Rugby now more popular than football AND GAA?!

[BonnieShels]

I missed something:

I have a hard time cheering on 15 juiced lads in a sport that's fundamentally flawed anyway.

In what specific regard do you think it's fundamentally flawed.

Aren't all sports? I mean offside in soccer is a nightmare that keeps being tinkered with without any real success.

Plus there's issues with the tackle as well; shouts of "he got the ball" seemingly absolve all dangerous tackles.

Then there's issues in Gaelic Football with time-wasting and the lack of a defined tackle. It's defined insofar as there is none.

All sports have their flaws. Some authorities seek to fix them others don't. Soccer more than most has improved substantially with early 90s innovations such as the "back-pass rule" and long may things like that continue.

And rugby has its issues with scrum timekeeping which is not being looked at in the latest raft of proposed changes from World Rugby.
(http://www.the42.ie/world-rugby-law-...24926-Sep2015/)

Spot on Bonnie. Brilliant post.

Thanks

[Stuttgart88]

I'd say one big flaw in rugby is the sheer size players need to be in the modern era. Injuries, and serious ones, are inevitable. Players at all levels of the game are getting crocked and the lifespan of a pro career is getting increasingly short. Which is a shame. I was only talking to my mum about this on Sunday. My dad was knocking on the door of an Irish cap in the late 40s / early 50s. He was as skinny as a rake but totally ambipedal (thanks eirebhoy) and a real Shane Williams type will o the wisp type player. His friends used to tell me how he won a cup final at Donnybrook with a penalty kick from each foot, from each touchline. He'd sink without trace in today's game.

For me rugby as a sport is best for teenagers* and it is also a superb vehicle for tiring out testosterone filled teenagers when they need to let loose! But even schools rugby has fallen victim to the "size matters" doctrine now, which is only inevitable. A good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un. For me the ball spends too much time in the air or out of play too. That said, I think the RWC - as it always does, as does the footy equivalent - showcases the latest trends elsewhere and Argentina's expansive game seemed to do OK. All games evolve and their flaws either get fixed by rules or tactical innovation, but the size thing in rugby is hard to see going back the other way.

*Top flight rugby can be utterly gripping too, no doubt.

[jbyrne]

I'd say one big flaw in rugby is the sheer size players need to be in the modern era. Injuries, and serious ones, are inevitable. Players at all levels of the game are getting crocked and the lifespan of a pro career is getting increasingly short. Which is a shame. I was only talking to my mum about this on Sunday. My dad was knocking on the door of an Irish cap in the late 40s / early 50s. He was as skinny as a rake but totally ambipedal (thanks eirebhoy) and a real Shane Williams type will o the wisp type player. His friends used to tell me how he won a cup final at Donnybrook with a penalty kick from each foot, from each touchline. He'd sink without trace in today's game.

For me rugby as a sport is best for teenagers* and it is also a superb vehicle for tiring out testosterone filled teenagers when they need to let loose! But even schools rugby has fallen victim to the "size matters" doctrine now, which is only inevitable. A good big 'un will always beat a good little 'un. For me the ball spends too much time in the air or out of play too. That said, I think the RWC - as it always does, as does the footy equivalent - showcases the latest trends elsewhere and Argentina's expansive game seemed to do OK. All games evolve and their flaws either get fixed by rules or tactical innovation, but the size thing in rugby is hard to see going back the other way.

*Top flight rugby can be utterly gripping too, no doubt.

couldn't agree with this more. the sight of pain killing gas being administered to players on the pitch before being carted off is all far too common these days. not sure what they can do about the size thing though but it will kill the game as a spectacle

[Crosby87]

I don't understand rugby. Why do they just seem to arbitrarily kick the ball at some points? Cricket is even weirder. Can matches really take weeks?

[paul_oshea]

A new Breed of Rugby fan?

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugb...-34247886.html

Clunster.

[tetsujin1979]

The Ireland V France game in the world cup was the most watched sporting event on TV last year - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/othe...draw-1.2485883
Strange that it beat out the Argentina game

FAI increasing social reach at double rate of GAA - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/irish...ble-trev-keane

I know someone pointed out here that the FAI had congratulated all Irish successes last year (GAA, Rugby, McGregor, etc) on social media, but it hadn't gone the other way in all cases

[paul_oshea]

That thing is a load of wally.

Sure the GAA and IRFU would be at saturation point already, you cant say fastest growing, or increasing, that's marketing for sportego, whoever they are... Is Trev Keane your mate Stutts?

[BonnieShels]

The Ireland V France game in the world cup was the most watched sporting event on TV last year - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/othe...draw-1.2485883
Strange that it beat out the Argentina game

FAI increasing social reach at double rate of GAA - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/irish...ble-trev-keane

I know someone pointed out here that the FAI had congratulated all Irish successes last year (GAA, Rugby, McGregor, etc) on social media, but it hadn't gone the other way in all cases

The popularity of the games I would say had to do with the timing of both. I was at the France game so I don't know what it was like in Dublin that day, but I watched the Argie game in the Swan on Aungier St/York St and it wasn't as rammed as expected the way it had been for pretty much all games up to that point that I had watched there including Australia v England.

[Stuttgart88]

That thing is a load of wally.

Sure the GAA and IRFU would be at saturation point already, you cant say fastest growing, or increasing, that's marketing for sportego, whoever they are... Is Trev Keane your mate Stutts?

I thought Trev Keane was Tetsujin and tricky's lovechild. Never met him myself.

[DannyInvincible]

The Ireland V France game in the world cup was the most watched sporting event on TV last year - http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/othe...draw-1.2485883
Strange that it beat out the Argentina game

Those figures don't include Sky Sports viewers. All football internationals would have been on Sky too, of course. They wouldn't include viewers in pubs either presumably, would they?

[Fixer82]

Lads there's room for them all. What there is no longer room for is paranoia/victim playing from soccer fans over the GAA and Rugby getting more coverage/funding than soccer does.
If rugby and soccer team are doing badly it'll be a good year for the GAA. And if soccer team is doing well they'll get a lot of coverage etc.
I believe the LOI is getting more airtime too and long may that rise continue

[gastric]

As a passionate lover of both football and rugby, I absolutely hate when tw#ts like Neil Francis make such inflammatory comments. He really is a gutter journalist as well as an arrogant, smug and dim individual.

http://www.independent.ie/sport/rugb...-34442906.html

[DeLorean]

Jesus, he really tore the arse out of that, never funny and already massively overused, Oscar nomination for diving gag.

I did find myself thinking these exacts thoughts though, as Tony Ward mentioned the duty of care thing at the time.

In the heat of a frenzied Test match it is faintly ridiculous to say that a tackler has a duty of care to ensure that the ball carrier comes down safely. While you are carefully ensuring that your opponent doesn't hurt himself, you, yourself can get smashed in a clear-out as the moment of tender loving care ends once the ball carrier hits the turf.

[Stuttgart88]

I agree with Ward. It's not always realistic to expect to a tackler to able to get his body balanced enough in a split second to ensure a 15 stone opponent's safe landing. It seems these days that it's nature of the fall rather than the nature of the tackle is what determines the ref's reaction. You now see full backs fielding a high ball actually looking to land as if upended. It's professional sport Neil.

[tetsujin1979]

Of course there is no diving in any other sport than the ladies game
Certainly not GAA - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3Aqyr433a4
or Basketball - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3I65Lqjh4fo
or Rugby - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f4Tq7f0xec

[DeLorean]

I agree with Ward. It's not always realistic to expect to a tackler to able to get his body balanced enough in a split second to ensure a 15 stone opponent's safe landing.

So you agree with Francis?

Ward was only pointing out the expectation I think, don't know if he was necessarily agreeing with it.

[Stuttgart88]

Sorry, I thought the quote above was Ward not Francis. I agree with the quoted section as I understand it. A tackler has a duty of care to tackle his opponent safely but in some cases when the tackled player gets upended - not always deliberately or even carelessly - it's just not always fair to expect the tackler to be able to bring him down safely. It requires your feet and your balance to be just right, and that's really unlikely.


Anyway, separately:

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/201...nations-start/

(although I'll be the first to admit there'll be a lot of fairweather / bandwagoners in France this summer)

[Fixer82]

Neil Francis is the Rugby version of Roy Curtis. Gerry Thornley a close second in the knob stakes

[tetsujin1979]

Soccer still battling for recognition in schools across the country: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...ntry-1.2535229
Just as a counter point to this, my old secondary school, (CBS in Limerick) which was hardcore GAA, no longer has a hurling or gaelic football team, but has a successful soccer team, winning the FAI Schools Cup twice in recent years

Police launch scathing attack on 'middle-aged rugby fans who drink all day and think they can behave any way they like': http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wa...iddle-10891543
Interesting quotes from a police chief in Cardiff, mentions that football fans can cause trouble, but will listen to the police, whereas rugby fans act like they want

[geysir]

Soccer still battling for recognition in schools across the country: http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/socc...ntry-1.2535229
Just as a counter point to this, my old secondary school, (CBS in Limerick) which was hardcore GAA, no longer has a hurling or gaelic football team, but has a successful soccer team, winning the FAI Schools Cup twice in recent years

What would define "battling to be recognised" in that article?
Would the GAA be defined as battling for recognition in CBS Limerick or are they just not visible enough to be recognised?
Is soccer really batting to be recognised in a number of schools or are they just not visible enough?
Would it be a similar or worse scenario for rugby?
I think it's an issue for all 3 major sports, that different schools have different ethoi. And the article is just rehashing old stories of discrimination from history, to give some background cred to the claims of present day persecution.
EG. doing a quick scan over GAA teams in male secondary schools in the Dublin 1 to Dublin 6 areas, I found a large % of the schools have no GAA presence at all.