Three Ireland, two teams, one nation: an exploration of sport sponsorship and digital cultural nationalism

This PhD project focuses on the intersection of sport, advertising and national identity. Specifically, it examines the period in which telecommunications brand, Three, were the primary sponsors of both major international sports teams in Ireland. Through exploring sponsorship campaigns Three commissioned for the Republic of Ireland international football (soccer) team and the Ireland international rugby union team, this project will expound on both the contextually specific nuances and wider international significance of the contemporary commercial leverage of the sport-nation nexus. Thus, it incorporates a variety of perspectives on Irish cultural studies and sports studies in order to shed light on the factors which shaped the production and reception of each campaign. In addition, the cultural and commercial significance of both campaigns are placed within a wider international context with a view to illustrating the distinct potential of sport as a vehicle for commercial expressions of national identity. Perspectives on nationalism are drawn from in order to illustrate a rough spectrum of modern nationalism and identify the significant place of sport on this spectrum, and its subsequent appeal and significance for both advertisers and wider society. This is contextualised through the concept of digital cultural nationalism which is employed to illustrate the curious position of national identity with regard to public expression and commercial use in much of the contemporary western world. In addition to in-depth textual analysis of sponsorship campaign material (televised ads, supplementary videos, press releases, etc.), the data involves interviews with figures from each of the key parties involved in sport sponsorship; advertisers, sponsor officials, sport governing body officials and fans of each team. This is supplemented by analysis of social media reaction to both campaigns and audience survey data gathered after screenings of the campaigns’ main televised ads