Why is rugby/the Irish rugby team so popular?

AdrianG08

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162540#Comment_118162540

Who are you to be judging someone for flying a Liverpool or Man Utd flag outside their home? You don't know the circumstances. Quite possible someone's love for a lot longer than Irish rugby has even been mainstream.

No different to getting married to someone from another country no? Would you tell your mate to stick to Irish women only? That argument you should keep it close to home is ridiculous. I know plenty of Irish fans of UK football clubs who are more passionate about it than some casual rugby fans. And vice versa.

I know one bloke in particular who is from Galway originally, went to college in Cork and now works in Dublin. The guy unashamedly followed Munster rugby in college, hopped on the Leinster bandwagon whilst working in Dublin and all of a sudden hes at the Sports ground wearing his Connacht jersey the last couple of years when there was a sniff of glory. His apparent passion for all 3 teams coincided with their best spells in terms of success of course. Now the guy is otherwise a very intelligent bloke, successful, has all of his mental capacities intact but he is symptomatic of the casual irish sports fan. This is the majority of fans in all irish sport. They follow boxing at the olympics, gaa when their county is on a high, and football during the major tournaments.

There a a small number of hardcore fans in each sport, the vast majority are the same cohort who jump between rugby, soccer and GAA depending on what's hot at the time.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162685#Comment_118162685

8 teams with qualification. It ensured that only the top, top teams turned up. The number of teams allowed has obviously been expanded in recent years but even in Euro 2020 some of the best players in the world were absent - Erling Haaland, Jan Oblak, Milinkovic-Savic to name 3. That's because teams are not guaranteed entry, they have to qualify.

Ireland football has unfortunately had to deal with mismanagement on literally a criminal level for over 20 years and more if you go back to Joe. The IRFU is far more competently run.

Again if Ireland football team were able to just rock up to world cups, they couldn't really do much worse than the rugby team who have that privelege and still haven't managed to win a competitive knockout game.

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162723#Comment_118162723

What sectarianism is in football?

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162726#Comment_118162726

Yeah when you have actual competition in a sport, over the literal handful of half decent teams in rugby, you'll find the wins don't come as easily.

Funnily enough only one sport has a team with a knockout win at a world cup and it isn't rugby, despite free entry.

And obviously the criminal level mismanagement is something to be laughed at(?) as it has only stolen opportunity from thousands of young lads who unfortunately don't have the option of paying €41,000 for a football education like rugby players do.

SupplyandDemandZone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162474#Comment_118162474

Yeah that Paddy Jackson was a real pillar of the community alright

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162725#Comment_118162725

That's the whole point! Fewer teams are competitive in rugby.

There were only 8 teams in Euro 88

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162730#Comment_118162730

So you'd be happy then if Rugby merged it's current tiers and had them all playing each other?

What merit would be in watching the Irish Rugby team batter Luxenbourg into the soil? It would have no more merit than the Irish soccer team battering the Luxembourg soccer team into the ground. You'd hardly expect Luxembourg to put up much of a challenge to Ireland now would you in either soccer or rugby? Especially with all the poor young fellas here having to play only soccer.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162723#Comment_118162723

Yeah just sing a sh*te song before the match so everyone can feel included.

Red Alone

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162733#Comment_118162733

To be fair, he's right. You can have an Irish rugby team and its all fine. But you try doing that with a football team and watch what happens.

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162733#Comment_118162733

James mc clean. 2 teams on 1 island. Celtic/Rangers bullsh1t. We all know guys that can't talk about anything but English soccer. They were gas during lockdown. They didn't know what to do with themselves. I think they are like children with the banter and the love ins.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162745#Comment_118162745

How many soccer teams are really and truly "competitive".

How many European countries might be, right now, eying up winning the European Championship after the next one? Is there really more than a handful of likely candidates?

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162754#Comment_118162754

How many Catholics have played rugby for Scotland?

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162744#Comment_118162744

I actually felt sorry for paddy myself. Didn't follow the story that closely though.

Captain_Crash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162700#Comment_118162700

Winning will always bring bandwagon fans and if rugby wants to grow then that growth starts at the bandwagon! I’ve spend many a weekend afternoon either playing myself of going and watching an AIL game or watching Leinster at the RDS, so I’m far from a bandwagon fan myself, but I know at any given Ireland game the person beside me may well be at their first ever game, and as a fan they are no less important than me at my 100th or so! Infact for growth, engaging that new fan is more important!

The difference re test match is the result has an impact to the teams placement down at the line regarding World Cup groups/seedings, whereas a soccer friendly is just a one off game with no impact regarding seedings or qualification (although I understand world ranking points still apply for soccer friendlies)

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162757#Comment_118162757

There have been 16 European Championships with 10 different winners....

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162748#Comment_118162748

I couldn't care less what rugby do as it is an anti-competitive, elitist, exclusionary sport, propped up in this country by a legion of event-junkies.

The point is that football has the competitiveness beyond the 5-8 half decent teams that rugby has. That competitiveness creates more meaningful tournaments and more meaningful victories. It means that even qualifying for them can be a difficult task. Reigning Euro 2020 Champions Italy didn't qualify for the World Cup in 2018. Imagine that, a team had to qualify for an international tournament - they had to earn their spot rather than be handed it. That scenario could never be replicated in rugby. Never, ever. Having such a wide pool of teams who are capable of doing well is something that should be aspired to, not laughed at.

I'm not really sure what the second paragraph is waffling on about but maybe one of the rugby lads can decipher it for the normal people.

PeaSea

Can I just sum this up by "my sport is way better than your sport, ya boo." Is that fair enough ?

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162762#Comment_118162762

Wouldn't have a clue. Couldn't care less to be honest. Just remember all the violence between Celtic/rangers years ago. Sickening. And all these Irish lads going around with Celtic jerseys. I used love telling them on nights out that I was a rangers fan and they'd be all squaring up to you and mouthing but that's all.

AdrianG08

Rugby is the ultimate sport for casuals. The sport where everyone knows a guy who bring his missus with him before a few pints in Donnybrook.

The disproportionate amount of women who attend aswell is telling, it's part of a wider social fabric, the type of clientele.

We've all had a rugby "fanatic" Boss who liked to regale his team of his exploits on the pitch when to look at him, you know it probably stretched as far as under 12s back in 1970s when daddy dropped him off in the Land Rover before days of the dort.

It's popularity is because of its marketability, its appeal to the corporate classes and because the IRFU hit the jackpot with the provincial system which basically rescued the game (club game to this day is dying on its arse) by allowing amalgamation into 4 teams that get to compete in European competition.

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162785#Comment_118162785

The point is that rugby is a sectarian sport in Scotland.

augustus gloop

Success starved country which will jump on any bandwagon it can. Everyone in the country turned into teddy atlas when Katie Taylor was boxing for gold at the Olympics.

lads shouting about offsides in rugby who don’t have a blue bollox what offside is in Munster jumpers down the pub who have never been to their local club grounds before but still have steadfast opinions on “Tadgh Furlongs workmate”

same lads will sh!te on for days about how Kenny should use a diamond pivot in midfield or some other nonsense.

if we as a country have someone or some team which becomes better than below average it’s all aboard the hype train.

leona Maguire is at the beginning of this trend.

augustus gloop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162442#Comment_118162442

Mack Hansen has been in Ireland 20 minutes and he has been called up.

mfceiling

Josh Cullen.

Chiedozie Ogbene.

Callum Robinson.

All 3 players lined out for Ireland against Portugal. All 3 born outside of Ireland. Any outrage from the soccer lads about that?

Weepsie

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162799#Comment_118162799

His mother is irish. Go again

Captain_Crash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162799#Comment_118162799

He’s an Irish aul dear… he’s eligible anyway!

B2021M

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162808#Comment_118162808

They qualify through Irish ancestry.

Fred Astaire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162785#Comment_118162785

There's a strong Rangers contingent who hate Ireland, indeed only 2 or 3 months ago they were marching the streets singing anti-Irish songs related to the famine. Celtic has strong roots in Irish people who had to flee the country to escape starvation, it's only natural that many Irish people would have an affinity for them.

But you took pride in telling people that you were part of that Rangers support as a joke.

I that says a lot more about you than the people you thought you were better than.

There's a word for lads like you.

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162657#Comment_118162657

Of course it does, every county has GAA schools and the better players head to those schools as well.

Same as some school are best for athletics. THe bitterness towards rugby is amazing

Blue4u

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162726#Comment_118162726

Probably not with the might of Luxembourg and San Mario to beat :-)

straight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162820#Comment_118162820

Nah, no pride in pretending to support rangers. Just enjoyed winding the "hard" men. I'd be leaving politics,etc. Out of sport myself. If scumbags want to march and chant like that they are best ignored and not given any oxygen.