Football in inter-war Northern Ireland: Ballymena Football and Athletic Club Limited - religious and political exclusivity or civic inclusivity?

Historians have almost universally seen association football in the north of Ireland as a divisive influence. The impacts of sectarian and political tensions on the game have been stressed, alongside the extent to which this sport supposedly feeds into existing divisions. Much of the work carried out has concentrated on the last four decades, though even studies outside this period of widespread civil disorder have highlighted these problems. This paper uses the surviving records of the Ballymena Football and Athletic Club, the local press, census returns and other records to consider aspects of one particular Northern Irish club in the 1920s and 1930s. This short consideration of the players, supporters and shareholders suggests that at least in this case football was successful in bringing together and developing cooperation between men of widely differing political and religious views. While the club was a not a financial success, it was a social and sporting one. The evidence available suggests there was little exhibition of sectarian tension at any level.

Area factors and suicide: 5-year follow-up of the Northern Ireland population.

BACKGROUND: Suicide rates vary markedly between areas but it is unclear whether this is due to differences in population composition or to contextual factors operating at an area level. AIMS: To determine if area factors are independently related to suicide risk after adjustment for individual and family characteristics. METHOD: A 5-year record linkage study was conducted of 1,116,748 non-institutionalised individuals aged 16-74 years, enumerated at the 2001 Northern Ireland census. RESULTS: The cohort experienced 566 suicides during follow-up. Suicide risks were lowest for women and for those who were married or cohabiting. Indicators of individual and household disadvantage and economic and health status at the time of the census were also strongly related to risk of suicide. The higher rates of suicide in the more deprived and socially fragmented areas disappeared after adjustment for individual and household factors. There was no significant relationship between population density and risk of suicide. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in rates of suicide between areas are predominantly due to population characteristics rather than to area-level factors, which suggests that policies targeted at area-level factors are unlikely to significantly influence suicides rates.

The contribution of migration to changes in the distribution of health over time: five-year follow-up study in Northern Ireland.

A number of recent studies have highlighted the potential contribution of migration to increasing inequalities in health between areas with different levels of deprivation. Some of these studies have reported that increasing inequalities between areas can, at least partly, be explained by selective migration. Both mortality and morbidity have been used as indicators of health status, but many of the studies focusing on morbidity have suffered from specific methodological problems, including the use of self-reported health measured after migration had occurred, thereby ignoring the possible effect that migration itself may have on health and the reporting of health. This study used general practice records assessed prior to movement, an arguably more objective measure of health status, from 40 general practices, to determine whether selective migration influenced the distribution of health in Northern Ireland between the years 2000 and 2005. Evidence of selective migration was found in the study, with migrants often having significantly different levels of health to non-migrants. However, overall migration within this cohort did not substantially alter the distribution of health through time, partly because the migrants out of the deprived and affluent areas were replaced by in-migrants with similar levels of health. The absence of an effect of migration in this instance should not be used, however, to conclude that migration effects are unimportant in assessing changes in inequalities through time. Rather, migration should be viewed in the context of the underlying population dynamics, which at the time of this study were characterised by a process of urban regeneration. Varying population movements, operating at different times and locations, require that the effects of migration be considered in all studies which examine changes in the spatial distribution of health.

Investigating variations in infant mortality in England and Wales by mother's country of birth, 1983-2001.

The aim of this study was to investigate variations in infant mortality from 1983 to 2001 by birthweight, registration status, father's social class, age of mother at birth and cause of death, among babies of mothers born in countries that represent the largest ethnic minority groups in England and Wales. A total of 70,208 infant death registration records linked to their corresponding birth registration records were used. The study focused on infant deaths of babies of mothers born in the UK, Republic of Ireland, Caribbean, West Africa, East Africa, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. From 1983 to 2001 infant mortality rates decreased overall, and this was also apparent in the rates by mother's country of birth. Overall, babies of mothers born in Pakistan consistently had the highest infant mortality rates. Low-birthweight babies of mothers born in West Africa had the highest infant, neonatal and postneonatal death rates. Differences were also seen by registration status, mother's age and between manual and non-manual occupations for all countries from 1983 to 2001. For babies of mothers born in the UK, Caribbean and West Africa, immaturity-related conditions were the most common cause of infant deaths. The leading cause of infant death among babies of mothers born in Pakistan and Bangladesh was congenital anomalies.

Patterns of mortality in second generation Irish living in England and Wales: longitudinal study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mortality of second generation Irish living in England and Wales. DESIGN: Longitudinal study of 1% of the population of England and Wales (longitudinal study by the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys (now the Office for National Statistics)) followed up from 1971 to 1989. SUBJECTS: 3075 men and 3233 women aged 15 and over in 1971. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Age and sex specific standardised mortality ratios for all causes, cancers, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, and injuries and poisonings. Deaths were also analysed by socioeconomic indicators. RESULTS: 786 deaths were traced to men and 762 to women. At working ages (men, aged 15-64; women, 15-59) the mortality of men (standardised mortality ratio 126) and women (129) was significantly higher than that of all men and all women. At ages 15-44, relative disadvantages were even greater both for men (145) and for women (164). Mortality was raised for most major causes of death. Significant excess mortality from cancers was seen for men of working age (132) and for women aged 60 and over (122). At working ages mortality of the second generation Irish in every social class and in the categories of car access and housing tenure was higher than that of all men and all women in the corresponding categories. Adjusting for these socioeconomic indicators did not explain the excess mortality. CONCLUSION: Mortality of second generation Irish men and women was higher than that of all men and all women and for most major causes of death. While socioeconomic factors remain important, cultural and lifestyle factors are likely to contribute to this adverse mortality.

The mortality of first and second generation Irish immigrants in the U.K.

The Irish have generally been ignored in studies of the health needs of ethnic groups in the U.K. despite being the largest immigrant group and having the highest Standardised Mortality Ratio of all first generation immigrants. Using the OPCS Longitudinal Study, the present paper shows that this excess mortality persists into the second generation Irish in the U.K., regardless of the part of Ireland from which their parents originated or whether one or both parents were Irish. The effects of social class, age, sex, year of entry to the U.K. and period of death are explored, and variations with these factors are found to be complex.