introduction from the CSDO’s (Andy Waterworth, Jennifer Boyd and Ryan McShane) outlining the details of the event and what we are trying to achieve. The participants were then surveyed using the ‘walking debate’ format.
Participants were mixed with others from various backgrounds, and in mixed groups received coaching on basic skills and games from CSDO’s in GAA, Rugby and Football skills. After a short break, the participants were mixed into teams with the idea that they would be closely working as part of a team with people from a variety of backgrounds and sporting interests. In these teams, the participants took part in full matches in GAA, Rugby & Football.
The day was completed with a final survey were participants were asked again about their thoughts on working with others from different backgrounds in order to assess if the event had a positive impact on bridging divide and uniting communities through Sport.
An important finding from the survey revealed that the percentage of participants who said they felt comfortable engaging with people from different backgrounds rose considerably from before the event (32%) to after the event (80%).