Rugby now more popular than football AND GAA?!

**jbyrne** · 04/04/2011, 10:56 AM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Did any of the articles on the Munster - Leinster game mention that Leinster returned almost 4,000 tickets from their allocation?

but snapped up in minutes by munster fans. think the returns were due to the 6N just being over, a big match next sat in the aviva and the probable need to stay overnight (and the expense involved) given the ko time

i was interested to hear the €40 ticket cost to the munster v leinster match being described as "very reasonable" on setanta last week yet the FAI get abused for charging the same amount to an international

**Jinxy** · 04/04/2011, 1:32 PM

It's very reasonable for the average rugby fan.

**jbyrne** · 04/04/2011, 2:20 PM

Originally Posted by Jinxy

It's very reasonable for the average rugby fan.

the D4 rugby fan maybe but most munster fans are similar in means to the normal Irish football supporter

**mypost** · 04/04/2011, 2:29 PM

Originally Posted by tetsujin1979

Did any of the articles on the Munster - Leinster game mention that Leinster returned almost 4,000 tickets from their allocation?

What do they need an "allocation" for? It's rugger, and no segregation. They just need to buy a ticket and turn up.

**Jinxy** · 04/04/2011, 2:51 PM

Originally Posted by jbyrne

the D4 rugby fan maybe but most munster fans are similar in means to the normal Irish football supporter

Haha!

They are yeah.
Sure they're all dockers and bin men.
Gimme a break.

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/04/2011, 2:53 PM

The average fan of either sport in any part of the country is reasonably well off. The idea that rugby is the "common man's" sport in Munster is one of the more bizarre and successful aspects of the club's mythology.

**jbyrne** · 04/04/2011, 3:09 PM

Originally Posted by Jinxy

Haha!

They are yeah.
Sure they're all dockers and bin men.
Gimme a break.

do you regularly attend munster matches?
if not, you are not positioned to comment

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

The idea that rugby is the "common man's" sport in Munster is one of the more bizarre and successful aspects of the club's mythology.

based on what evidence exactly?

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/04/2011, 4:23 PM

Based on an absence of evidence. Rugby does have more of a spread of support across class boundaries in Limerick (not in Cork) than it traditionally has in Dublin, but with a few exceptions the people who play it are just as middle class as their Leinster counterparts. Rugby is not as democratic a sport as soccer - it requires an expensive diet and access to the right equipment and like all sports its support base reflects the make-up of its participants.

**jbyrne** · 04/04/2011, 4:57 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Rugby is not as democratic a sport as soccer - it requires an expensive diet and access to the right equipment and like all sports its support base reflects the make-up of its participants.

all to support a team???

there is a far more working class support for munster than there is for leinster. its a much more comparible crowd to that that follows the international football team

**Jinxy** · 04/04/2011, 4:58 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Based on an absence of evidence. Rugby does have more of a spread of support across class boundaries in Limerick (not in Cork) than it traditionally has in Dublin, but with a few exceptions the people who play it are just as middle class as their Leinster counterparts. Rugby is not as democratic a sport as soccer - it requires an expensive diet and access to the right equipment and like all sports its support base reflects the make-up of its participants.

And schools.

**Charlie Darwin** · 04/04/2011, 5:23 PM

You missed the end of the sentence. Most people don't randomly pick a sport to watch on TV. It's generally one they are involved in or were at a younger age. Contrary to popular opinion, the youth of Limerick tend to play soccer or GAA like the rest of the country. The image of working class kids kicking grubbers under burnt out cars is not reflected in real life.

Originally Posted by Jinxy

And schools.

Exactly. Rugby in Munster is based just as much around schools as it is in Leinster. It just happens that there are more non-fee-paying rugby schools in Limerick than there are in Dublin, Cork or Belfast.

**Stuttgart88** · 04/04/2011, 6:28 PM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Contrary to popular opinion, the youth of Limerick tend to play soccer or GAA like the rest of the country.

A fact endorsed by my mate who lives there. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post on this thread.

My nephew is growing up across the road from Terenure College and very near Bushy Park. He plays GAA, soccer and rugby, and still finds time for tennis. I think his mates are the same. It's not as if kids play one or the other exclusively these days. Kids have great opportunity because of the work of clubs and volunteers.

**Kingdom** · 04/04/2011, 7:47 PM

Originally Posted by Stuttgart88

A fact endorsed by my mate who lives there. I think I mentioned it in an earlier post on this thread.

My nephew is growing up across the road from Terenure College and very near Bushy Park. He plays GAA, soccer and rugby, and still finds time for tennis. I think his mates are the same. It's not as if kids play one or the other exclusively these days. Kids have great opportunity because of the work of clubs and volunteers.

Hope he's playing for Rangers? Haven't played there in years.

**paul_oshea** · 04/04/2011, 8:52 PM

One of the stutts plays bogball why i never....ive seen it all now!

**jbyrne** · 05/04/2011, 7:23 AM

Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

Exactly. Rugby in Munster is based just as much around schools as it is in Leinster. It just happens that there are more non-fee-paying rugby schools in Limerick than there are in Dublin, Cork or Belfast.

and your point is?

**pineapple stu** · 05/04/2011, 8:36 AM

Quite clearly described in his posts.

**paul_oshea** · 05/04/2011, 9:12 AM

I think the whole cluxton incident brings home the point i made on the first incarnation of this type thread. GAA is the biggest sport in Ireland hands down. GAA heads don't like what they see as the "pussy" element in soccer, the feighning injury, the rolling around, the soft frees for fair shoulders(that used to be let go) etc etc. Its the neantherdal element of GAA/Aussie Rules/NFL/etc, the basic male huga huga instinct. The crossover from GAA to rugby has ten folded over the last decade as soccer was never seen as their "other" sport really, but rugby is as they can identify more with it. Hence why you see counties like tipperary for example gaining huge interest in the rugby over the last few years, or laois/offaly support and player population increasing also, they would have always had a small element of support but now it has increased dramatically. As long as GAA remains the biggest sport in the country, which it will, soccer has a real and present "threat" from rugby - from a playing point view but also attendance, for example at a certain age young players will have to crossover probably about the time when they would get noticed i.e. around 14/15.

**gspain** · 05/04/2011, 10:50 AM

Originally Posted by paul_oshea

I think the whole cluxton incident brings home the point i made on the first incarnation of this type thread. GAA is the biggest sport in Ireland hands down. GAA heads don't like what they see as the "pussy" element in soccer, the feighning injury, the rolling around, the soft frees for fair shoulders(that used to be let go) etc etc. Its the neantherdal element of GAA/Aussie Rules/NFL/etc, the basic male huga huga instinct. The crossover from GAA to rugby has ten folded over the last decade as soccer was never seen as their "other" sport really, but rugby is as they can identify more with it. Hence why you see counties like tipperary for example gaining huge interest in the rugby over the last few years, or laois/offaly support and player population increasing also, they would have always had a small element of support but now it has increased dramatically. As long as GAA remains the biggest sport in the country, which it will, soccer has a real and present "threat" from rugby - from a playing point view but also attendance, for example at a certain age young players will have to crossover probably about the time when they would get noticed i.e. around 14/15.

The biggest sport i nthe country for over a quarter of a century has been football. repeated surveys have proved that as has tv viewing figures albeit for the national team and not the league of Ireland. GAA is the biggest spectator sport in the country because most Irish people prefer to support Man Utd and Liverpool rather than Cork City or Shamrock Rovers.

Rugby is perceived as cool and marketed well for the "event junkie" but it is nowehere near the playing numbers of football or indeed GAA.

**Jinxy** · 05/04/2011, 11:13 AM

Which surveys and which viewing figures would those be Gspain?

**paul_oshea** · 05/04/2011, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by gspain

The biggest sport i nthe country for over a quarter of a century has been football. repeated surveys have proved that as has tv viewing figures albeit for the national team and not the league of Ireland. GAA is the biggest spectator sport in the country because most Irish people prefer to support Man Utd and Liverpool rather than Cork City or Shamrock Rovers.

Rugby is perceived as cool and marketed well for the "event junkie" but it is nowehere near the playing numbers of football or indeed GAA.

You mean players registered is that right? Viewing figures being for big events like ireland losing out to france or beating holland? Apart from these over the course of 10 or so years, GAA averages far better figures than Soccer. Its a fact gspain no matter how many stats you come up with that the interest in GAA is far bigger than soccer. I prefer soccer btw, but I'm telling it as it is.