Provincial club side if we're being technical here!
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"It's time for the FAI to grow up." John O'Donoghue, Minister for Sport, RTE , Sunday 7 Nov 2004
Provincial club side if we're being technical here!
I think I should the parachute, because I'm great.
In fact, I think I should get both parachutes, in case one doesn't work.
Thats true and its something for Ireland to be proud of...still not sure what your point is..i pressume you are comparing it to LOI or Irish soccer in general and why more people lately follow Rugby??....
obviously tho it is more likely that we have top players in a sport that is only played at the top level in only handfull of countries(im in no way an expert on Rugby but im guessing Oz,NZ,SA,France,Ireland,UK,Argentina and Italy) as oppossed to football which would be played in probably every Country in the world and at a top level in dozens of them.
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"It's time for the FAI to grow up." John O'Donoghue, Minister for Sport, RTE , Sunday 7 Nov 2004
Munster Rugby (more commonly known as Munster) is an Irish professional rugby union club based in Munster, that competes in the Magners League and Heineken Cup.
Note the word "club"
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"It's time for the FAI to grow up." John O'Donoghue, Minister for Sport, RTE , Sunday 7 Nov 2004
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"It's time for the FAI to grow up." John O'Donoghue, Minister for Sport, RTE , Sunday 7 Nov 2004
small world all sports and their popularity go up and down 1990 world cup we all went soccer mad then a for a few years after / rugby is on the crest of a wave now but when the bubble bursts all the sunshine fans will fade away and reappear as gaa fans / soccer fans whatever is the most popular at the time ... it is so funny now to see all the so-called rugby heads around your local town when ireland / munster / leinster play and yet they would not get out of bed on a sunday morning to watch their local junior rugby teams play
" football is a simple game "
The thing with rugby is, imo, that I don't think the bubble will burst. The provinces will sustain the popularity and status that it has attained in the country as a whole. The uptake in player numbers at youth level has been huge - you only have to look at the number of high calibre players in the provincial academies - particularly Leinster's.
Rugby is here to stay, but it will take more people away from the GAA than from football in my opinion.
"Do you know what the plural for Pussy is? ... it's Pussai! ... Jimmy tought me that"
each to their own i guess..dont understand the "sunshine" mentality myself...this is the sport i love and follow Rovers/Ireland regardless of how they are doing!!..if local or Irish teams in other sports start doing well,althought i'd be happy for them,i dont just jump aboard as they are sports im not particularly interested in...
your bang on about the Rugby..as i said in an earlier post i would doubt some of the "fans" in the pubs watching the Hieneken cup or internationals
even know there is a local team!!..also what is particularly laughable around here is all the "fans" have Leinster/Munster jerseys on!!..the last time i checked Leitrim/Roscommon/Sligo are all in Connacht!!..but alas we dont have a successful team or big name players so lets not follow them!!..pathetic.
I agree with the The Bunk's post, there are enough young players coming through the Irish academies to sustain provincial and national success for a good few years to come. However, rugby is more attractive to people of a certain physical makeup. If you are under 6 foot, it takes gruelling physical conditioning regimes to develop the muscular size/strength to compete at a high level of rugby. Top-level rugby players are, as a pre-condition, big... and getting bigger. For example, Peter Stringer is 5'9" - average height for a man - and has become redundant as a top-class player for that fact, because he's simply not big enough. The same is happening to O'Gara and Shane Williams. Can you imagine Xavi or Iniesta playing rugby??? Edit; the likes of Gordon D'Arcy can get away with being small-ish - 5'10" - because he's built like a tank. I've seen him and Kevin Doyle in person, and D'Arcy seems much bigger than Doyle, despite being slightly smaller in height. Some of the most important traits for a rugby player are through genes, rather than any acquired skills or conditioning.
No, soccer will always be more popular at grassroots level because of the simplicity of the game, and the accessibility. Irish international football has been in the doldrums for the best part of a decade, yet grassroots participation is still strong, and astro-turf pitches are still full around the country. There is more than enough potential in this country for both sports to thrive without necessarily impinging on each other.
Last edited by Supreme feet; 11/11/2009 at 10:14 PM.
[QUOTE=old git;1270780]small world all sports and their popularity go up and down 1990 world cup we all went soccer mad then a for a few years after / rugby is on the crest of a wave now but when the bubble bursts all the sunshine fans will fade away and reappear as gaa fans / soccer fans whatever is the most popular at the time ... it is so funny now to see all the so-called rugby heads around your local town when ireland / munster / leinster play and yet they would not get out of bed on a sunday morning to watch their local junior rugby teams play
Bang on there Bunk. The bubble won't burst for several reasons but the biggest one is the structure the IRFU put in place when the game went professional. Unlike the FAI, the IRFU showed themselves to be a very clever forward thinking organisation. They knew a country of our size could not possibly support a league the size of the AIL as a professional entity, clubs would have gone under in double quick time (how could Blackrock have afforded to pay the best player on the planet and keep a competitive team together?) this was seen with the collapse of the Scottish and Welsh leagues who thought they knew better. The IRFU pretty much resurrected rugby in those countries with the Magners league idea, giving them the opportunity to use "provincial teams" as opposed to the traditional "club" model. For those of you saying Munster are not technically a club, I am sorry to burst your bubble but for the purposes of Heineken Cup and Magners League, they are indeed "a club" as are Ulster, Leinster and Connaught. All of their players are registered with club sides merely to confirm eligibilty to play for the larger "Province" because of some old rule or other from back when the game was amateur. Irish rugby is now on the cusp of something massive, we are leading the way in Europe, this is something for us all to be proud of. rugby fans or not.
The FAI have been floating this Atlantic league idea for a while now, where do you think they got the idea from? It's a bit unfair to compare the two sports as the FAI never really had the opportunity to do what the IRFU did, but as long as our rugby sides are successful the sport is going to increase in popularity, this is natural, we should after all be supporting or national sides in all events. How do you think footballs popularity grew? Wonder what the scores would have been pre 1988?
I would dearly love to see Irish football restructured in the same way rugby was, with 4 provincial clubs competing in an Atlantic League. Unfortunately Scotland, Wales and Scandinavia don't need it as much as us so it will never happen. If it did we would most certainly be a better footballing nation than a rugby nation.
Help something bit me!!!
The FAI had absolutely nothing to do with the idea of an Atlantic League and that proposal actually pre-dates the Heineken Cup by several years.
On the second point, I really don't see people supporting a provincial team. Most of the posters on here will continue to support their LoI team (win or lose, regardless of the league level) or their English or Scottish favourites. The event-junkies who are currently rugby fans may switch to a provincial team initially but as soon as the team starts to struggle those crowds will be out looking for "the next big thing". This is the same kind of idea as the Dublin Dons (look it up if you aren't old enough to remember). Those of us who support a football team can't switch when a new franchise arrives on the scene.
"There's man all over for you, blaming on his boots the fault of his feet" - Samuel Beckett, Waiting for Godot
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.
Last edited by mypost; 12/11/2009 at 1:50 AM.
I acknowledge that the FAI didnt come up with the idea, however it was only put forward in 2000 or 2001 by PSV. The Heineken cup started in 95 and rugby turned pro in the same year which was when Irish rugby was restructured officially. In any case thats not the point of my post, the point is the reason for our success in rugby is the structure. I also said it would be unfair for us to compare the two setups because yes it would be difficult to restructure Irish football at this stage. I think however that we would adapt to a provincial set up for an atlantic league with the LOI acting as a reserve and academy league just as the AIL does, therefore still allowing us to support our teams. The Dublin Dons thing was a completely different story, they were talking about taking an English club and putting them into a stadium in dublin, would have done nothing for Irish football. Also a provincial team would not be a new Franchise, surely you could support the province you come from?? I would not worry though, it will,sadly,never happen.
Help something bit me!!!
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