Lack of RWC hype??

Bassfish

Is it just me or is there a serious lack of hype and enthusiasm about this world cup compared to rwc 2007? Only for the odd flag hanging outside sports bars, anyone who's not in to rugby would hardly know there was a world cup on. There's little hype in the media and little of the kind of "let's get behind the team" spirit in the country. Maybe it's down to a brutal warm up series and an average 6 nations? What do people think?

enda1

I think you hit the nail on the head. For the moment the team is not that interesting to the layman, and rugby in Ireland is still quite a fringe sport so it's no wonder that the layman has dropped off considerably this time around.

jaykay74

Is it starting soon? Not covered over here in sweden.

CIARAN_BOYLE

jaykay74 wrote: »

Is it starting soon? Not covered over here in sweden.

Friday

Our first match is Sunday the 11th

JustinDee

jaykay74 wrote: »

Is it starting soon? Not covered over here in sweden.

It will be shown on Viasat Sport, the sat channel.
Or of course, will be shown in some of the ex-pat bars in various cities (Irish, English, Aussie etc or bars connected with rugby clubs).

GerM

Bassfish wrote: »

Is it just me or is there a serious lack of hype and enthusiasm about this world cup compared to rwc 2007? Only for the odd flag hanging outside sports bars, anyone who's not in to rugby would hardly know there was a world cup on. There's little hype in the media and little of the kind of "let's get behind the team" spirit in the country. Maybe it's down to a brutal warm up series and an average 6 nations? What do people think?

Bars aren't going to put in much effort in marketing the tournament when they know that they're not going to profit from the tournament. Our games are early morning (as early as 6am). With the tournament being so far removed geographically the level of attention will be diluted somewhat also. The warm ups removed a lot of the wind from our sails and the hype machine died down accordingly. In 2007 our team was blown out of all proportion with the media tipping us as potential finalists.

I think that GerM has it spot on above. Hype gets generated by businesses that can make money from the event. Of which there are unfortunately very very few.

Time difference is simply a killer for this WC!

cruiserweight

GerM wrote: »

Bars aren't going to put in much effort in marketing the tournament when they know that they're not going to profit from the tournament. Our games are early morning (as early as 6am). With the tournament being so far removed geographically the level of attention will be diluted somewhat also.

Are any bars showing deferred coverage? I have seen a few around Glasgow that are showing deferred coverage of the games, mostly big places though so they can still have football etc. on I guess

craggles

Deleted User wrote: »

I think that GerM has it spot on above. Hype gets generated by businesses that can make money from the event. Of which there are unfortunately very very few.

Time difference is simply a killer for this WC!

Can't pubs get licences to open early like they did for the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan?

rockman15

Immediate problem: the GAA and how it seems to be the most important thing in the world.

craggles

rockman15 wrote: »

Immediate problem: the GAA and how it seems to be the most important thing in the world.

No? I thought all the games were on ridiculously early so surely that shouldn't be a factor?

thomond2006

rockman15 wrote: »

Immediate problem: the GAA and how it seems to be the most important thing in the world.

I don't think the GAA season hasn't anything to do with RWC hype. Plenty of space for everyone.

The hype will explode during the week leading to the Australia game.

Mister Dread

They would have been better off having the games on early over in New Zealand. Having the games at 11pm-1am would have been much better here on a Friday or Saturday night.

rockman15

thomond2006 wrote: »

I don't think the GAA season hasn't anything to do with RWC hype. Plenty of space for everyone.

The hype will explode during the week leading to the Australia game.

Its been pretty much grabbing all sports headlines for the last fortnight. And will be the focus until AI - football final is over. RTE coverage on the radio dominated by GAA this week in the morning. 6.1 news its the first thing up in the sports last week. Exception prob on s*cc*r transfer deadline day.

craggles

Grudge against other sports much? My God.

GerM

craggles wrote: »

Can't pubs get licences to open early like they did for the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan?

Sure but only a very limited number of pubs will bother even considering it. Only the established rugby pubs would stand a chance of getting a half decent crowd in and even then the majority of people couldn't be bothered getting up at 7.30am on a Saturday morning to head to Kiely's or the Horseshow House etc. for a match they have on RTE.

The Lions matches were only on Sky so some people had to go elsewhere if they wanted to see them and football is a much more popular sport than rugby for when they opened in 2002.

JustinDee

Mister Dread wrote: »

They would have been better off having the games on early over in New Zealand. Having the games at 11pm-1am would have been much better here on a Friday or Saturday night.

RWC are trying to earn from running this comp. It funds the game. A network paying big bucks for TV rights wants peak viewerships hence evening kick-offs for a number of games, particularly the top-tier encounters.
Happens the same for Aussie/NZ/Polynesia when hosted in Europe or in South Africa.

Sånn er livet.

Mister Dread

I reckon Europe/SA is a much bigger market for tv audiences. NZ is a small place and not that many in Aus care about rugby.

jaykay74

JustinDee wrote: »

It will be shown on Viasat Sport, the sat channel.
Or of course, will be shown in some of the ex-pat bars in various cities (Irish, English, Aussie etc or bars connected with rugby clubs).

Great thanks for that. Actually have viasat for the soccer so seems like I will get to see it

http://www.viasat.se/content/rugby-vm

rockman15

craggles wrote: »

Grudge against other sports much? My God.

No. Just the nature of those sports really. GAA far more popular in most communities as it is heavily localised and integrated into daily lives. I would have expected more from national media though. The country is bigger than two counties, especially as the national team draws from all four provinces.

I hate s*cc*r to the core for a myriad of reasons.

digzy

GerM wrote: »

Bars aren't going to put in much effort in marketing the tournament when they know that they're not going to profit from the tournament. Our games are early morning (as early as 6am). With the tournament being so far removed geographically the level of attention will be diluted somewhat also. The warm ups removed a lot of the wind from our sails and the hype machine died down accordingly. In 2007 our team was blown out of all proportion with the media tipping us as potential finalists.

i think it's fantastic re the bars not plugging it. The association between alcohol and sport in this country is crazy. the hypocracy of it. 'carlsberg' or 'guinness' is the official beer to the FAI...only a few days ago the manager was critisizing the alcohol culture and not wanting the 'lads' out on the sauce.The european rugby cup isn't even called that-everyone calls it the heineken cup. tbf you wont see the rugby players getting sozzled till after the tournament is over.it's the idiots in the crowd who'll be coughing up for the overpriced booze all over the place.

the GAA removed guinness's sponsorship a few years back and fair play to them.i dare say,Tomorrows game will be far more entertaining than the dross in the aviva last night.

As regards the hype, the all irelands,soccer and the beer marketing are the reasons for the lack of it.

sock puppet

Mister Dread wrote: »

I reckon Europe/SA is a much bigger market for tv audiences. NZ is a small place and not that many in Aus care about rugby.

Europe and SA are an hour ahead though.

matthew8

New Zealand isn't a great place to host a world cup for European viewers which is definitely a factor. However I think that while this year's tournament is underhyped the 2007 tournament was massively overhyped, I think we have a far better chance of reaching the semis than in 2007.

Gracelessly Tom

digzy wrote: »

i think it's fantastic re the bars not plugging it. The association between alcohol and sport in this country is crazy. the hypocracy of it. 'carlsberg' or 'guinness' is the official beer to the FAI...only a few days ago the manager was critisizing the alcohol culture and not wanting the 'lads' out on the sauce.The european rugby cup isn't even called that-everyone calls it the heineken cup. tbf you wont see the rugby players getting sozzled till after the tournament is over.it's the idiots in the crowd who'll be coughing up for the overpriced booze all over the place.

the GAA removed guinness's sponsorship a few years back and fair play to them.i dare say,Tomorrows game will be far more entertaining than the dross in the aviva last night.

As regards the hype, the all irelands,soccer and the beer marketing are the reasons for the lack of it.

Well done, you've managed to insult the vast majority of sporting fans and most people on here.

If I want to enjoy a match with a beer I will. I don't need self-righteous folk like yourself telling me otherwise.

As for the ridiculous notion of having an official beer. That sponsorship money goes a long way to the running of the unions and the lower levels of sports.

JustinDee

jaykay74 wrote: »

Great thanks for that. Actually have viasat for the soccer so seems like I will get to see it

http://www.viasat.se/content/rugby-vm

Så fint da!

JustinDee

digzy wrote: »

the GAA removed guinness's sponsorship a few years back and fair play to them

No, they didn't.
Guinness are one of three official sponsors of their Hurling Championships. Have you not seen their 'Power to Lift Us All' campaign?

There are many reasons for a sponsor not latching naming rights to a competition or event. Cost is one of them.

profitius

GerM wrote: »

Bars aren't going to put in much effort in marketing the tournament when they know that they're not going to profit from the tournament. Our games are early morning (as early as 6am). With the tournament being so far removed geographically the level of attention will be diluted somewhat also. The warm ups removed a lot of the wind from our sails and the hype machine died down accordingly. In 2007 our team was blown out of all proportion with the media tipping us as potential finalists.

I think the IRFU made a mistake in voting for NZ instead of SA. SA are more or less in the same time zone and there would have been a bigger buzz leading up to the matches.

Having said that, if Ireland win a big match or two there'll be massive hype. The low expectations are having an effect too although its a help to the team.

nkay1985

JustinDee wrote: »

No, they didn't.
Guinness are one of three official sponsors of their Hurling Championships. Have you not seen their 'Power to Lift Us All' campaign?

There are many reasons for a sponsor not latching naming rights to a competition or event. Cost is one of them.

He's correct in that it used tobe called the Guinness All-Ireland championship and the GAA stopped that and re-branded it as the GAA All-Ireland because they didn't think it was right to have an alcoholic brand so closely associated and that the GAA bit had become lost over time.

JustinDee

nkay1985 wrote: »

He's correct in that it used tobe called the Guinness All-Ireland championship and the GAA stopped that and re-branded it as the GAA All-Ireland because they didn't think it was right to have an alcoholic brand so closely associated and that the GAA bit had become lost over time.

Guinness are sponsors of the hurling championships. Naming right to the championship or not.

JustinDee

profitius wrote: »

I think the IRFU made a mistake in voting for NZ instead of SA. SA are more or less in the same time zone and there would have been a bigger buzz leading up to the matches

- Sth Africa has already hosted it in a solo capacity.

- The timezone was used in last RWC.

- NZ has never solely hosted.

- Rugby union in NZ needs the comp to help boost the sport which has suffered lower attendances and has lost players to Europe and Japan.

- Australia and the Pacific Islands badly need the real-time profile. Rugby union in Australia has been in extremely poor health over the past five years with the continued growth of NRL, AFL, Soccer and with the disastrous ARC competition which sucked dry an huge amount of dollars from the coffers.

nkay1985

JustinDee wrote: »

Guinness are sponsors of the hurling championships. Naming right to the championship or not.

Yeah but he was obviously talking about what I was referring to. Tat was a massive change. It's equivalent to changing the Heineken Cup to the European Rugby Cup or whatever. Then Heineken's only involvement would be in ads such as the one you posted.

As it is now, the two are inextricably linked. You don't mention one without the other.

Anyway, this is OT. I'm quite happy about the lack of hype. Not having suchhigh expectations will at least take the pressure off the team and maybe they can pull some performances together because they haven't looked like doing it in any of the warm-up games.

MungBean

Serious lack of hype alright, I'm sure once its underway people will gravitate towards it anyway. Just got a shiver of excitement when I seen this thread an realised it was so close :pac:

Blut2

Mister Dread wrote: »

They would have been better off having the games on early over in New Zealand. Having the games at 11pm-1am would have been much better here on a Friday or Saturday night.

Awful shame they didnt have a few more midday kickoffs in NZ alright. A midday NZ time kickoff would be midnight Irish/UK time. I cant imagine games like Ireland vs the USA will get much TV coverage over there anyway, doubt they'd lose many viewers by being played at midday as opposed to 6pm. But they'd gain a lot of viewers here airing at midnight on a Friday/Saturday night as opposed to 6am on a Sat/Sun morning.

Ah well!

Conas

We can't complain about the time zone etc. I mean it affected people in the Southern Hemisphere during the last world cup. It's just the way it is. I've no problem in getting up out of the bed really early to watch the matches. I'm guessing September the 11th will be a long day for some people who are out on the lash on Saturday night.

profitius

JustinDee wrote: »

- Sth Africa has already hosted it in a solo capacity.

- The timezone was used in last RWC.

- NZ has never solely hosted.

- Rugby union in NZ needs the comp to help boost the sport which has suffered lower attendances and has lost players to Europe and Japan.

- Australia and the Pacific Islands badly need the real-time profile. Rugby union in Australia has been in extremely poor health over the past five years with the continued growth of NRL, AFL, Soccer and with the disastrous ARC competition which sucked dry an huge amount of dollars from the coffers.

What are you doing worrying about NZ and Australia? They're the two favourites for the rugby world cup so they can't be that badly off.

JustinDee

profitius wrote: »

What are you doing worrying about NZ and Australia? They're the two favourites for the rugby world cup so they can't be that badly off.

The IRB will run a game as a whole. If there are problems in any section, especially in the upper tier, they deal with it accordingly ie. with the game in mind. Not tribalistically.
Just explaining why comp staged as it is.

Doesn't matter if Aussie and NZ are favourites for a tourny. If there are issues, those issues will be looked at by the governing body of the sport. As it happens, there are problems in both countries as I've pointed out.

jacothelad

Bassfish wrote: »

Is it just me or is there a serious lack of hype and enthusiasm about this world cup compared to rwc 2007? Only for the odd flag hanging outside sports bars, anyone who's not in to rugby would hardly know there was a world cup on. There's little hype in the media and little of the kind of "let's get behind the team" spirit in the country. Maybe it's down to a brutal warm up series and an average 6 nations? What do people think?

..and the one before and the awful autumn games. Losing 11 of the last 16 is pretty tragic considering we supply two of the best 4 sides in Europe. There is a lot of disaffection fuelled by the disappointment of the last 2 seasons. Instead of progressing from the Grand Slam with more evolutionary tactics to suit the changing game and new players, we can see that the team has simply got mired down in a pretty stagnant swamp of ineptitude.

We can see the selection of players out of position like MOD, Don. Ryan, Fitzgerald, Earls, Buckley that is frankly appalling and not worthy of our National Team, particularly when there are specialists in those positions who deserve /deserved an opportunity to at least show their mettle.

We can see the selection of players who have not earned the right to be there or who have succumbed to Father Time yet still get picked.

We can see that selection by media hype is alive and well. We can also note that there are men available who seem to be able to get our players firing on all cylinders.

We can see for ourselves the selection of Tony Buckley. The prospect of him having to play is so horrendous it brings into question the ability of the coach in all areas.

It's no wonder that we aren't getting excited.

RE: Tony Buckley and "the Connacht Issue".

I reckon that if Hagan had have played 4 games for Leinster at the end of last season, that he would've been on the plane in Buckley's stead.

I guarantee that he will be Ross' back up by the time we get to 6N, and I reckon this is almost entirely due to his move from Connacht.

I think that's a terrible indication of the blindness of our coaches, that a guy who's clearly proven his ability at Connacht this season was left out. McCarthy seems to have gotten a "token run" though he wold be a far more suitable 5.5 than Ryan imo.

How can Connacht push forward if their players are "forced to leave" in order to get international recognition?

profitius

JustinDee wrote: »

The IRB will run a game as a whole. If there are problems in any section, especially in the upper tier, they deal with it accordingly ie. with the game in mind. Not tribalistically.
Just explaining why comp staged as it is.

Doesn't matter if Aussie and NZ are favourites for a tourny. If there are issues, those issues will be looked at by the governing body of the sport. As it happens, there are problems in both countries as I've pointed out.

They're the two top ranked teams in the world. They boast about super rugby and boast how great they are all the time but does the poor mouth at the same time. Its all nonsense. They started professional rugby.

If the IRB want to grow the game they'll start helping countries like Georgia, Russia, Romania, Germany, Spain etc.

GerM

It's actually remarkable that we have only 4 professional sides in the country and one of them doesn't have a single player in a 30 man squad. The Dragons are probably the most comparable side to them and they have 5 players in the Welsh squad.

JustinDee

profitius wrote: »

They're the two top ranked teams in the world. They boast about super rugby and boast how great they are all the time but does the poor mouth at the same time. Its all nonsense. They started professional rugby

It is not nonsense. Its a reality. Don't know what you mean by "boasting" either. Who said what?

IRB do a lot of work in developing lower ranked unions and are assisted by the higher-ranked unions in doing so.

rockman15

GerM wrote: »

It's actually remarkable that we have only 4 professional sides in the country and one of them doesn't have a single player in a 30 man squad. The Dragons are probably the most comparable side to them and they have 5 players in the Welsh squad.

I wouldnt countr Sean Cronin as a leisnter man yet. His selection has been made from his performances with Connacht.

I do agree with the prior point made about the stagnation of the side. It seems DK, who elects the tactics to be played, is stuck in 2008. There is little continuity in the side and the selection policies employed are outrageous to sy the least. BUT...the squad has been picked and its up to the rest of us to row in behind and support the selected players. I'm off to NZ in 10 days btw, but I fear for the worst.

JustinDee

JustinDee wrote: »

It is not nonsense. Its a reality. Don't know what you mean by "boasting" either. Who said what?

IRB do a lot of work in developing lower ranked unions and are assisted by the higher-ranked unions in doing so.

And are doing a very good job imo. Trying to bridge the gaps from professional to amateur is incredibly difficult! Should/Could take many years for a lot of countries, look how long it's taken Italy to record wins against big names.

I'm looking forward to having more than 12 teams in contention over the next 15 years, and I think we're seeing a good approach to getting Japan, Russia and Italian domestic rugby up to scratch. Argentina's addition to the tri-nations will benefit all down there, and will hopefully spread the game amongst the South /Central Americas.

Rugby 7s is making the game far more accessible to smaller nations too, Kenya are competing regularly and there are indications of other teams dying to get involved in the circuit.

Piliger

How can there possibly by much hype or excitement among Irish fans when we lost all 4 warmup games with such dismal performances ?

You have to have some hope to get excited ... now only die hard fans of rugby are looking forward to watching Aussie, SA and NZ show us how it's done ... and fear the England will yet again over perform and shame us ..

jacothelad

Sadly watching Ireland shrink and dither over the last two seasons has taken away the satisfaction of the previous 10 years. It has been like watching a slow motion car crash. The same mistakes in selection repeated endlessly along with what seems a complete lack of any imagination.

Sadly I must put my hand up and say I was one of those who wished for a non-Irish coach. I was of the opinion that Kidney was successful at Munster because Munster were stocked with fantastic players at the height of their powers. Munster made Kidney, not the other way round. They were comfortable with him and he was at ease with them.
I couldn't see him being able to create a 'new Ireland' from the left overs of EOS. His need to be at Munster led to him abandoning Newport and ditching Leinster to get home to Mammy Munster. No loyalty there from Deccie. His continual selection of over-the-hill Munster players, crap Munster players, Munster players squeezed in out of position to the detriment of other, better players and continual and cretinous use of the Munster game of 2008, the premature selection of Murray, the awarding of new contracts to 34 year old Munster players, the selection of Buckley etc. He isn't a coach who can operate out of his comfort zone.

profitius

jacothelad wrote: »

Sadly I must put my hand up and say I was one of those who wished for a non-Irish coach. I was of the opinion that Kidney was successful at Munster because Munster were stocked with fantastic players at the height of their powers. Munster made Kidney, not the other way round. They were comfortable with him and he was at ease with them. .

When Gaffney took over things went backwards so Kidney had a massive impact on Munster.

He wasn't perfect. People say he neglected the academy in his time in Munster and played a boring style. It was also frustrating watching Munster play terrible in the Celtic league in the past and it was obvious Kidney used it as a training excerise for the HEC. But overall he had a massive effect and brought with him a winning mentality. Thats why I'm still hopeful they'll preform in this world cup.

irishh_bob

rockman15 wrote: »

No. Just the nature of those sports really. GAA far more popular in most communities as it is heavily localised and integrated into daily lives. I would have expected more from national media though. The country is bigger than two counties, especially as the national team draws from all four provinces.

I hate s*cc*r to the core for a myriad of reasons.

soccer is my favourite sport but i share your ( somewhat ) hostility towards the GAA , outside the big citys , it hoovers up all the talent and rugby , soccer and who knows what else , all suffer as a result , the GAA is the 500 pound gorrilla

Giant Kiwi

Lads,

the reason most games are on in the evening in New Zealand is so the European nations can watch it at a reasonable time.
ALL games will get coverage on NZ t.v.
As for the channells boasting that they will show the games are talking rubbish.
ITV put ad breaks in the middle of a game and RTE/BBC only show their own countries games.

NZ isn't really a small country either, same square mileage as UK and Ireland put together.

JustinDee

Giant Kiwi wrote: »

Lads,

the reason most games are on in the evening in New Zealand is so the European nations can watch it at a reasonable time.
ALL games will get coverage on NZ t.v.
As for the channells boasting that they will show the games are talking rubbish.
ITV put ad breaks in the middle of a game and RTE/BBC only show their own countries games.

NZ isn't really a small country either, same square mileage as UK and Ireland put together.

small population = small country.
That's what the kiwi press keep reminding Aussies during almost every Bledisloe build-up anyway.
"Faw mulliun uv us en' suxteen mulliun uv yooz" etc etc...

Game times are actually determined by what suits TV rightsholders.

profitius

irishh_bob wrote: »

soccer is my favourite sport but i share your ( somewhat ) hostility towards the GAA , outside the big citys , it hoovers up all the talent and rugby , soccer and who knows what else , all suffer as a result , the GAA is the 500 pound gorrilla

Soccer is the gorrilla. Its hyped beyond all reason.

The_Kew_Tour

Ya have to say there is not much talk about the WC compared to other years..

Maybe that good thing for squad and all that keeps more pressure away..

I am sure come next week things will change.