GOOGLE IS CLAIMING that Ireland has gone “sports mad” with Euro 2012 and Olympics-related searches on the rise over the past few months.
Ireland falls behind Nepal in first place and Poland in second place to be named the country with the third most Euro 2012-related searches.
Ireland and Poland are also the only two countries in the top ten who are actually taking part in the tournament:
- Nepal
- Poland
- Ireland
- Mauritius
- Malaysia
- Lebanon
- Angola
- Indonesia
- Vietnam
- Ghana
Nepal’s national football team has never taken part in an international tournament but the Asian Football Confederation Challenge Cup took place in Nepal in March this year (North Korea took the title).
Google also said that over the past three months there’s been a spike in Irish users researching the trip to Poland and Ukraine for the matches, with Waterford, Carlow, Tipperary and Kilkenny leading the charge.
Searches for Irish ‘flags’, ‘decorations’ and ‘bunting’ have also been on the rise over the past month.
It’s not all about the beautiful game though, with the Olympics just around the corner. Ireland again ranks third in terms of interest in London 2012, behind the UK and Trinidad and Tobago, with Katie Taylor the most searched athlete.
Ireland’s top five fastest rising sport searches are ‘Olympic torch’, ‘Euro 2012′, ‘Euro 2012 fixtures’, ‘Ireland Euro 2012′ and ‘transfer news’.