Sport

Like most cities in Ireland, Limerick city has a range of sports facilities. For example, Páirc na nGael is home to the county's hurlers and gaelic footballers, with a capacity of 50,000. Soccer is also catered for at Jackman Park, where Limerick 37 play in the first division of the Eircom League.

While these traditional sports are still popular, there are new sporting activities that have captured the imagination of the Limerick people. Let's look at a couple of these now.

Spikeball is a game played by two teams of six players, four on the court and two substitutes. The game uses a volleyball, a net and a smallish court.

Spikeball is different to volleyball because the team has to rotate after three successful serves; the team must have three touches and each time a team rotates, there has to be a substitution.

St. Michaels NS (girls), Cloverfield NS (mixed) and Courtenay NS (boys) recently won the Limerick County Finals at The Villiers School.

Futsal is the name given to an indoor version of football (soccer). There are 5 players on a futsal team, including a goalkeeper. It is usually played on a hockey-sized pitch, using a smaller ball than normal with reduced bounce.

Games of futsal are 40 minutes long but as the whistle stops every time a foul is committed, it can sometimes go on for 90 minutes.

Futsal is very popular in South America, especially Brazil. Famous football players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Robinho and Rivaldo all started off playing futsal.