Will Andy Farrell get the adoration Jack Charlton got?

Arghus

Let's face it: this will all be moot when they inevitably lose to New Zealand.

kowloonkev

The thing is while it would be great if they won it, I just couldn't relate to most of the Irish players on the team and I think that goes for the majority of the people in Ireland. I couldn't possibly imagine having a conversation with Sexton or Ryan and the likes. They're more foreign to me than the actual foreigners on the team. The only one who comes across like a normal Irish man is Peter O'Mahony.

I have a lot of respect for them and how Irish rugby has gone about becoming a global force, and it really puts the FAI to absolute shame. But if you don't feel that they are the same as you it's hard to have that same feeling like when the football team was good back in the day.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209133#Comment_121209133

You have absolutely no idea about rugby. Google Keith Earls.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209141#Comment_121209141

Mocker gods approve.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209158#Comment_121209158

Both Ryan and sexton are far more "normal" than ridiculously well paid journeymen playing soccer.

I like soccer, even some of the players public personas, but I certainly can't relate to them.

This thread is about punching down/up from the get go. Not even thinly veiled.

Strazdas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209133#Comment_121209133

Though it could be argued that Ireland winning the RWC would be by far the bigger achievement. Only one team from the northern hemisphere has ever won the RWC (England in 2003) and even France have never won it.

martingriff

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121208008#Comment_121208008

Well we haven't consistently done well for 15 years. We do great certain years maybe win a 6 nation but when it came to the World Cup year we crap the bed the worse been last World Cup.

We have gotten to the world cup every time so just getting to the world cup will not get him cult status. Winning it I think will do it

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209162#Comment_121209162

Earls is unique in terms of the profile snd background of Irish professional rugby players. I use the word "unique" in the sense of him growing up in a deprived local authority estate in Limerick. Despite his outstanding ability he may not have become the world class star he has become without having the stable family background that he has and the support and guidance of his father, himself a distinguished former (amateur) player.

kowloonkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209174#Comment_121209174

You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about the salaries of footballers. Maybe you are living in a bubble or something but these rugby guys are not normal at all. I'm not saying they're not Irish or implying anything bad. They are outstanding in what they do. But I can't imagine having a conversation with them on the same level. It'd be like talking to a spartan or something. Whereas someone like Damien Duff is basically the exact same as a lot of my friends and lads I know and that goes for a lot of Irish football players.

chicorytip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209186#Comment_121209186

Oh, it would be a far greater sporting achievement than being knocked out in the first round of the soccer world cup, for instance. Of course it would. I don't think it would be celebrated as widely though, perverse as that sounds.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209198#Comment_121209198

No where near unique!

Go up to tallaght rfc some day and see the amount of people togging out.

Won't be long before you leinster players or internationals from that club.

I like soccer, football and hurling, but rugby is my sport(although I was fairly crap at it).

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209199#Comment_121209199

I'm living in a bubble and a chip on my shoulder? Potentially 100's of thousand a week paid to a teenager and rugby players are not normal?

Any sports person who gets to an elite level is in 0.01%. I don't which them ill whatsoever. But mediocre players in soccer should be set for life after 3/4 seasons. Fair play, but inevitably they feck up their finances.

Education is the key. I'm not saying there's is any difference in intellect between the sports, but it's Education again.

Duckworth_Luas

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209199#Comment_121209199

Duff is from the same type of background as many of the Ireland rugby team.

He's also friends with some of them.

He even went too a rugby school.

If you can talk to Duff then you probably wouldn't melt if you were stuck in a lift with Sexton.

yagan

I've really enjoyed the games so far, but I don't think it will be the same as soccer.

Rugby union is small but well organised sport, and the RWC feels like the six nations + South Africa and NZ (we won't mention Oz).

If we had a decent soccer team qualifying for major tournaments I don't think Rugby would be getting as much attention.

To be honest I enjoy watching Rugby League more and I reckon that could be more popular if people knew more about it.

SEPT 23 1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209942#Comment_121209942

League is a great game and the working class over here would enjoy it as they do in the communities in the north of the UK

if only they could watch it

YabaDabaDooley

For me and the majority of people i know the rugby world cup doesn't come up in conversation. I mean never. Whether Ireland win it or went out last night it wouldn't matter. The only Farrell worth talking about for us is Dessie.

robbiezero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210575#Comment_121210575

When I lived in Dublin 5 for a while, I was always surprised by how little overlap there was between rugby and GAA, both players and supporters. The GAA lads would watch the six nations etc, just about, but Leinster rugby had very little traction.

It was very different where I came from in Munster where there was plenty overlap between the GAA and rugby and Munster rugby would have had big support within the GAA community. Also the rugby lads would be well into the GAA too.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210438#Comment_121210438

League sucks balls to be honest. Poor person's real rugby .

Tom Mann Centuria

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121209942#Comment_121209942

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210438#Comment_121210438

And Andy Farrell a legend of the game from his days at Wigan.

As Lawrie Daly (Aussie Rugby League legend) said "Rugby league is a simple game played by simple people. Rugby union is a complex game played by wånkers"

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210615#Comment_121210615

Correct. Born in Dublin but support kerry football and kilkenny hurling (I'm a mongrel and know no better).

Sport is great and should be encouraged.

Aresholes will probably say I'm a posh person because I played rugby in a private school. I'd like to take you on a tour of my area in 1988 and see how possible am. My parents gave every penny they could to our education.

Niall quinn, Brian kerr, Robbie keane, Damien duff. All within walking distance of their gaffs.

SEPT 23 1989

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210756#Comment_121210756

Did you feel like an outsider around those people as much as you loved the game

honest answer

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210779#Comment_121210779

No actually. There were people there from very rich families, doing well and just want to do the best for their kids families.

Don't get me wrong. There were a minority of aresholes, but they were given short shrift.

More a educational school than a rugby school. Small school and fond memories.

Perhaps it's unusual, but we didn't care where you were from as long as you tried your best to be the fonz.

College, different thing.

WesternZulu

He won’t get the same type of adoration as Charton if Ireland wins.

The truth is for an awful lot of people, even those who will be roaring at the telly, rugby is a spectator sport and that’s it.

Most people don’t have the same connection to the sport as they have with soccer and GAA. It’s just something to watch in spring and every four years during the WC.

The fact that we’re number one in the world yet I would really struggle to name more the 3 people I know who play the game. I don’t think I’d be unique in that situation either outside of places like D4.

There are more GAA clubs in Cork than rugby clubs in the whole country. If that’s how shallow the playing base is here it makes a farce of the strength of the game globally.

If you think rugby has the same ferocious support as soccer, football, or hurling just have a look out for Ireland flags and bunting on your drive tomorrow.

Now compare the level of flags etc. that would be around the place if Ireland were in the soccer World Cup or if your county was in the All-Ireland final.

The truth is rugby doesn’t capture the general public in the same way and I’d agree with other who have said that your average Joe/Jane wouldn’t be able to name half the team.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210860#Comment_121210860

Truth?

You obviously don't know rugby.

Schools, club, provinces, country, there's a huge connection.

Don't talk about something you know nothing about.

SEPT 23 1989

https://youtu.be/fEkc8dGF2ds?si=lNAct9pcjjsDhb4v

……….

WesternZulu

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210878#Comment_121210878

I’m not saying there isn’t a connection from those involved in the sport, or from rugby schools.

That’s not my point.

The average person didn’t go to a school where rugby was king, they don’t go regularly to provincial games (otherwise the avg. attendance for Munster and Connacht would be much higher).

None of my close sports mad friends ever go to Connacht games for instance even though they watch Ireland. The connection to rugby is superficial.

I’m based in Galway county. I could easily go about my day not knowing the rugby was on. Not the same last year when Galway were in the football final, loads of flag’s about. If Ireland were in the soccer would cup I’d certainly know it too.

lbunnae

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210756#Comment_121210756

Are you a man utd fan as well?

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210928#Comment_121210928

That is absolutely what you asked.

You asked me a question and I answered honestly.

Your reply to my message is very Beal bocht.

You are messaging in bad faith. Everyone in Ireland knew we were playing Scotland last night. Everyone!

Clo-Clo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121207652#Comment_121207652

You would need to explain that one

Padre_Pio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121210860#Comment_121210860

I think it's very generational.

Italia 90 is engrained into the psyche of everyone 40 and over who lived through it, and to be honest, I think people have made a lot more of it in recent times. It was a zeitgeist moment that won't be recreated.

Rugby (purely IMO) has been on the radar for the past 20 years. BO'D and RO'G became the first "poster boys" of rugby that the general public were well familiar with. Leinster and Munster get regular good attendance at matches, not so sure of Connaught and Ulster.

On your point about knowing players, you'd have a better chance with Irish people knowing half the rugby team than the soccer team.