Where do Irish professional rugby players come from?

That's ... odd.

If we were to create/develop these areas it will only be through clubs combined with schools as it wont happen elsewhere without a serious connection to existing clubs. Hopefully the centres of excellence being built in provinces will help change/broaden make up of provincial squads...

Based on the thread it has appeared in and given the information in the OP this must be the stupidest post of all time on boards.ie

Spot on Syd.

I was also out at a schools rugby blitz today. well over 200 kids played rugby for 4 hours or so. and same thing about grounds. We had mix of kids who have been playing rugby in their clubs and schools all season(and many more before that) and there were lot more who were playing rugby games for the first time ever.

Its totally on those who can grasp the difference between the 2 statements you make but those who criticise rugby refuse to admit or refuse to see what actually is the case on the ground. Shame.

There has been a narrative going around for over a decade that rugby is up there with soccer and GAA in Ireland as a "game of the people"

This narrative has come from the media, from rugby fans, and from vested interests like the IRFU and their sponsors.

The evidence for this is the people who followed Munster when they were doing well, or the full houses for Ireland games.

But it can never be a "game of the people" if going to a expensive private school greatly enhance one's chances of getting to the pinnacle of the sport, i.e. playing professionally.

None of the other sports mentioned need a private education to greatly enhance a kids chances to make it to the top.

Of course there are other sports where wealth is handy to have like golf, tennis, rowing, cricket, motor sport etc, but none ever claim to be "games of the people".

In the US where you could have four sports that could legitimately be called "games of the people" the players come from some of the most deprived areas in the country.

And while the majority of the fans at college sports in the US may be middle class and white, the guys on the field are far from it.

So it doesn't matter how much time anyone here spent at kids blitzes today, unless the parents of those kids have deep pockets their chances of reaching the top of the game is very much hampered.

In an effort to define the tangible that has led to the development of players are you not overlooking the intangible and very relevant fact that children of lower socio economic households will have less parental involvement and interest in their children doing extra curricular activities.

Not only is there less interest in perusing activities for their children there is less money there to support them.

I can see this in my wider circles where friends come from some very wealthy backgrounds down to very poor backgrounds and while the kids might not be privately educated their parents spend massive money and time on their extra curricular activities while others wouldnt have them going beyond the local soccer or GAA club.

Maybe look at the parents of the current international squad and tell me how many of them work in Aldi, or are security agents in Dublin airport as opposed to well paid professionals. Very few i would wager.

Its the envy of most other countries. Fantastic coaching at an early age. I'm not sure why people moan.

*envy*

Im not disagreeing with this point but is it not also the case that public schools with excellent GAA programs have much more access to players than clubs do, so is there a similar gap in players coming from these schools relative to club players?

I went to one of those rugby schools a long time ago and at the time we had no GAA and soccer was an after thought. At the time rugby was a mandatory part of the curriculum, you had to play until U14. It was stupidly anachronistic and thankfully that school has GAA today (and a few Dublin all Ireland winners) but it's still a rugby powerhouse. At the time the coaches were all teachers, a couple of whom knew what they were doing, but the main emphasis as far as most kids went was an exposure to muscular Christianity and to the mud.

Last year I put one of my kids into another school in Dublin for 6 months that we spent back in Ireland (from the US). He is rugby mad but because of Covid not much rugby was going on. But a few the coaches from a couple of these schools set up an informal training run in for kids interested in a touch run around and skills session 3 times a week. The coaches were mostly Kiwis who were coaching schools and playing club rugby, fellas who knew what they were doing. They were also plugged in enough that various Leinster and Ireland players showed up for a runaround with the kids a couple of times.

Some of the coaching my lad has been exposed to in the US has been pretty good, guys who played to a fairly high level in NZ/SA who live around here, and another few who've played on the US team, the rest are a bunch of amateurs like myself who know some drills, skills and tactics and know something about team spirit, inclusivity and rugby culture, but we aren't winning any national championships. My son felt that the coaching he got in Ireland from these schools coaches was just a much higher level entirely than what he's exposed to here. No comparison eventhough some of the coaches here are genuinely pretty good.

This is a huge difference, the fact that schools are recruiting internationally while clubs are relying on local volunteers, some of whom are great but most are probably enthusiastic amateurs like most of us.