Ireland is to host the 2016 World Championship in field archery. The decision to award the event to Dublin was taken at the World Archery Federation Executive Board meeting in Nottingham.
This is the first time Ireland will host such a prestigious event in the sport and at time of writing this morning the news is not yet up on the Archery Ireland website.
Details of the bid and the venues to be used will become clearer now that the bid has been won. The most recent World Championships were held in Zagreb and before that Val D’Isere.
At the London Olympics the Archery took place at Lords Cricket Ground while there is talk in Italy of a potential 2024 Olympics Bid including the hosting of archery in the Vatican.
Field Archery is different in that involves teams walking around a course in open or wooded parkland and is more akin to golf than the traditional image of archery. There is an existing international tournament that takes place in Enniskerry.
Our view is that the hosting of a World Championship in the Phoenix Park would be a great way to show off one of Dublin’s highlights.
Archery Ireland receives €48,500 in funding from the Irish Sports Council. Kia were the major sponsors of the 2014 World Field Archery Championships in Zagreb.
