Connacht Rugby pro side to disband!?

PH01

The IRFU says that it is costing too much to keep four provincial and funding for the Connacht pro side may have to go.

Should this be allowed to happen?

tHE vAGGABOND

its a professional game in the real world...

connacht have never been that good, apart from the odd short run in the european plate..

the connacht team is not vital to bringing players through, or vital for anything else..

Money makes the rules these days (be that right or wrong).

Yavvy

im afraid the bond is right, But I would liek to think there is some sort corporate that could help fund them..I did think connaught was developing and getting better.

Live by euro, die by the euro I guess

PH01

What about tradition? We've always have had four provincial sides in Irish rugby and I think it would be a sad reflection on the game here if we were to loose one of these sides.
And yes I know money talks and it's saying 'No' to Connacht at the moment. But I think it would be a very short sighted decision to disband the pro team. It's not only is it important to Connacht but to the game in Ireland. The last two coaches, O'Sullivan and Gatland, of the Irish team have both perfected their coaching skills in Connacht.
And what about the future? Who to say that the Connacht team won't improve and compete with the great sides of the Rugby world?

bucks73

I am afraid I have to disagree with both of you.

IMO it is absolutely vital for the Connaught Branch to be able to offer a certain number (30) of professional contracts to players to keep developing the game not only in Connaught but around the country. There are quite a few Irish players from outside Connaught that have contracts and they are gaining valuable experience while playing in the Celtic League and Challenge Cup. Why should Connaught lose out just because the support isnt as big as the other three provinces. Their results this season are not a whole lot worse than Ulsters.

There are plenty of players around the country who are on fat IRFU contracts and arent even playing for a province.

I know of one player in particular with a Limerick club who has a contract worth 45,000 sterling for two years and he cant even get on that clubs second team. There are plenty more like him around the country wasting good money that could be going towards the Connaught Branch.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Axe

I don't think that the IRFU can disband the Connacht side, it wouldn't be fair with ulster, leinster and munster. Perhaps more money needs to be invested at grass-roots level in Connacht. It is just a case of money-saving on the behalf of the IRFU, and they are taking the easy way out. Surely money invested in Connacht now could pay huge dividends in the future.

PH01

From:The Star
Monday, 13th January, 2003


When rugby superstars Diego Dominguez and Neil Jenkins send messages of support because of what they think is a palpable injustice, it’s time to sit up and take notice.

When one of rugby’s gentlemen Eric Elwood is almost reduced to using a swear word, he should be worth listening to too.

And when the whole country simply cannot understand why the game’s governing body, the IRFU (mission statement “To foster rugby in Ireland”), want to jettison a whole province, surely something is amiss.

Pressure

Yet with the scaffold seemingly already built, Connacht took the field in the European Cup quarter-final wondering if any of their players would have a job in eight days time.

“It’s absolutely shagging crazy that every time we play a match these days, the young lads on our team have to deal with outside pressure, being told Connacht are on the brink,” said a disconsolate Elwood after Saturday’s game.

“We have a team with an average age of 23 years and they need to playing rugby free of any outside pressures.

“It’s to their credit that they served up probably one of the greatest games of rugby seen in the whole country this year.

“Okay, we didn’t get a result on the night but we scored thirty points, only letting ourselves down by conceding points too easily just after our own scores,” he added.

Gerry Kelly is the Chief Executive of Connacht rugby and, as the boss, is supposed to be kept informed by the IRFU.

Yet Kelly freely admits, the first he knew of this bombshell was when listening to his radio at 8.35am on Thursday.

“I think any kind of a decent result sends a positive message to the IRFU,” he says.

“We got 4,000 supporters to this match with Pontypridd and are not beaten in the two-legged tie just yet, yet we are to be written off as an entity off the pitch in advance.”

Kelly, apparently, doesn’t see much of a future for Connacht if the IRFU’s current thinking is being gauged correctly.

"Look, we could win the European Shield which would entitle us to be in the Heineken Cup next season,” he shrugs.

Abandoned

“But without a professional set-up we would not be able to take part. I don’t envisage Connacht being able to take part in the Shield or the Cup without a professional set-up.

“Even with a part-time operation, we wouldn’t be able to compete.”

According to the IRFU, they have not rubber-stamped the jettisoning of Connacht’s professional set-up, but clearly west of the Shannon they know they have been abandoned.

It makes for an interesting match-up at Sardis Road next Saturday.

What a pity cold-blooded ‘accountant-types’ in the IRFU must be hoping Steph Nel’s men lose.

Diego Dominguez, for one, is hoping they win.

Meanwhile, Connacht secretary John Power criticised the timing of the controversy as the province prepared for the biggest game in their history.

“The Connacht players had to prepare against a shameful and disgraceful background of a threat to their very existence,” said Power.

“The whole of Ireland should be cheering us, not trying to bring us down.

“We understand the Irish Rugby Football Union’s position and we are willing to play our part — but we are very fearful.”

Copyright Independent Star Ltd.