Rugby to prosper at soccers expense?

Diamondmaker

Given that Irish rugby is surfing the crest of a wave, with records broken season on season, EC champs, CL champs, internationally renowned players and new fans coming from all over, culminating in an immense Irish presence in cardiff EC final..........

.............and the recent demise of Irish soccer which hsa steadily deteriorated since Mick left.

will Irish rugby reach and surpass the popularity of soccer at its peak in Euro88-USA 94 era?

Can it ever hope to achieve this?

If the Irish soccer team continues to haemorrage support could this happen?
Would alot of the non hardcore defect to the next most popular irish team sport?

World cup coming, HC defence, Croke Park novelty and cultural experience, and honoury mention to the exciting Leinster Brand of rugby ( had to stick that in ) that will attract new fans in droves.
This is big times for rugby ahead.....how far can it go..........?????

Sundy

Not very far because the IRFU are a bunch of twats

leeroybrown

I think that rugby should definitely be able to increase it's fanbase on the back of recent (and hopefully future) club and international achievements and the popularity of tag rugby at the moment.

That said I think that one of the real successes of soccer is the number of grass root level junior teams, local leagues and astra leagues that exist. A lot of people I know play for soccer teams because they like the balance between playing competitively and not being too serious about it. Given the limited number of people in Ireland who have played rugby at an underage/schools level and the lack of teams in a lot of areas I don't think that it will compete with soccer in all but the hardcore rugby areas for the forseeable future.

Ultimately the match attendances for league games are relatively low, there are only four provinces and there a limit to the number of people who can come out and support them week in week out.

Essentially I don't really think that loads of people watching Ireland and the provinces (well, mainly Munster and Leinster) on TV really counts as rugby prospering. Prospering would be having genuinely improvements in playing numbers and attendances across more of the country.

Crash

I do find the ease of playing grass roots soccer much more appealing to a lot of people (including me - at my weight and height - ask ruggie - playing low level rugby will be bad) than low level rugby. As a sport with less physicality its gonna be easier to get involved in. Hell, i'd be a back straight off, but unless I gain a couple of stone it'd be impossible for me to play, whereas I can join a soccer team at low levels straight off (and have when I was younger.)

there will be a cap on participation, as opposed to popularity tbh.

zAbbo

Where are these new and upcoming fans going to see Rugby on TV ?

Setanta is subscription based and RTE don't have live HC anymore.

I'd defintely make more of an effort to support Irish teams, although Leinster/Ulster would be my closest provinces (I'm in Dundalk, hour train either way)

To papraphrase a point raised in another thread, It's great to be able to see World Class players in your own country, for relatively cheap price.

The sportsmanship of the game and fans is also apprealing, compared to yobbish culture of soccer fans.

We're incredibly lucky I think.

daveirl

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Diamondmaker

The ML and EC get on average and especially on big game days ( Not just finals ) get greater attendances than Eircom league.

Ultimately rugby may prosper as a spectator sport it does not mean that the clubs will see a huge increase as all these new fans are likely to be watching the Irish team and the provinces.

An interesting comparison will be the Croke Park games. I predict a sell out and thousands without tickets for the rugby.

I dont see the football team doing this now.
Also any redevlopment funding based on selling 5/10 year season tickets etc will be much harder for FAI, they will nearly have to give them away where as IRFU will have people queuing. This will lead to future cash flow troubles and I cant see beyond a few more bargaing basement Stan appointments.
The fans disappearting from soccer will undoubtedly cross to Rugby as what else will they do if they stop going and watching the matches...

leeroybrown

daveirl wrote:

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I should have been a little clearer that I was referring to club rugby. My point was that there is relatively limited scope for improved attendance at international matches or at provincial matches given that there are only four teams and the already good attendances. Soccer manages to drag a lot of people to 'smaller' matches in it's domestic league without larger competitions like the Magners League, Heineken European Cup and in Connacht's case the European Challenge Cup.

daveirl

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