Irish club playing abroad?

actua11

I'm probably missing something obvious, but couldn't find an answer so here it goes. Could Ireland at some stage in the near future have a side competing across the water? (Not necessarily in the super league)

The challenge cup contains teams from England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia. The Dragons have even played down the road Spain before in an effort to expand the game across Europe. To me, it seems as though to spread the game into new regions which don't have a tradition in the sport, a place with a rugby heritage (Ireland) where the league code could be well developed, is being left behind. Many new people began taking an interest during our past world cup exploits, so there is some foundation for a marketing of the game in Ireland.

We have decent players but as there is no outlet for them to play at a high level in Ireland they are forced to sign to English teams (Wayne Kerr, Steve Gibbons etc.) Irish soccer clubs had this problem years ago and now cannot stem the flow of Irish talent abroad. If we had a side competing in the championship, I'm sure we could at least match attendances with the Toulouse's of this world and be reasonably competitive.

Has this been discussed before?
(Probably should confess I'm just an average arm-chair fan...)

amacachi

actua11 wrote: »

I'm probably missing something obvious, but couldn't find an answer so here it goes. Could Ireland at some stage in the near future have a side competing across the water? (Not necessarily in the super league)

The challenge cup contains teams from England, Scotland, Wales, France and Russia. The Dragons have even played down the road Spain before in an effort to expand the game across Europe. To me, it seems as though to spread the game into new regions which don't have a tradition in the sport, a place with a rugby heritage (Ireland) where the league code could be well developed, is being left behind. Many new people began taking an interest during our past world cup exploits, so there is some foundation for a marketing of the game in Ireland.

We have decent players but as there is no outlet for them to play at a high level in Ireland they are forced to sign to English teams (Wayne Kerr, Steve Gibbons etc.) Irish soccer clubs had this problem years ago and now cannot stem the flow of Irish talent abroad. If we had a side competing in the championship, I'm sure we could at least match attendances with the Toulouse's of this world and be reasonably competitive.

Has this been discussed before?
(Probably should confess I'm just an average arm-chair fan...)

It has been discussed around here, not sure about elsewhere, but I'm not sure I share your optimism that it could work. Don't get me wrong, if they tried I'd be down there for every match I could.

toomevara

We need the will and the cash, other than that there's nothing to stop an Irish team competing in C'ship one. I've long advocated it and as I've said here before I'd go out of my way to support it. We can look at successful french teams such as TO or closer to home, the welsh teams...

kellco88

There is a spot in the challenge cup for the winners of the Carnegue league. I believe a few teams have taken this up but with the rugby union season clashing with the challenge cup its difficult to put the strongest side together