Rugby now more popular than football AND GAA?!

[Murfinator]

You seem to be getting more and more frustrated on this site, and I enjoy and agree with a lot of yer posts, but Im wondering if you really care for the soccer at all?!

Of course I do, what I don't care for is the generalisation tripe being thrown out about fans of other sports. There'll always be exceptions to good supporters and you've named some, just like there's fine examples of bad soccer fans in this very thread. It doesn't mean one sport has better fans than another but I will say that soccer fans seem to oppose the rise and popularity of other sports more than fans of other sports would to soccer.

And for me personally I'll cut to the chase and say I'm not as proud of the Irish soccer team as I am of the Rugby team or the county team and it all boils down to location. Soccer feels too anglicised a game for my liking, guys like Doyle, Duff, Given, Andy Reid etc are legends and if the whole squad was like that there'd be no problem but don't expect me to sing the praises of someone like Caleb Folan who essentially is here because he isn't good enough for England. To compare with the rugby lads, I regularly see them training, I have a book with each of their autographs and even go to see Munster play. My only first hand experience with an Irish player is at the Late Late Show when our captain came on to tell us all to lower our expectations and continued to explain how we're not as good as England.

Even look at the Lucozade "last 15 minutes" adverts. For Rugby we get ROG, the hero of our first six nations in decades, football there's gooch the best player in the game and likewise Shefflin. For soccer there's a former reserve goalkeeper telling us through an English accent how bravely the team will battle.
Or how about Lawrenson when he expresses his viewpoint as an "Irishman" as he speaks through a thick english accent on the national british tv station. Or how we've now played some home games in London. It's a game and setup that makes me very uneasy about being passionite towards it at times, I wouldn't have those reservations with Rugby, Football or Hurling.

[Murfinator]

Thats simply not true. Rugby is popular(ish) in 10 countries on this planet.... ;)

13 actually. 6 nations + tri nations + argentina + 3 pacific islands. :)

[Stuttgart88]

There are examples of anglo-Irish rugby players too: the Easterbys* for example (unless I'm mistaken), but point taken. We relied a lot on Staples, Curtis, Geoghegan etc in the 90s though.

It's great to say genuinely world class players like Kearney, Fitzgerald, O'Driscoll and others who are 100% home grown, not just ethnically Irish, and who liver in Ireland.


*Guy Easterby beat me by a minute in the Dublin marathon recently ):.

Funnily enough, "fan culture" is one thing that really drew me towards soccer as a kid, despite the aggressive nature of a lot of it. Rugby can offer nothing like a stadium full of Italian ultras for example. However, it's not rugby's fault that it attracts a more middle class element in general. I love rugby but soccer 100% for me any day, much as I dislike many aspects of it.

[magnumpi]

agree with stutts on the fan base point. much more enjoy the craic with lads who were in bari, sofia, mainz (i didn't make the others), than the toffs who I overheard discussing the days movements on the stock exchange upon leaving murrayfield in february this year. (true story).
i know most munster fans aren't like that, but head to most 6 nations games and its the sort of terrible D4-esque chat that you're gonna have to listen to.

i love rugby as a sport, think our country as done brilliantly, would even consider following them to a world cup in the future, but in terms of what I love, it's following the football, with the kind of fans that football attracts.

the articles point re: GAA is hollow, as no-one outside of Kilkenny is gonna vote for them, Kerry likewise for their achievements. Can't use a survey like that to compare popularity. it's nonesense.

[Stuttgart88]

I still can't understand how this thread title is allowed to survive.

[youngirish]

Rugby Union is a minority sport that most of the world couldn't give a f**k about. Even in countries that play the game at a relatively high international level like Italy and Argentina it's only really popular in specific regions of the country and doesn't on the whole enjoy widespread support. Even in Australia one of the powerhouses of Rugby Union it's only the 4th (soon to be 5th) most popular sport.

Personally I'd prefer Ireland qualify for SA 2010 than win New Zealand 2011. It would be a greater acheivement imo than winning a tournament that about 10 countries in the world take seriously and half of them are tiny pacific island nations with populations smaller than County Cork.

[Murfinator]

It's great to say genuinely world class players like Kearney, Fitzgerald, O'Driscoll and others who are 100% home grown, not just ethnically Irish, and who liver in Ireland.




That's exactly it, what I wouldn't give for the Irish soccer team to be in the same position, being able to watch them train or see them randomly walking down the street or being able to watch them play week in, week out. It'd make a big difference to my association with the team.

I know it's not a lot of the players faults, the likes of Doyle, Keane, Duff, Given, Dunne, Reid etc I'm sure would have loved to stay in Ireland if they could, but to make the top level it just wasn't a practical option. But for every one of them there's several others with a background of England/Scotland youth level caps or the Stephen Ireland, Stephen Carr, Dean Kiely or Andy + Joey O Briens of this world who appear utterly ungrateful to their fans here and couldn't give two craps about playing for us. Though Shane Supple has the right idea. :)

[paul_oshea]

Murfinator you have contradicted yourself somewhat re: the anglicised part, saying that you can't associate with them yet you understand that they have to go away but for that reason you cant get right behind them.

reading a different post of yours, dont take any offence here, but you are a good few years younger than a lot on here and I would assume fairly fresh out of college. If/Wehn the need arises that you too, may need to leave the country for whatever reason, I think you will see things from a different light.

Lastly, The reason alot of emigrants come on here is because this is how we keep in touch with the daily/day to day updates and keep in contact with everything thats going on in the world of Ireland soccer.

[EastTerracer]

13 actually. 6 nations + tri nations + argentina + 3 pacific islands. :)

http://www.puttingrugbyfirst.com/executive_summary.php
Over 80% of the people playing rugby globally live in the 8 main playing countries.
97% of the viewers for the last Rugby World Cup were in the same eight countries (less than a million people outside of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France, Australia, NZ and South Africa).
Seven of those eight countries are English-speaking and you suggest football is the Anglicised game!:rolleyes:

Only 33 million people globally watched the last Rugby World Cup Final, the 2006 World Cup Final had a global audience of 715 million.

Now, please can we move this thread to the 'Other Sports' thread.

[kennedmc]

If anyone needs to look at the popularity of rugby and football here, they need look no further than the following:

When the rugger buggers won their 6-team tournament in the spring, a few hundred hardy snobs packed out a street to welcome them home.

When Ireland return from not winning football tournaments, only the Phoenix Park is considered suitable to hold the welcoming party.

International football appeals to men, women, and kids, be they 6 or 96 worldwide. International rugby appeals to toffs in about 8 countries. There is no comparison.

As somebody who loves both rugby and football (my first choice) you come across as a complete fool in this post.

For starters rugby in a number of countries is played by people from a wide variety of social backgrounds in the same way football is actually.

If you are using that charade / cringe fest in the Phoenix park to justify the popularity of football in this country I'll leave you to it............

[kennedmc]

Football is without a doubt the one true global game. No other sport can touch it for the global presence and the way it attracts millions of viewers whether it be the Premier League, world cup, Euros, the champions league etc.

The Olympics as a one off event can match it for a couple of weeks but apart from that nothing comes close which is to be expected.

[CarrickFan]

Murfinator you have contradicted yourself somewhat re: the anglicised part, saying that you can't associate with them yet you understand that they have to go away but for that reason you cant get right behind them.

reading a different post of yours, dont take any offence here, but you are a good few years younger than a lot on here and I would assume fairly fresh out of college. If/Wehn the need arises that you too, may need to leave the country for whatever reason, I think you will see things from a different light.

Lastly, The reason alot of emigrants come on here is because this is how we keep in touch with the daily/day to day updates and keep in contact with everything thats going on in the world of Ireland soccer.


Paul i wouldnt bother responding to him...i swore to myself before i wouldnt rise to Murfinators bait and this is defo the VERY LAST TIME.

as you questioned earlier i dont think he really gives a sh*t about Football Irish or otherwise....NO MATTER what the thread is about he always turns it into "soccer lads not part of my community"..."anglicised"..."dont represent me" etc.....its the same EVERY TIME...praising other sports(which of course is his right) and belittleing soccer fans.
also some of the points are quite ridiculous...for example the Lucozade thing!!!FFS Lucozade is part of Glaxosmithkline a global corporation whatever their advertisement department do is nothing to do with us here and for the record Alan Kelly was an excellent goalkeeper for Ireland as was his father before him so get your facts straight.


Murfinator to you i say you are as entitled to your opinion as anybody in the world and in fairness in your posts you do make some excellent points and i applaud you for that but as i have noticed you bring each thread back to your same arguements as i have pointed out above which i just think is childish...also i notice you choose to ignore posts which make point or challange against what you have said and clearly have no response to you.....as i said im done rising to ur bait but if i was you i would question why you come on to this site if its just to agitate.

Good luck to you Sir and all the best for the future.

[SUB of the day]

You need to visit Limerick or Cork when Munster next win a Heineken cup or Ireland next win a grand slam and tell them that mate. See how long you last!! Its a religion in some counties outside the pale.

A religion ?.......where were all the faithful for the AIL cup final in Limerick?......where one their own clubs was playing!!!

[Acornvilla]

13 actually. 6 nations + tri nations + argentina + 3 pacific islands. :)
usa, canada and japan aswell :D

[Schumi]

Rugby is quite big in Georgia too for what it's worth.

[pineapple stu]

National sport in Andorra, after they realised they were rubbish at football.

[geysir]

I have Georgian rugby still on my mind. :D

[colster]

The Czechs have the right idea :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvUIbqKyppY

[EastTerracer]

usa, canada and japan aswell :D


Rugby is quite big in Georgia too for what it's worth.


National sport in Andorra, after they realised they were rubbish at football.


And yet, less than one million people across all these countries (+ Argentina, Italy and the Pacific Islands) were interested enough to watch the Rugby World Cup Final. Doesn't sound that popular to me :rolleyes:

[MeathDrog]

Nothing against the sport of rugby itself, but it's the whole elitism surrounding it ****es me off. After all, it is a sport taken seriously by around 11/12 countries.

Soccer is no.1 in terms of participation in this county. No doubt about that.

[Brian Boru]

Globally soccer is bigger than every other sport combined. More people watch the world cup final than the olympics biggest event (eg 100 meters final). Gaelic games are marginally bigger than soccer in Ireland. Though in Sligo town soccer is bigger. Soccer is huge in Ireland indeed. Rugby is a good sport but is only more popular than the other 2 in D4. Even in Limerick soccer and hurling combined would be bigger than rugby. Rugby is a minority sport. You could strike up a conversation with a taximan in Florida or Africa about Roy Keane. As good an all as he is they won't have heard of Brian O'Driscoll or rugby for that matter.

[Acornvilla]

a spanish student moved into my flat this week. im living in limerick he has never heard of the heiniken cup or munster for that matter!

[CarrickFan]

a spanish student moved into my flat this week. im living in limerick he has never heard of the heiniken cup or munster for that matter!

has he heard of Martin Camano?:)

[Acornvilla]

has he heard of Martin Camano?:)
i'll ask him and let you nnow tomorow :D
hes a big bilbao fan he watched MNS with me on monday and spent much of the show laughing at the crowds, stadia and defending...

[tetsujin1979]

A religion ?.......where were all the faithful for the AIL cup final in Limerick?......where one their own clubs was playing!!!
Shannon played Clontarf in the final. Off the top of my head, in Limerick there's also Young Munster, Garryowen, Richmond, Old Crescent, UL Bohemians, and Thomond rugby clubs, each with their own set of fans. Did you really expect fans of those clubs to attend? From what I could tell (I was at the game) there was zero attendance from any other Dublin clubs.

to put it another way, if Bohemians played Sligo in the FAI Cup Final, would you expect any Shamrock Rovers, St Pats, Sporting Fingal, etc, fans to attend?

[old git]

Shannon played Clontarf in the final. Off the top of my head, in Limerick there's also Young Munster, Garryowen, Richmond, Old Crescent, UL Bohemians, and Thomond rugby clubs, each with their own set of fans. Did you really expect fans of those clubs to attend? From what I could tell (I was at the game) there was zero attendance from any other Dublin clubs.

to put it another way, if Bohemians played Sligo in the FAI Cup Final, would you expect any Shamrock Rovers, St Pats, Sporting Fingal, etc, fans to attend?

last 2 munster magners league games at thomond park 15,000 for cardiff blues / 16,700 for ulster match were are all the fans gone nearly 13,000 empty spaces both games .. do young munster , garryowen, richmond, old crescent, ul bohs , thomond fans not support munster now or is it the gloryhunters/ fairweather fans have started to fade away :p

[Murfinator]

Even in Limerick soccer and hurling combined would be bigger than rugby. Rugby is a minority sport.


Here's a man who's never been to limerick. :D

[SilkCut]

Shannon played Clontarf in the final. Off the top of my head, in Limerick there's also Young Munster, Garryowen, Richmond, Old Crescent, UL Bohemians, and Thomond rugby clubs, each with their own set of fans. Did you really expect fans of those clubs to attend? From what I could tell (I was at the game) there was zero attendance from any other Dublin clubs.

to put it another way, if Bohemians played Sligo in the FAI Cup Final, would you expect any Shamrock Rovers, St Pats, Sporting Fingal, etc, fans to attend?

Thank you Tetsujin. We appear to have gone way off the topic of the thread. There is absolutely no arguement that Football is the more popular sport GLOBALLY, we are taking about its popularity in Ireland right now and it is a very understandable arguement. Success breeds success, as long as we are producing average footballers and world class rugby players, rugby is going to increase in popularity. There is no reason not to follow all of our sports though because comparing them is a bit of a waste of time. Each game has its good points and its bad points eg. I love to see Brian O'Driscoll drop his shoulder and leave opponants on their arses, I also love to see McGeady stepover the ball and go past his man, I used to love watching DJ Carey and Jamsie O'Connor leave their opponants for dead, the Gooch doing the same in football and over here, Chris Judd dominating for Carlton in the AFL. Essentially we watch sports to see the best exponants of the games doing what they do best, with that in mind, as long as Ireland are the best rugby team in Europe and on the outter in Football the chances are that rugby will be more popular (in Ireland.)

[Noelys Guitar]

Why is this topic near the top of the board (due to postings)two days before our most important game in years? Nonsense thread.

[SilkCut]

Why is this topic near the top of the board (due to postings)two days before our most important game in years? Nonsense thread.

Don't read it then.

[Noelys Guitar]

Don't read it then.

I read every thread. And comment on most. Why not have a Jedward thread as you seem to be suggesting if its Irish and succesful then great. This thread is nonsense 2 days before a huge game for the Irish football team. This is a football thread not a Rubgy/Gaa thread. If you want to to comment on these games then go to the other games threads. Get this off the football thread. I don't care what ROG/POG have done/will do/have ever done. Not interested. If I was i would go on a Rugger/GAA specific site. Not waste my time on a (fan slipping!) football site.

[SilkCut]

I read every thread. And comment on most. Why not have a Jedward thread as you seem to be suggesting if its Irish and succesful then great. This thread is nonsense 2 days before a huge game for the Irish football team. This is a football thread not a Rubgy/Gaa thread. If you want to to comment on these games then go to the other games threads. Get this off the football thread. I don't care what ROG/POG have done/will do/have ever done. Not interested. If I was i would go on a Rugger/GAA specific site. Not waste my time on a (fan slipping!) football site.

???????
What's Jedward?
Im Irish, If its Irish and its successful I am quite justifiably proud of it and consider it great.
How is discussing the popularity and structure of Football v's other sports not a football thread?
Are you God? Must everyone bend to your will and submit to your every desire? There has been quite a valid discussion about football on this thread, now I admit it appears to have gone off topic - helped by you incidently - but we all have a right to discuss the topic of the popularity of our favourite sport (football incidently) and the challenges it faces. There are plenty of threads relating to the France game on this forum, so please feel free to contribute something positive to those threads as opposed to wasting your time reading something which you find offensive and then contributing nothing. Alternatively help get the thread back on topic.

[Noelys Guitar]

???????
What's Jedward?
Im Irish, If its Irish and its successful I am quite justifiably proud of it and consider it great.
How is discussing the popularity and structure of Football v's other sports not a football thread?
Are you God? Must everyone bend to your will and submit to your every desire? There has been quite a valid discussion about football on this thread, now I admit it appears to have gone off topic - helped by you incidently - but we all have a right to discuss the topic of the popularity of our favourite sport (football incidently) and the challenges it faces. There are plenty of threads relating to the France game on this forum, so please feel free to contribute something positive to those threads as opposed to wasting your time reading something which you find offensive and then contributing nothing. Alternatively help get the thread back on topic.

Yes I am God. And I would like this Rugby thread moved. How about that. No water into wine or bread & fishes stuff.

[SilkCut]

Yes I am God. And I would like this Rugby thread moved. How about that. No water into wine or bread & fishes stuff.

Best move it so. Don't want God spitting his dummy. Especially before the most important game in our history.

[Noelys Guitar]

Best move it so. Don't want God spitting his dummy. Especially before the most important game in our history.

Oggy, Oggy , Oggy. aye Aye aye. Ging gang gooly gooly gooly gooly ging gang. ging gang goo. Ging gang goo. I'm sorry Silkcut but there is something Stewie Griffin about Irish Rugby.

[Hibernian]

I dont give a sh*te if Brian O Driscoll arse is considered ****ing arse of the century I dont give a sh*t if some kid does not know his Zinedne Zidane from his Kevin Kilbane what we should all be worried about is how the **** we are going make Croke Park the noisiest and most colourful stadium the world will ever see at 8pm this Saturday.

I play Rugby used play GAA and Fooball too im into all sports im patrotic to the hilt in any sport. Thats me im a sportsman. But football has always been nationally my first love right with my county GAA team.

Anyway all I know is that there going be 80,000 of us in that stadium ready to sing cheer and do anything we can to make sure or boys can make it to the world cup

Let the fooking sugar daddys read there Irish times all they like we just concentrate on getting the job done not what some kid knows or does not know.

[SilkCut]

Oggy, Oggy , Oggy. aye Aye aye. Ging gang gooly gooly gooly gooly ging gang. ging gang goo. Ging gang goo. I'm sorry Silkcut but there is something Stewie Griffin about Irish Rugby.

Ha Ha mate thats your opinion and you know what thats fine, I respect it, thats what these forums are for, this is why this is the only site I post on almost all posters are respectful and intelligent. Don't get me wrong Football is my favourite sport, so much so that I am flying home on Sunday in the hope of being in Paris on Wednesday. However living abroad makes one fiercely proud of being Irish, and everything the rugby teams have done justify that pride. It saddens me to think that people are so opposed to restructuring Irish, Scottish and Welsh football into something similar to the Magners League despite seeing how well it has worked for Rugby. It would never be La Liga or the Premier League but it has to be better than the shambolic leagues that currently exist, clubs with no money, young players having to move abroad, stadiums falling apart and now Derry being forced to pay secondary contracts to survive. Even Rangers (horrible as they are) look like they are in serious strife and the EPL have said no to allowing them and Celtic join their league. Something has to be done or the reality is that football in Ireland, Scotland and Wales will suffer irrepreble damage and Sports like Rugby will take its best players. All you have to do is look at Rugby League since Rugby went pro, its dying a slow painful death, I don't want that to happen to our domestic game (It will never happen globally). Thats the point of this thread IMO, to highlight an important change, and to get people talking about the changes required to save our beloved game in our own country.

[Noelys Guitar]

I dont give a sh*te if Brian O Driscoll arse is considered ****ing arse of the century I dont give a sh*t if some kid does not know his Zinedne Zidane from his Kevin Kilbane what we should all be worried about is how the **** we are going make Croke Park the noisiest and most colourful stadium the world will ever see at 8pm this Saturday.

I play Rugby used play GAA and Fooball too im into all sports im patrotic to the hilt in any sport. Thats me im a sportsman. But football has always been nationally my first love right with my county GAA team.

Anyway all I know is that there going be 80,000 of us in that stadium ready to sing cheer and do anything we can to make sure or boys can make it to the world cup

Let the fooking sugar daddys read there Irish times all they like we just concentrate on getting the job done not what some kid knows or does not know.

I played all three. And at a reasonably high level. But to have (not you who I respect Hibernian) people trying to suggest that rugby is the number one Irish sport is laughable. And by the way How many 'soccer' players suggested Irish people invest in bizarre schemes in Bulgaria, Dubai, etc. None I would guess.

[Noelys Guitar]

Ha Ha mate thats your opinion and you know what thats fine, I respect it, thats what these forums are for, this is why this is the only site I post on almost all posters are respectful and intelligent. Don't get me wrong Football is my favourite sport, so much so that I am flying home on Sunday in the hope of being in Paris on Wednesday. However living abroad makes one fiercely proud of being Irish, and everything the rugby teams have done justify that pride. It saddens me to think that people are so opposed to restructuring Irish, Scottish and Welsh football into something similar to the Magners League despite seeing how well it has worked for Rugby. It would never be La Liga or the Premier League but it has to be better than the shambolic leagues that currently exist, clubs with no money, young players having to move abroad, stadiums falling apart and now Derry being forced to pay secondary contracts to survive. Even Rangers (horrible as they are) look like they are in serious strife and the EPL have said no to allowing them and Celtic join their league. Something has to be done or the reality is that football in Ireland, Scotland and Wales will suffer irrepreble damage and Sports like Rugby will take its best players. All you have to do is look at Rugby League since Rugby went pro, its dying a slow painful death, I don't want that to happen to our domestic game (It will never happen globally). Thats the point of this thread IMO, to highlight an important change, and to get people talking about the changes required to save our beloved game in our own country.

Good Stuff Silkcut. I owe you a pint. And lets hope we have it in Durban!

[mypost]

Biggest load of crap I've read in a long time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a3/HeinekenCupFinal06MunsterVBiarritz200506Small_ByMi ke.JPG/300px-HeinekenCupFinal06MunsterVBiarritz200506Small_ByMi ke.JPG

Here's 65,000 munster fans traveling abroad to watch their team.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Munster_rugby_2006.jpg/300px-Munster_rugby_2006.jpg

And the ones that didnt....

"a few hundred hardy snobs" my arse.

And there was me talking about International rugby. :o

[old git]

And there was me talking about International rugby. :o

ireland v australia rugby in croke park today ... 70,000 plus fans at match could have foo led me atmosphere is terrible ( sounds like stadium half full) even commetators have mentioned it 3-4 times the lack of support for team ... do the great /wonderfull fans only cheer / sing when they are winning... compared to atsmosphere last night when fans were magnificent backing an irish soccer team .. :p

[paul_oshea]

atmosphere was class alright. Croker is a night stadium.

Never stopped singing.

[elroy]

atmosphere was class alright. Croker is a night stadium.

Never stopped singing.

Was very good last night and having watched the game back on tv as well, it did come across very well on tv. The anthem sounded unreal. Its just a shame we couldnt swap the results.

[Jinxy]

ireland v australia rugby in croke park today ... 70,000 plus fans at match could have foo led me atmosphere is terrible ( sounds like stadium half full) even commetators have mentioned it 3-4 times the lack of support for team ... do the great /wonderfull fans only cheer / sing when they are winning... compared to atsmosphere last night when fans were magnificent backing an irish soccer team .. :p

You could nearly hear people talking to each other in the crowd it was that quiet.

[colster]

ireland v australia rugby in croke park today ... 70,000 plus fans at match could have foo led me atmosphere is terrible ( sounds like stadium half full) even commetators have mentioned it 3-4 times the lack of support for team ... do the great /wonderfull fans only cheer / sing when they are winning... compared to atsmosphere last night when fans were magnificent backing an irish soccer team .. :p

The Rugby match was a friendly. I've been at plenty of soccer friendly games where the atmosphere was as bad.

[Guts&Glory]

Biggest load of crap I've read in a long time.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/a3/HeinekenCupFinal06MunsterVBiarritz200506Small_ByMi ke.JPG/300px-HeinekenCupFinal06MunsterVBiarritz200506Small_ByMi ke.JPG

Here's 65,000 munster fans traveling abroad to watch their team.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Munster_rugby_2006.jpg/300px-Munster_rugby_2006.jpg

And the ones that didnt....

"a few hundred hardy snobs" my arse.

I like soccer a lot but the fanbase for it is far, far less likable than for the other 3 main sports in the country. What soccer for a start a large portion of the countries "fans" tend to be living in other countries. Even look at this forum you'll see a large number of people living in the UK, US, Australia and elsewhere. And they're the most "snobby" of all, they criticise rugby supporters and the game they follow, they criticise the GAA for being evil, they complain about barstoolers, complain about people who support the premiership, complain about this and complain about that. A lot of the so called fans of this sport especially on this site come across as begrudging auld men with zero tolerance for folk with other interests.

We have 4 great sports in this country that give great entertainment for different reasons. I pity those who feel that they must choose one and berate the rest.

Ya I saw many of these types leaving Croke Park with 20 minutes to go in the Heineken Cup Semi Final earlier this year..........where are the big crowds for the Magners league games??

It's easy being a fan in the good times.

Where were these crowds 10 years ago??

Sunshiners they are, sunshiners they will always be.

ALSO THIS SURVEY WAS OF 1,000 PEOPLE - 51% WOMEN & 49% MEN - HARDLY AN IN DEPTH RESEARCH OR POLL.

[Reality Bites]

The Key thing in this thread is the underlying metaphysical crux of the matter that is hard to articulate accurately but I'll give it a try.

FOOTBALL MATTERS RUGBY DOESN'T.

[bennocelt]

Was very good last night and having watched the game back on tv as well, it did come across very well on tv. The anthem sounded unreal. Its just a shame we couldnt swap the results.

Am I the only person who didnt get this on TV, hell maybe i had the sound down - but booing the French players is hardly great support, and singing ole ole a million times is a bit boring after a while - where was the fireworks, the fans jumping from side to side, the flares..................parts of the second half there was no noise - at least on TV.................or my TV:p

[Murfinator]

ireland v australia rugby in croke park today ... 70,000 plus fans at match could have foo led me atmosphere is terrible ( sounds like stadium half full) even commetators have mentioned it 3-4 times the lack of support for team ... do the great /wonderfull fans only cheer / sing when they are winning... compared to atsmosphere last night when fans were magnificent backing an irish soccer team .. :p

That's quite silly, did you not see Ireland v Wales in Croke Park and the ocean of silence there? Or the boo's being the only sound when Cyprus came to visit. And those were competitive games, plus the rugby game was almost a sell out, a friendly soccer game would be lucky to get half that.

[Emmet7]

It's all bandwagon stuff really.

When Munster and Ireland were poor in rugby, no-one wanted to know except a few rugby heads. The stands at Thomand Park would be half empty.

Munster win a few games and the Ireland rugby team win a few games and suddenly everyone follows rugby.

Before Jack Charlton arrived, Lanesdowne Road would be half empty for soccer internationals.