As we prepare to consign the 2014 sporting year to the record books, here at Sportsfile, we have been taking stock of another lively year lived through the lens, with thousands of photographs being processed and syndicated to local, national and international media.

100 Images made our ‘Best of 2014’ Selection, with many of the most memorable sporting events covered by the Sportsfile team.

There could have easily been 200 more on top of that selection, but we decided to keep it to a round 100. Over a week spent looking through over 130,000 images that were put through our picture desk, it was a very tough task. Photography is very subjective so there are going to be some great images left out and not everyone will agree with our selection. But it’s the selection we’ve decided on.

http://sportsfile.zeitsolutions.com/more-images/1412028/5000/

Here are some interesting stats in Sportsfile’s year in numbers:

130,000; Just over that number were processed and syndicated through by picture desk staff from 1 January 2014 and we’re not just finished yet!

202; Press Conferences attended 

133; Number of days in the year we had a photographer in Croke Park (many days there were more than one!)

127; Flights taken by our photographers

68; Number of days we had a photographer in Aviva Stadium 

54; Cities we visited include; Resistencia, Tucuman, Buenos Aires, Oslo, Lillestrom, Gloucester, Wycombe, London, Leicester, Cheltenham, Castres, Nice, Paris, Toulon, Marseilles, Caen, Bayonne, Clermont, Lille, Antwerp, Brussels, Berlin, Gelsenkirchen, Essen, Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Costa Ballena, Cardiff, Hong Kong, Baku, Boston, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Valetta, Treviso, Turin, Parma, Bucharest, Riga, Gyor, Budapest, Tbilisi, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Gleneagles, Bratislava, Prague, Split, Perth, Melbourne, Jegu and Samokov.

24; Countries our photographers visited; England, France, Argentina, Norway, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Wales, China, Azerbaijan, USA, Malta, Italy, Romania, Latvia, Hungary, Georgia, Scotland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Australia, South Korea, and Bulgaria

11; Photographs shortlisted in Press Photographers of Ireland awards

5; Photography Awards won, both at home and abroad

4; Number of days we had a photographer in Government Buildings

1; Times we photographed in the following venues; Páirc Séamus Mhic hEochaidh, Haggardstown, Co Louth; St Mary’s GAA Park, Cloone, Co. Leitrim;  Páirc an Aghasaigh, Dingle, Co. Kerry; O’Shea Park, Blarney, Co. Kerry, Carrauntoohill, Black Valley, Co. Kerry;

Some of the notable tournaments & events covered;

·     The Web Summit

·     Ryder Cup

·     All-Ireland Hurling & Football Finals

·     Champions League Final

·     Europa League Final

·     The Cheltenham Festival

·     Ireland’s men’s Rugby Grand Slam Season

·     Ireland’s Women’s Rugby World Cup campaign

·     Republic of Ireland Men’s EURO2016 campaign

·     Giro D’Italia

·     Republic of Ireland U19 Women’s Euro Finals campaign

Is there anything you think we’ve missed? Let us know what were your favourite Sportsfile photos from 2014!

http://sportsfile.zeitsolutions.com/more-images/1412028/5000/