Game changers: how Irish social progress is reflected in sport

Black Irish sportspeople have joined together to convey a message of positive change through the lens of Sportsfile photographer Ramsey Cardy

Adam Byrne, Leinster rugby player, in Blackrock, Dublin

Is Ireland a racist country? That’s a rhetorical question, says footballer Lido Lotefa. “Of course it is,” he says. “I’m 20 years of age, and I’ve suffered racism my whole time in Ireland.”

A striker with League of Ireland champions Dundalk, Lotefa arrived in this country from the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo aged five and spent the majority of his youth in Direct Provision, at first in Mosney and later in Balbriggan. “It’s a ...