Sport in Ireland Football in 2003 accounted for 34% of total sports attendances at events in the Republic of Ireland, followed by hurling at 23%, association football (soccer) at 16% and rugby at 8%, and Initiative's ViewerTrack study measuring 2005 sports audiences showed the sport's highest-profile match, the All-Ireland Football Final, to be the most watched event of the nation's sporting year. Football is the most played team sport in Ireland. Gaelic football, hurling, golf, aerobics, cycling, swimming and billiards/snooker are the other sporting activities with the highest levels of playing participation in the Republic of Ireland. As Northern Ireland is a constitute
Sport in Ireland the finals at the World Orienteering Championships. The sport of pitch and putt originated in Cork in the 1930s, and was developed throughout Ireland during the 1940s. Since 1960 it has been overseen by the Pitch and Putt Union of Ireland, in turn a member of the European Pitch and Putt Association and Federation of International Pitch and Putt Associations. The Ireland men's national pitch and putt team won the 2008 Pitch and Putt World Cup. Tennis, badminton, racquetball and squash are common in Ireland. In Tennis, Tennis Ireland is the governing body and runs several competitions between the approximately