Is rugby now Ireland's second sport?

[tetsujin1979]

it didn't sell out until the week of the game itself, loads available before then. Can't speak to "thousands outside the Shelbourne" but a friend of mine did stop into the pop up shop on his lunch break one afternoon with no queues. Everything was overpriced, he just picked up a baseball cap.
I was at the game, sitting next to a guy from Newcastle and his grandson. There was definitely a novelty factor in the attendance. Like a lot of people, I'm unlikely to go on a Lions tour, and I'm pretty sure my chances of a call up are gone. FWIW I was wearing a Munster polo shirt, and there was a lot of Munster jerseys around me.

[EalingGreen]

An estimated 40k Lions fans will be going to Oz for this tour. And on the basis that the great majority will be going for the full duration (no point in going that far for a week or two), and you add on the inflated prices of hotels, tickets and air fares etc, I don't expect many will have much change out of £10k.

That said, it would be very wrong to write them off as just wealthy, middle class bandwagoners etc, for if the first two descriptors generally fit, some will have been saving for four years for this. While all are very committed rugby fans. And on top of all that a tour like this has a tremendous social element to it - think of it as 6 or 7 long rugby weekends at Lansdown/Twickers/Murrayfield/Cardiff crammed into 35 days, with a few midweek games thrown in.

Which is where the Argentina game in Dublin comes in. For those who cannot afford the time or money to go to Oz, this will be at least a taste of the tour; while for the rest, it will be a nice little Starter before the Main Course.

Meanwhile however you look at it, none of this provides any evidence towards the proposition of this thread i.e. it cannot be taken to mean Rugby is now Ireland's second sport. Not even close in fact (imo).

P.S. I know some people who've been on Lions tours and/or are going on this one. And if I thought my bank balance and liver would stand it (they wouldn't!), I'd be tempted to join them - even if I never saw a ball kicked!