What would have happened if...

**Dr. Ogba** · 10/10/2007, 3:38 PM

Well its a good thing we're sh*t at both sports then isn't!

Now if you don't mind I'm going to make a note in my diary to watch England V France instead of going to Croker.............................

**Ireland4ever** · 10/10/2007, 3:39 PM

Originally Posted by OwlsFan

If my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle. Boy, you love your hypotheticals, an_ceannaire

Rugby is a game played in only a few parts of the world. It has neither the national nor global appeal of soccer and in Ireland it is primarily a middle class sport to add insult to injury. I only saw one of the Irish rugby games. Watched the soccer on SKy instead and if we were bottom of the group playing the Faroes, I'd still go to that game instead of watching ireland play rugby in a WC semi-final.

I think you summed it up perfectly, soccer is enjoyed by all classes of irish society, the same cant be said about rugby. Thats why i think success in soccer would mean more to people than the equivalent success at rugby.

Although on the recent outings by both codes dont think we'll ever have the chance too soon compare

**osarusan** · 10/10/2007, 4:14 PM

Originally Posted by an_ceannaire

if Ireland won the RWC it would be national celebration and all round exhultation like nothing the soccer team has ever given us or probably ever will.

Originally Posted by an_ceannaire

ireland win the RWC
Ireland get to 1/4 finals and lose in the Football WC or EC
and ure tellimg me the nation would embrace the football "success" more?

An ceannaire, why do you compare a Rugby World Cup win with Q/Final or S/Final exit in a football World Cup? Isnt it more logical to compare the level of celebrations for both codes winning a world cup?

If you do, I think you'd have to admit that a football world cup win would see greater celebration.

I agree that a rugby world cup win would be more celebrated than a semi-final exit in football, but that's just because we'd have won the thing. It would be exactly the same if the competitions were reversed.

If you compare like with like, i.e. win versus win, losing finalist versus losing finalist etc, I think football would be more celebrated every time.

Right now of course, everybody's talking about rugby, but just because the World Cup is on.

**backstothewall** · 10/10/2007, 6:10 PM

I would watch the rugby team right now ahead of the soccer team. They ****ed up, but it wasn't for the want of trying, or sheer incompetance.

As proof I don't always want to hang the manager I am actually quite glad O' Sullivan has his 4 year contract. Sacking him at this stage would be like sacking Big Jack in 1992.

And i think the individuals concerned are much better charachters all round. Less likely to cry off representing their country, better role models i don't see why sportsmen should be role models, but its a nice extra if its going) .

Who of our 2 captains would you prefer your daughter brought home, Brian O'Driscoll or Robbie Keane??

**eirebhoy** · 10/10/2007, 7:10 PM

Robbie Keane to be perfectly honest.

**Armando** · 10/10/2007, 7:13 PM

...+1

**gustavo** · 10/10/2007, 7:14 PM

Wouldn't be too bothered , they both seem like nice guys who are excellent role models in their given sport.

**viagogo** · 10/10/2007, 7:38 PM

Is this thread some joke? More Irish interested in rugby than soccer? A friend of mine went on a package deal to the Ireland V France game for €699. This package had dropped from over a grand. Can you imagine if Ireland played ANY match in a soccer World Cup and this happened.

**zenokelly** · 10/10/2007, 8:04 PM

Originally Posted by an_ceannaire

gustavo the viwership figures for rugby and soccer internationals right now, rugby is kicking soccers arse, and has done for a while

Any proof here?

It's just I read in a paper a couple of weeks back about the tv audience for the Georgia - Ireland game in th RWC and it mentioned that the audience figure(can't quite remember it) was "catching up with the big figures watching Irish intenational soccer matches and All - Ireland finals" (along those lines).

BTW I can't see any comparison between the celebrations and heroism brought by a football world cup win compared to a RWC win.

**onenilgameover** · 10/10/2007, 8:19 PM

Originally Posted by backtowalsall

Who of our 2 captains would you prefer your daughter brought home, Brian O'Driscoll or Robbie Keane??

If my Daughter brought home Brian O'Driscoll. I'd say ''jaysus Brian I haven't since Primary School...how the hell are ye? ...then i'd slip in...What the hell were ye doing with Glenda she looks like a horse?..besides rumour has it you're gay? Are you?''

If my Daughter brought home Robbie Keane. I'd say. '' Robbie..Whats the story? Why do ye play ****e for Ireland and great for Spurs...eh?''

**an_ceannaire** · 11/10/2007, 8:45 AM

Osorusan, lok back thru this thread. I didnt make that comparison originally, one of the other lads did!
For the record if my sis brought home BOD i'd scrounge a free phone off him and spear tackle him!
If she brought home robbie i'd tell him Dunne should be Captain!!!

**piggy** · 11/10/2007, 10:55 AM

to be honest Rugby has a long way to go before it overtakes the soccer as the game of the people. the recent hype surrounding the Rugby team will passs in time. but despite the recent poor performances of the soccer team the core support for soccer is much larger and passionate at all levels of the game , throughout the country.

And indeed the level of interest that the soccer team generates when they do qualify for major championships overshadows the rugby 10 or 20 fold imho. Most recently Pubs throughout the country were packed to the rafters for the ireland soccer games in the 2002 world cup and some of these were on at what could be described as inconvenient times.

Could you honestly see pubs opening up at 6.30 in the morning and being packed to watch Ireland play any of their world cup rigby games??

there is no comparison!

**Supreme feet** · 11/10/2007, 10:56 AM

I think the popularity of rugby depends on what area of the country you happen to be in. I watched the Munster-Leinster HC semi in 2006 in Wexford. Nobody cared. I think they actually showed a Liverpool match in the local pub instead. I was lucky enough to watch the '06 HC final in Limerick, and it was the best sporting day of my life, certainly the most euphoric celebration I've ever been part of.

However, I don't think that the Irish rugby team has the same clannish, intimate appeal as Munster. A lot of guys I know support the Irish team but genuinely can't stand the D4-heads and the Ulstermen.

With soccer, everybody gets behind success. It's always been more socially important than rugby. Ireland-Spain in 2002 was a memorable day, a great occasion, despite the loss (and the ideological schism in the country at the time!) .The current apathy towards the team results from Staunton, and our current lack of central midfielders. If the soccer players showed the same ability, character and heart that the Irish rugby lads have shown over the last five years (this autumn excepted), they'd be heroes, eclipsing even the vulgar celebrity status of BO'D.

**citizenerased** · 11/10/2007, 12:25 PM

Yeah there is no contest, the whole rugby world cup thing only took off in certain select areas of the country ala dublin limerick etc..There was no carnival atmosphere, no bunting, parties etc comapared to that of even 2002, when Ireland played Spain, the place was like a ghost town.

If anything there is apathy towards the Irish Rugby team by the average Joe soap, people cant relate to it, its an elitist sport played by the hoighty toighty of society, they didnt even play amhrain na bhfhiann at the world cup, how much of a disgrace is that!

I was in a pub for the ireland Argentina game and more than half were watching the premiership..I watched the France game in cullens in ballsbridge D4, the supposed motherland of Lenster Rugby..their was even no banter in there..

**an_ceannaire** · 12/10/2007, 8:24 AM

they were right not to play amhrain na bfhiann because its an ALL IRELAND team, not a republic team, why can people not open their bloody minds and see that?!?! The soldiers song is the republics anthem NOT the Island's anthem! Why should Rory Best stand for a song he doesnt recognise? The cross border theme of the Rugby team is brilliant. Dont be so bloody stupid. And if soccer is the life blood of this country right now answer me this.....GAA, an internal game attracts WAYYYY bigger crowds than ANY league of Ireland game, including cup finals! Heineken Cup Rugby, Irish teams bring in WWAAAYYYY bigger crowds than ANY Irish football games....why..?? Leinster Munster and Connacht ALWAYS have bigger crowds than the soccer and dont gimme the province answer cos when munster play in limerick its the limerick fans sell it out, in cork its the cork fams sell it out, and when Leinster play in Dublin its the D4 lads sell it out. I have never ever seen ANY LOI team get even close to that crowd for a domestic game. EVER. Have you...? Big european games and ye barely fill Tolka, bring it to Landsdowne and lucky to get 15000. What a joke. Ye say Rugby is only big in Certain parts...look at bloody soccer!!! League of Ireland.....the vast vast vast majority of people in Ireland see the League as a joke, and you know it! Shels, a "huge" club in the capital and no fans!!! Bohs/Rovers....very very modest crowds sprinkled with scumbags...cork, fair play, Cork get a good following. One team city and all that. But 90% of the Irish public see LOI as a joke and Fat Dolan doesnt help!! Gob****e.
Ask 100 young fellas from random parts of the country would they rather achieve success with their local soccer team...Limerick37/Boh's/Rovers/City or with their Rugby team...Munster/Leinster/Ulster/Connacht......you know which is bigger and so do i!!! Soccer is a distant third now and you know it. Unless u want to count the English Premiership....but then,,,,,as LOI fans.....surely not....i mean dont you all claim to HATE the premiership...???eh???
you may not like what i said, but u know its true!! The truth HURTS sometimes.
Come on the Germans and get this pr*ck sacked so we can start again and make a real go of this. Cos believe it or not I love football as much as any of you, but I am also a realist and anger has driven me this way.
Excuse the spelling, I never could type!

**shelbourne1904** · 12/10/2007, 8:41 AM

When is the GAA world cup on and who did we get in the hurling Japan???

**gustavo** · 12/10/2007, 8:41 AM

Originally Posted by an_ceannaire

they were right not to play amhrain na bfhiann because its an ALL IRELAND team, not a republic team, why can people not open their bloody minds and see that?!?! The soldiers song is the republics anthem NOT the Island's anthem! Why should Rory Best stand for a song he doesnt recognise? The cross border theme of the Rugby team is brilliant. Dont be so bloody stupid. And if soccer is the life blood of this country right now answer me this.....GAA, an internal game attracts WAYYYY bigger crowds than ANY league of Ireland game, including cup finals! Heineken Cup Rugby, Irish teams bring in WWAAAYYYY bigger crowds than ANY Irish football games....why..?? Leinster Munster and Connacht ALWAYS have bigger crowds than the soccer and dont gimme the province answer cos when munster play in limerick its the limerick fans sell it out, in cork its the cork fams sell it out, and when Leinster play in Dublin its the D4 lads sell it out. I have never ever seen ANY LOI team get even close to that crowd for a domestic game. EVER. Have you...? Big european games and ye barely fill Tolka, bring it to Landsdowne and lucky to get 15000. What a joke. Ye say Rugby is only big in Certain parts...look at bloody soccer!!! League of Ireland.....the vast vast vast majority of people in Ireland see the League as a joke, and you know it! Shels, a "huge" club in the capital and no fans!!! Bohs/Rovers....very very modest crowds sprinkled with scumbags...cork, fair play, Cork get a good following. One team city and all that. But 90% of the Irish public see LOI as a joke and Fat Dolan doesnt help!! Gob****e.
Ask 100 young fellas from random parts of the country would they rather achieve success with their local soccer team...Limerick37/Boh's/Rovers/City or with their Rugby team...Munster/Leinster/Ulster/Connacht......you know which is bigger and so do i!!! Soccer is a distant third now and you know it. Unless u want to count the English Premiership....but then,,,,,as LOI fans.....surely not....i mean dont you all claim to HATE the premiership...???eh???
you may not like what i said, but u know its true!! The truth HURTS sometimes.
Come on the Germans and get this pr*ck sacked so we can start again and make a real go of this. Cos believe it or not I love football as much as any of you, but I am also a realist and anger has driven me this way.
Excuse the spelling, I never could type!

Irish people can't do regular support of a team as a ritual as a habit in great numbers , they are only set up to support a team as an event , as something to do . thats why you dont see huge crowds for the National league games in GAA unless the game is important

**an_ceannaire** · 12/10/2007, 8:47 AM

Gustavo if thats not the most simplistic piece of crap i have ever heard........!! Munster get 9000 - 11,000 bi weekly for every home magners league game! Fact!

**an_ceannaire** · 12/10/2007, 8:56 AM

Look lads, listen I didnt say that to offend anyone ok. I am not here to stir it and be a *****. I am just trying to be realistic about it. People in Ireland, Soccer people have their heads up their arses. I was raised in a staunchly soccer house, my da from Newcastle West in Limerick HATES the GAA, NCW used to be a league of Ireland team and he was the PRO for years. Until Cobh Ramblers in their sourness at us beating them in an FAI Quarter Final down in Cobh complained becaude a player of ours that day, Billy Daly has a typo error or something minimal to that effect on his registration, Cobh were tipped off, appealed, we lost, were ejected from the cup, after the biggest day in our history and went bust due to court costs. We as a club couldnt afford it. now back playing junior soccer in the Desmond League.
So you see I am from a staunch soccer back round, Ballygowan Park and all that!!! I have soccer, domestic soccer in my blood. But I CAN see the wood for the trees, and until other people can too, Soccer is not going to get any better in this country. Soccer IS third in Ireland. Wake up!

**SUB of the day** · 12/10/2007, 9:41 AM

Ok football is at a low ebb, but compare our exit at WC 2002 to RWC 07.Deep gloom following peno exit to Spain, and that was at the Kerry v Cork match in Killarney,fast forward to the final whistle at Parc Des Princes shrugs of resignation.Footballers were feted at Phoenix park by tens of thousands, seven fans at Dublin Airport for rugby lads