Rugby at the olympics. The draw is as follows ....

RichieRich89

Awesome stuff from Fiji. How many Irish players would be anything like that comfortable in possession? Robin Copeland and Noel Reid? Maybe?

clsmooth

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

But what about the rest of the country? Its totally ridiculous that the 3 main international sides now only play their home games in D4.
What about move games to Limerick, Belfast, Cork, Galway?

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

wp_rathead

clsmooth wrote: »

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

Scotland u20's play in Broadwood Stadium in Glasgow
Wales u20s play in Parc Eirias in North Wales
England u20's play all over the country, often as far north as Newcastle

molloyjh

wp_rathead wrote: »

Scotland u20's play in Broadwood Stadium in Glasgow
Wales u20s play in Parc Eirias in North Wales
England u20's play all over the country, often as far north as Newcastle

And the Irish U20s played in Athlone. Not sure what that has to do with the point about the senior sides?

wp_rathead

molloyjh wrote: »

And the Irish U20s played in Athlone. Not sure what that has to do with the point about the senior sides?

Lost Sheeps original point was Senior side, Womens and U20s all now play in D4 and that games should be spread across the country
clsmooth said the senior sides of Wales, Scotland and England play in their respective capital cities but I was pointing out their u20s play outside them

And the u20s no longer play in Dubary Park

OldRio

clsmooth wrote: »

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

Is travel free nowadays?

clsmooth

OldRio wrote: »

Is travel free nowadays?

Nobodies holding a gun to your head to go. Do you want them to play in your back garden? Otherwise you're going to have to travel somewhere and pay for parking, taxi or a bus. The nature of senior international games is that you're going to be spending a decent amount on the day with regards tickets and food and drinks if you make a day of it. Otherwise you may want to watch it through the window of a neighbour's house to avoid paying your TV license as well.

OldRio

clsmooth wrote: »

Nobodies holding a gun to your head to go. Do you want them to play in your back garden? Otherwise you're going to have to travel somewhere and pay for parking, taxi or a bus. The nature of senior international games is that you're going to be spending a decent amount on the day with regards tickets and food and drinks if you make a day of it. Otherwise you may want to watch it through the window of a neighbour's house to avoid paying your TV license as well.

What is this 'TV Licence' of which you speak?:D


When I can afford the luxury of attending a game I shall attend. Until then, the neighbours house it is.

clsmooth

OldRio wrote: »

What is this 'TV Licence' of which you speak?:D


When I can afford the luxury of attending a game I shall attend. Until then, the neighbours house it is.

I'll make some space of the couch

errlloyd

Btw lads I just watched the final with the world feed commentary instead of the BBC.

Rob Vickerman and Ian Robertson were on the mics and the commentary was pretty good. Robertson is getting a bit old, wasn't having the best of time with some Fijian names, but Vickerman was useful, and neither were even a smidgen biased.

Yeah_Right

clsmooth wrote: »

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

France play outside Paris sometimes. I know the ABs have played them in Marseille. I think one of their Autumn internationals each year is outside of Paris. It's an interesting point you make though. About the Home nations all playing in one stadium. SA, Australia and NZ all play in multiple stadiums.

I understand why Ireland only play in the Aviva but I think it would be great if they did play one game each season outside of Dublin. Maybe an Autumn international against a tier 2 side.

Charizard

clsmooth wrote: »

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

Do England usually play the smaller nations? Also due to Londons massive population its easier to fill stadiums even for smaller games.

Charizard

clsmooth wrote: »

Nobodies holding a gun to your head to go. Do you want them to play in your back garden? Otherwise you're going to have to travel somewhere and pay for parking, taxi or a bus. The nature of senior international games is that you're going to be spending a decent amount on the day with regards tickets and food and drinks if you make a day of it. Otherwise you may want to watch it through the window of a neighbour's house to avoid paying your TV license as well.

Thats a stupid attitude, its not easy to get from the west/south to Dublin or cheap. Like I said its stupid to have smaller internationals in Dublin, spread the game to the rest of the country

Tomtom364

If I remember correctly, with the naming rights of the Aviva Ireland are not allowed to play a full home nternational outside of the Aviva stadium

wp_rathead

Tomtom364 wrote: »

If I remember correctly, with the naming rights of the Aviva Ireland are not allowed to play a full home nternational outside of the Aviva stadium

yup, that's why Fiji was an uncapped game

Charizard

Tomtom364 wrote: »

If I remember correctly, with the naming rights of the Aviva Ireland are not allowed to play a full home nternational outside of the Aviva stadium

Could easily be the case does not make it any less stupid

molloyjh

Charizard wrote: »

Could easily be the case does not make it any less stupid

Even if it brings much needed money into the game? The value of the naming rights plus the extra tickets sold needs to be accounted for. We're already fat enough behind the French and the English, we need to be making the difference up somewhere.

Charizard

molloyjh wrote: »

Even if it brings much needed money into the game? The value of the naming rights plus the extra tickets sold needs to be accounted for. We're already fat enough behind the French and the English, we need to be making the difference up somewhere.

Would they really sell that much tickets for a Canada game for example in Aviva, reckon they would sell out Thomond. Then again I could be 100% wrong

The Lost Sheep

clsmooth wrote: »

England play in London, Wales in Cardiff, Scotland in Edinburgh, France in Paris. You don't see any of them playing outside their national stadiums. Ireland is a small island, it's not that much of a ask to travel to Dublin from outside the capital for a game.

But their 20s and womens don't also only play in London, Cardiff, Paris etc like we do with 20s and womens playing in Donnybrook.
Ireland is a small country but that doesn't mean everything is fine to be in Dublin. Its expensive enough to get up to Dublin for the internationals never mind other games.

clsmooth wrote: »

Nobodies holding a gun to your head to go. Do you want them to play in your back garden? Otherwise you're going to have to travel somewhere and pay for parking, taxi or a bus. The nature of senior international games is that you're going to be spending a decent amount on the day with regards tickets and food and drinks if you make a day of it. Otherwise you may want to watch it through the window of a neighbour's house to avoid paying your TV license as well.

Of course nobody is holding a gun to attend but playing everything in 2 stadiums within a mile of each other suits a small number of people.

Yeah_Right wrote: »

France play outside Paris sometimes. I know the ABs have played them in Marseille. I think one of their Autumn internationals each year is outside of Paris. It's an interesting point you make though. About the Home nations all playing in one stadium. SA, Australia and NZ all play in multiple stadiums.

I understand why Ireland only play in the Aviva but I think it would be great if they did play one game each season outside of Dublin. Maybe an Autumn international against a tier 2 side.

I don't have as much an issue with the senior side only playing in the Aviva but they should play some in Belfast/Limerick/Cork but my main issue is with the 20s/Womens sides now only playing in Donnybrook in the 6Nations

Podge_irl

Charizard wrote: »

Would they really sell that much tickets for a Canada game for example in Aviva, reckon they would sell out Thomond. Then again I could be 100% wrong

It's not about tickets. The sponsorship is worth more to Aviva if all senior international games are guaranteed to be in the stadium.

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Of course nobody is holding a gun to attend but playing everything in 2 stadiums within a mile of each other suits a small number of people.

Ah here, I'm not against moving games at all, but it is most certainly not a "small number of people". Dublin is, by far, the easiest place to get to from Cork, Galway and Belfast and has by far the largest population.

I don't disagree that especially some of the ancillary teams should be playing around the country and see no real reason for them not to.

Edit: and just because we're in completely the wrong thread for this, congratulations Fiji!

molloyjh

Charizard wrote: »

Would they really sell that much tickets for a Canada game for example in Aviva, reckon they would sell out Thomond. Then again I could be 100% wrong

Yes. The smaller games in the AIs generally bring in around 40,000. That's 15,000 more than Thomond can hold, or 60% more if you want to look at it that way. At an average of say €40 a ticket (conservative) then that's an extra €600k per game. Combine that with the value of the naming rights when all international games are played there and you're talking a decent amount of money over the course of a few years.

Charizard

molloyjh wrote: »

Yes. The smaller games in the AIs generally bring in around 40,000. That's 15,000 more than Thomond can hold, or 60% more if you want to look at it that way. At an average of say €40 a ticket (conservative) then that's an extra €600k per game. Combine that with the value of the naming rights when all international games are played there and you're talking a decent amount of money over the course of a few years.

Tickets to a smaller game isnt 40 euros tbh, my Australia tickets were 27euros each. I didnt think theyd get 40K to be honest, presumed it would be around 20, I have nothing to back that up, just judging on tv, I myself wouldnt go up for a Canada game in Dublin from Galway, I would however go to Galway or Thomond
Its not 60% more, its 32.8% either way still losing money

molloyjh

Charizard wrote: »

Tickets to a smaller game isnt 40 euros tbh, my Australia tickets were 27euros each. I didnt think theyd get 40K to be honest, presumed it would be around 20, I have nothing to back that up, just judging on tv, I myself wouldnt go up for a Canada game in Dublin from Galway, I would however go to Galway or Thomond
Its not 60% more, its 32.8% either way still losing money

You can find the attendance numbers on the Irish Rugby website for the last few years.

The €40 figure is an average as well. Remember the Aviva has premium seating which Thomond doesn't have and Thomond has a lot of terrace which is by nature cheaper as well.

And 40/25 = 1.6, i.e. 60% more.

Charizard

molloyjh wrote: »

You can find the attendance numbers on the Irish Rugby website for the last few years.

The €40 figure is an average as well. Remember the Aviva has premium seating which Thomond doesn't have and Thomond has a lot of terrace which is by nature cheaper as well.

And 40/25 = 1.6, i.e. 60% more.

Im honestly shocked if anyone would pay that for Canada :eek:

Marcusm

Charizard wrote: »

Im honestly shocked if anyone would pay that for Canada :eek:

I paid a huge amount more to watch Ireland v Canada at RWC. I don't have a problem paying €40 to watch Canada at Aviva and would prob pay €75 for premium seats. Now that I've moved back to Ireland I suspect I'll find it harder to get tickets for anything other than the likes of Canada although I would be prepared to purchase and attend at all of them. Maybe games like that could be played at Thomond but the handy thing about playing the secondary internationals at Lansdowne is the ability for bulk sales of tickets to underage teams - they're much more likely to travel by bus than the average middle aged Limerick man and it's a great intro. I can remember my first international being Ireland v Romania in 1980. Provincial clubs like mine would never get many tickets for full internationals not to mind for a bus load of 8 year olds.

The Lost Sheep

Marcusm wrote: »

I paid a huge amount more to watch Ireland v Canada at RWC. I don't have a problem paying €40 to watch Canada at Aviva and would prob pay €75 for premium seats. Now that I've moved back to Ireland I suspect I'll find it harder to get tickets for anything other than the likes of Canada although I would be prepared to purchase and attend at all of them. Maybe games like that could be played at Thomond but the handy thing about playing the secondary internationals at Lansdowne is the ability for bulk sales of tickets to underage teams - they're much more likely to travel by bus than the average middle aged Limerick man and it's a great intro. I can remember my first international being Ireland v Romania in 1980. Provincial clubs like mine would never get many tickets for full internationals not to mind for a bus load of 8 year olds.

Provincial clubs could still get substantial number of tickets for games in Thomond in bulk and have in previous internationals played out of Dublin

molloyjh

Charizard wrote: »

Im honestly shocked if anyone would pay that for Canada :eek:

Just had a quick look at Ticketmaster and €35 seems to be the most common ticket price I wouldn't class that as expensive at all really.

EDIT: There are almost no Premium seats left at all and they are €50.

Marcusm

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

Provincial clubs could still get substantial number of tickets for games in Thomond in bulk and have in previous internationals played out of Dublin

There are half the number of seats in Thomond so by definition supplier is substantially more limited and less likely to be widely available in the clubs to just anyone.

The Lost Sheep

Marcusm wrote: »

There are half the number of seats in Thomond so by definition supplier is substantially more limited and less likely to be widely available in the clubs to just anyone.

But demand will always be lower any way for games that would be played in Thomond and clubs will comfortably get tickets they want.

Marcusm

The Lost Sheep wrote: »

But demand will always be lower any way for games that would be played in Thomond and clubs will comfortably get tickets they want.

And now we establish the dichotomy, you'd rather have a smaller number of people seeing it but in a convenient place. I'd rather the maximum number of people see it, even if that means they're all in one location.