Founded 1973 · Affiliated to AIPS

Telling the story of Irish sport since 1973.

The Association of Sports Journalists in Ireland honours the legends of Irish sport, champions the craft of sports journalism and represents our members at home and around the world.

50+years in existence
23Legends Lunches since 2005
40+legends and teams honoured
AIPSinternational affiliation
News & Updates

The latest from the association

18 June 2024 · Royal Irish Yacht Club

Olympic silver medalists honoured in Dun Laoghaire

ASJI celebrated Ireland's Olympic sailing silver medalists: David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson (Moscow 1980) and Annalise Murphy (Rio 2016), whose success inspired a generation of young Irish sailors.

2024 · Paris

AIPS marks its centenary at the Paris Olympics

Our international body, the International Sports Press Association, celebrated 100 years at the Paris Games. ASJI has been affiliated to AIPS since the early 1970s and hosted its 39th Congress in Dublin in 1975.

Our Flagship Occasion

The Irish Sporting Legends' Lunch

Since 2005 the association has staged 23 Irish Sporting Legends' Lunches, gathering the sporting, media and business worlds to honour the men, women, teams and horses who have written Irish sport's greatest chapters.

From the 1948 Grand Slam winners to Annalise Murphy, from Mick O'Connell to Istabraq, each lunch places a legend's achievement on the permanent record, told by the journalists who witnessed it.

Earlier gatherings welcomed guests of the calibre of Matt Busby, Stanley Matthews and Jock Stein, while receptions for visiting media before internationals at Lansdowne Road famously lasted long into the small hours.

See Everyone We've Honoured
A ballroom set for the Irish Sporting Legends' Lunch
23 lunches since 2005, from the Burlington to the Cashel Palace
Roll of Honour

Sporting legends honoured by ASJI

Every legend, team and pioneer feted by the association since 1973.

1973

Cpt Spencer Freeman, executive director of Irish Hospitals' Sweepstake and racehorse breeder, on his 80th birthday

1974

The Ireland football team that defeated England 2-0 at Goodison Park in 1949, the first side from outside the UK to beat England on home soil

1974

Pioneering journalists Mitchel Cogley and Paul McWeeney and iconic broadcaster Micheal O'Hehir

1976

Long-serving Shamrock Rovers physio Billy Lord

1979

GAA President Con Murphy and GAA director general Seán Ó Síocháin

1980

Ireland and Lions rugby stars Tony O'Reilly and James 'Jammie' Clinch

1980

International Olympic Committee President Lord Killanin

1982

Olympic gold medalists Pat O'Callaghan (hammer, 1928 and 1932) and Bob Tisdall (400m hurdles, 1932)

2005

The Cavan and Kerry teams from the 1947 All-Ireland SFC final at New York's Polo Grounds

2005

Ireland's Grand Slam winning rugby side of 1948, the first in the country's history

2006

Ireland's 1956 Melbourne Olympic team, whose five medals stood as a record until London 2012

2007

Shamrock Rovers' record six in a row FAI Cup winning side (1964-1969)

2008

The All-Ireland XI that played Brazil at Lansdowne Road in 1973

2009

Ireland's 1979 World Cross Country Championship teams, including men's senior champion John Treacy

2009

Cork's three in a row All-Ireland SHC winners (1976-1978)

2010

Golden anniversary of Down's breakthrough All-Ireland SFC winning team of 1960

2010

RTE football commentator Philip Greene on his 90th birthday

2011

Centenary of the Irish Amateur Boxing Association, with its most successful champions in attendance

2012

Dublin's 1953 National Football League winning side, featuring 14 St Vincent's players

2013

The League of Ireland team that defeated the English League 2-1 at Dalymount Park in 1963

2014

The Ireland rugby team potentially denied the 1972 Five Nations Championship when Scotland and Wales refused to play in Dublin

2015

Christy O'Connor Junior, marking 40 years since his Irish Open victory at Woodbrook

2016

Kerry midfielder and four time All-Ireland SFC winner Mick O'Connell

2017

Ireland rugby stars Tony Ward and Ollie Campbell

2017

Ireland's three in a row (1977-79) Aga Khan showjumping team: Eddie Macken, Cpt Con Power, James Kernan and Paul Darragh

2018

Ireland and Shamrock Rovers winger Frank O'Neill

2019

Peter Byrne, outstanding sports writer and ASJI president from 2001 to 2019

2019

The Ireland cricket team that defeated the West Indies at Sion Mills in 1969

2023

The Kerry women's footballers who featured in all nine All-Ireland final wins between 1982 and 1990

2024

Ireland's Olympic sailing silver medalists David Wilkins and Jamie Wilkinson (1980) and Annalise Murphy (2016)

2025

Champion hurdler Istabraq, with owner JP McManus, trainer Aidan O'Brien and jockey Charlie Swan

Press photographers' lenses at the touchline
Promoting the craft of sports journalism in Ireland
About the Association

Half a century on the sporting beat

ASJI marked fifty years in existence in 2023, though our first gatherings began three years earlier among reporters from the national newspapers in Dublin and RTE. At the first AGM in January 1973, David Guiney was elected president.

From the beginning we embraced the global side of sport, affiliating with AIPS, the International Sports Press Association. Dublin hosted the AIPS executive in 1972 and its 39th Congress at the Burlington Hotel in 1975, with the committee famously burning the midnight oil to secure visas for delegates from behind the Iron Curtain.

Reborn in 2001 through the dedication of the late Peter Byrne, Jimmy Magee and Fionnbar Callanan, the association is again enjoying a period of growth.

Today ASJI represents members in dealings with the national sporting bodies, and through AIPS has access to the leading world organisations including the IOC, FIFA, UEFA and World Athletics.

Who We Are

The ASJI committee

Paul Lennon

President

Cliona Foley

Vice-President

James Crombie

Secretary

Kathryn Davis

Treasurer

Con Murphy

Committee

Gilles Ruze

Committee
Get In Touch

Contact ASJI

Get in touch about the Legends Lunches, association news or membership. Working sports journalists in Ireland are welcome to enquire about joining.