Why is rugby/the Irish rugby team so popular?

generic_throwaway · 15-11-2021 5:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170557#Comment_118170557

Is the impression that this billboard was aimed at declaring rugby triumphant over the inner city? More likely it was aimed at selling beer.

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 5:47pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170518#Comment_118170518

We are still in the middle of a pandemic with a lot of people still afraid of large crowd, yet you pick out a game to say it wasn't sold out 😂 30,000+ at the game and believe me it was a great atmosphere.

Before covid is a better indication when Ireland game sold out no problem, Leinster would sell out the Aviva 3-4 times a season plus a few more games if they got to the HC semis etc. In reality at this stage the Aviva is too small for the 6 nations and Ireland would sell double the tickets it has.

Leinster for 10+ years has over 10k season ticket holder.

At my local rugby club the numbers are up and growing for players. More & more clubs are opening up or growing with players joining.

I think if you actually did scratch the surface you will find rugby has never been in a better place in Ireland, the four provinces are spending lots of money to get players from outside the normal routes. I would suggets you do a little bit of research

gormdubhgorm · 15-11-2021 5:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118168390#Comment_118168390

Just a correct on this Casarino used that line to flog a book. He was in fact always eligible to play for Ireland.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140611091440/http%3A//www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-66560635.html

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/revealed-new-twist-in-cascarino-row-26257148.html

randd1 · 15-11-2021 5:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170423#Comment_118170423

But surely if Irish rugby wanted top host the World Cup, it would be up to Irish rugby to have the facilities in place themselves to host it? And if Irish rugby doesn't have the facilities, then who's fault is it that they don't other than Irish rugby's?

Rugby just doesn't have the facilities, because it doesn't have the popular support in this country. Nor does it have the requisite number of big games to cater for large scale investment by the government.

There's more GAA clubs in Cork than rugby clubs on the island, and I would dare say that on average, they would pull in better crowd figures for their club championships than the AIL. Without the GAA and their facilities, there would be absolutely no hope of Irish rugby hosting the world cup, and it would cost a billion or so to do up the GAA facilities for a World Cup. And the GAA would be well within their rights to say they're not going to put in a penny as they're happy to carry on with the facilities in place. So the cost would have to be borne by the IRFU and the government with the end result that one of their competitors end up with the facilities.

The bid was a joke because Irish rugby had lost the reality that rugby isn't as popular as it seems to think in this country outside of the national side, and it's lack of facilities and teams reflect that. It was a deluded fantasy to begin with.

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 5:53pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170185#Comment_118170185

Sorry I was typing and walking :-)

randd1 · 15-11-2021 5:55pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170627#Comment_118170627

The strength of the AIL would tell more than the provincial/national teams. And they're declining for the most part, certainly in terms of crowd figures.

melekalikimaka · 15-11-2021 5:55pm

Have a look at how much the main sponsors in rugby pay compared with football. Posters lie, money doesnt

CGI_Livia_Soprano · 15-11-2021 6:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118162250#Comment_118162250

So unless a player isn’t from two specific neighbourhoods in Dublin it doesn’t represent the whole of Ireland?! 😂 My god people from Dublin really are convinced that their city is the centre of the universe.

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 6:07pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170635#Comment_118170635

The rugby World was going to bring in millions to Ireland, yes it was rugby been played but the majority of people in Ireland would benefit from the extra money. The GAA would have made millions as well. Again I would suggest do a little research before posting

The bid wasn't a joke and in reality Ireland lost because France paid off some countries to vote for them(Scotland got a couple of games v France to generate revenue with France receiving nothing etc etc )

Nobody is saying rugby is the number 1 sport in Ireland, so not sure why you are talking about number of clubs and attendance. Of course the number 1 sport will have more. Hence why it is all the more strange we have these threads with a load of people, like you, bashing a sport that according to you isn't that big at all? maybe you could explain that?

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 6:12pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170663#Comment_118170663

Why would the AIL tell more? you are scrambling now.

Again the numbers of players are growing, they are at the club level. Google "number of players in rugby growing in ireland" and look at the results :-)

HerrKuehn · 15-11-2021 6:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170749#Comment_118170749

There will be one more next week when my son begins his career in the under 9's 🙂

Bio Mech · 15-11-2021 6:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170713#Comment_118170713

I love posts where the poster calls someone out over a massive assumption /generalisation and then makes ones themselves. It’s a great debating tactic

Fr Tod Umptious · 15-11-2021 6:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170715#Comment_118170715

The idea that it would have brought millions is a fallacy, the cost of hosting the even would have way outstripped the return.

I debated this ad nauseum on the Rugby board back in the day, so much so that I got banned because people over there could not handle the reality of it and had to ban me.

But if it ever did happen in Ireland it would be a true test of how much of a rugby country we are.

The big games with the big teams in Dublin would have sold out no problem.

But the Romania v Namibia on a Thursday night in Killarney, and that's what a small venue like Killarney could have got, would struggle to sell.

Just for context, that sort of game in 2015 would have been something like Africa 1 v Europe 1 on Wed Oct 7th in Sandy Park, Exeter

Ticket prices were GBP£60, GBP£45, GBP£35 and GBP£15, with GBP£7 for kids.

Convert that to Euro in 2023 and that's pricey to see two teams no one even knew played rugby.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-2514328/World-Cup-2015-ticket-prices-kick-times-announced.html

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 7:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170895#Comment_118170895

In Japan it added 2.3 billion to its GDP in a country which had very little interest in rugby, the UK made 1.38billion. Those are the profit after running it. In the likes of England it was clear the locals took to the competition and it was noted even the smaller games had people attending.

I am sure you argued ad nauseam, strange you spend so much time arguing about a sport you clearly have no interest in. You remind me of people who complained about the America Cup bid for Cork and calling it a "boat race" 🙄

The problem Ireland has now is we are too small to win the competition moving forward as it has grown. NZ said they wanted 2011 because they knew going forward they would never be big enough to win it again. So if Ireland goes again they will need to bring in a combined bid with someone, maybe Wales & Scotland.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 15-11-2021 7:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170190#Comment_118170190

Yeah, was last Thursday...

Donald Trump · 15-11-2021 7:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171167#Comment_118171167

After the site migration?

I wouldn't be that surprised to learn that everything is hosted on an old IBM 286 running Windows 3.1 out in the middle of a field somewhere now.

randd1 · 15-11-2021 7:59pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170715#Comment_118170715

When you’re bidding for a World Cup and you have one stadium to your name, maybe two if they could pass of Thomond as a venue, then yes, it’s a farce.

Take the GAA out of it, and how much would it cost the IRFU to build the stadiums and other associated facilities for a World Cup before the profits came in? Billions.

Would they even make a profit in that scenario? Very doubtful. Even less so when you would consider the public resources that do need funding that would be up in arms over it.

And the number of clubs is very relevant. Mostly because it portrays rugby more accurately as a popular but still niche sport that doesn’t have the general participation or the resources to stage a World Cup, no matter how people on these threads, like you, would like to believe otherwise. Maybe could explain how they could fund the hosting of a World Cup?

Captain_Crash · 15-11-2021 8:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171251#Comment_118171251

I’ll agree that the decision of the WC going to France was the right decision but we had more than 1 or 2 Venues. There were 12 stadia proposed (which was to be norrowed down to 8) already in existence and perfectly capeable of hosting a World Cup match, with 4 of them being rugby stadiums themselves! We don’t have the infrastructure of France or the other bidder SA, but regardless of that we do have adequate infrastructure to host such an event.

Fr Tod Umptious · 15-11-2021 8:21pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171251#Comment_118171251

I don't think it's fair to suggest that the IRFU should host it on their own.

If you look at England 2015 they used a lot of top flight and modern soccer stadiums, it was not the RFU alone supplying the infrastructure.

But even with the GAA help the cost would have been collosal.

When the technical report came out prior to the vote it was suggested that P.U.C., the brand new, most modern GAA stadium would have needed a major upgrade to be a viable venue.

So what does that say about the other proposed locations ?

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 8:45pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171251#Comment_118171251

Ireland didn't lose because of stadiums.

France are using soccer stadiums, so was SA proposal.

😂😂

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 8:50pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171353#Comment_118171353

The government was supporting the bid, also the Northern Executive was supporting, yes the GAA stadiums would be upgraded as part of the bid. Even with that work Ireland as a country would have come out with at least a profit of 800m based on projections in 2017. I would expect if we would have increased that now based on the Japan World Cup adn with the increased in rugby Worldwide

Yeah_Right · 15-11-2021 10:05pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170464#Comment_118170464

Just out of curiosity, why do you hate it? There are sports I'm not a fan of and wouldn't watch but I can't think of any I actively hate.

Yeah_Right · 15-11-2021 10:15pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118170394#Comment_118170394

Pretty sure a lot of those fee paying schools would offer scholarships to good young players. Isn't that how Joey Carbery ended up in Blackrock?

I see a few people mentioned that you need grass to play "street" rugby. You don't. Back home if the fields at school were closed because of too much rain, we'd just play touch rugby on the tennis or netball courts at lunch time. Sometimes they degenerated into full contact. Yes there was sometimes blood or broken bones but that's to be expected when kids play. Other times we would play forceback which was no contact and just involved kicking and catching. Great way to work on skills.

randd1 · 15-11-2021 10:24pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171461#Comment_118171461

SA had held the soccer World Cup in 2010 and built new stadiums for it.

France have one of the top 5 professional soccer leagues in the world.

Never mind the rugby stadiums they already have.

They have the infrastructure already in place.

We don’t. And therein was the difference, and why Ireland’s bid was a farce.

Unless you think we don’t need stadiums to play matches 😁😁

Blue4u · 15-11-2021 10:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118171958#Comment_118171958

Last post you wanted to take the GAA stadiums out of it, as I pointed out the other two main rivals used stadiums from other sports.

Not sure why you have continued after that minor hiccup as it would suggest you have no idea what was included in any of the bids

El_Duderino 09 · 15-11-2021 10:49pm

This the op is just a begrudgery post. I don't mean the obvious class begrudgery the OP brings up, I mean the begrudgery at seeing other people enjoying things and looking for reasons why they ought not be having such a good time.

It's sport, it's not real life. Its only really there for entertainment and community. Nobody in Ireland gives a shyte about rowing but I saw loads of people take pleasure out of the lads winning medals in the Olympics. It's just a bit of craic (it's obviously much more than that to the actual athletes and those intimately involved).

@the OP Next, time you see people enjoying a bit of sport and having the craic together as a community, don't over analyse it or look for reasons why they're wrong for taking pleasure in it. Just enjoy it for what it is - other people having a bit of fun.

MrMusician18 · 15-11-2021 10:55pm

Ah here, the RWC wouldn't have come within an asses roar of turning a profit for this country - in fact the business case /cost-benefit for most major sporting events is extremely weak for the host nation. The only people that profit from it are the associations.

I'm glad that boondoggle isn't coming here, and hopefully the football one fails too. We have far better things to spend our money on.

Captain_Crash · 15-11-2021 11:30pm

@El_Duderino 09 great to see ya here discussing rugby too! Isn’t it great that people can enjoy and be invested in more than one sport without pissing and moaning?!? Lol!! onto Qatar 😝

El_Duderino 09 · 15-11-2021 11:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118172333#Comment_118172333

Dead right captain crash!

El_Duderino 09 · 16-11-2021 12:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118172583#Comment_118172583

I find soccer very dull. I'd never dream of watching a game on my own. But I go abound the lads houses to watch an odd big game that they're interested in and always keep an eye on Ireland results and I always wish the team well because there's a great buzz around when Ireland qualify for a tournament. It makes lots of people happy including those who are big soccer fans and the rest of us who just enjoy the buzz and the bit of excitement.

I'd say it's the same with the rugby and people just get on board for the craic. Terrible shame that people can't just see others being happy and take it for what it is.

Why is rugby/the Irish rugby team so popular?

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