Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

I'm a Connacht fan, season ticket holder, and everybody I know is fully behind Ireland. I also know six or seven Munster fans, living in Connacht, and they are all big Ireland fans too.

These Munster fans are disappointed with how things are right now but they fully believe that Munster will be back on top in a few years.

We have these soccer type fans who hate their rivals and they won't shout for players from the other province in a green shirt. These are almost all Munster and Leinster fans. It'd be great to see them lose interest in the game tbh.

You also have these really annoying Leinster fans with the 'we are more important than everyone else' attitude. That's fine when you are talking about your province but it's not okay when we are talking about Ireland.

Ireland is a green shirt representing the island, there's no Leinster blue, Munster red, Ulster white or Connacht green. It doesn't matter where the player was born or what province he plays for, he's an Irishman when he puts on the shirt. It's got nothing to do with provinces.

It's not quite as lopsided but still dominated by Leinster. For example the 23 named to play Wales U20 this weekend is broken down as follows:

10 Leinster (43%)

5 Munster (22%)

4 Ulster (17%). Interestingly all are starters.

3 Connacht (13%)

1 Sale Sharks (4%). Will Wooton. Is he related to Alex Wooton who played for Munster and Connacht?

That split is probably a fairer representation of population density and demographics. I'd expect Ulster perhaps to have a larger proportion than Munster given there's a more established private school system in the greater Belfast region.

There's definitely still opportunity though for the IRFU to create more equity through funding for the other 3 provinces at schools level. Dublin and it's environs are by far the wealthiest areas on the island and this translates to huge funding for rugby programs in private schools. Nothing wrong with that but the IRFU should be looking to balance the books in the other 3 provinces with respect to schools rugby.

If they are under 20 then they are in the Ulster academy so they are Ulster academy players and that's all that matters.

As ever, it's worth pointing out that we don't have private schools in the same way you do down South. This isn't the nineteen seventies, and the NI school system has changed considerably. We do have grammar schools, half of which are Catholic, very few of which have any kind of rugby tradition or even teams.

I just make these points to say your expectations and assumptions about the schools system in Ulster are a bit outdated and fairly wide of the mark, and don't reflect how schooling up here works.

I don't want this to come across as provincial sniping but I think the bandwagon fans thing is a fair point, in that Munster's support swelled (obviously) with the fairytale team of the 2000s. Lots of non or casual rugby fans loved the image painted of ther rural underdog team sticking it to everyone, in particular how they always beat Leinster in big games. It was a big 2 fingers to 'the big smoke'. many to be fair have stuck around as Munster fans but it leads to the (again very minimal) attitude where there's a bitterness.

Hey ho high fives his rugby bros, pounds his chest and shouts "HUNNH!" in the true non-nonsense Alpha male rugby stylee

Fair enough, then the IFRU should really be targeting the grammar schools and funding the playing of rugby in them. Especially those of a Catholic ethos to spread the game into a non-traditional cohort.

I apologise for my ignorance and hope no offence was caused.

Myself and the aul man were surrounded by friends and family who supported Munster in the 00’s, we all went to the Munster games when they got to semis and finals together and it was great fun.
That all changed in ‘09.
The bitterness and abuse that was hurled at us by Munster fans in Edinburgh at the final was shocking, not just from a section of Munster fans but from every one of them outside my friends and family.
It left a real nasty taste in my mouth and it has really tainted my views on Munster supporters.
Now I don’t for a second believe that all Munster fans are the same and I really love to see the team win, same for Ulster and Connacht. But there is a certain cohort of Munster fans who can go eat a big bag of d1cks, I suspect the same cohort are the ones who won’t follow Ireland because of the number of Leinster players.

These Munster fans are disappointed with how things are right now but they fully believe that Munster will be back on top in a few years.

I think part of the issue is that a significant number of Ulster and Munster fans don't believe their province will be back on top in a few years. Like, if this was a temporary blip of a few generational Leinster players emerging at the same time, you could say it'll be grand in a year or two. I think the concern is that the problem is going to either persist or even get worse in the next few years.

There's a significant group of players over 30 in this current Ireland team; Healy, Furlong, Bealham, Beirne, POM, VDF, Conan, JGP, Murray, Lowe, Aki, Henshaw will all be gone before or very shortly after the next RWC. We have to hope that these spots get taken up by a mix of players from around the provinces. If Leinster hoover up the majority of these jerseys, these discussions are going to run and run.

No, no - don't be silly, you're fine, I didn't mean to sound defensive or antagonistic.

I completely agree about the schools - there have been various efforts to raise the popularity of the sport in Catholic grammar schools, and it has improved a bit, but it's mostly piecemeal, grassroots stuff between local clubs and schools and the like. So many talented young Ulstermen (and -women) who it would be brilliant to bring into the sport. You'd think it would be relatively straightforward, given it's an all-Ireland sport but it ain't, unfortunately.

Genuine question - why not?

If we were playing a top five side then Doris would be a serious loss but not against weak teams.

I think we should be too strong for them but they have turned us over before when we were favorites. Some key injuries, cards etc. but massive massive motivation on their side including the OTB nonsense and the freshness that a new coach can have an impact. I was reading during week about Gatland’s first game for Ireland when we nearly beat a very very good French side in Paris.

Primarily because it would be a PR disaster.

Like it or not, rugby is viewed as an elitist sport and pumping more money into private or grammar schools would go down like a lead balloon. I don't really understand the schools system up there but RBAI isn't a community school that any working class lad from the Falls Road can attend. If IRFU or the Ulster Branch turned around and announced funding for a school that already has facilities that most schools can only dream of, it won't help the image of the sport.

If rugby is struggling to cross the divide into non-traditional populations, it would be suicide. Rugby gets its money from the masses through TV and match tickets, funnelling it back to the elite would not be a good idea

Imagine the backlash if we put money into Methodist, which already manages to send its rugby team to warm weather training in Portugal, and by sheer coincidence is the alma mater of dozens of IRFU blazers?

And the next time IRFU go cap in hand to the government (north or south) looking for funding, how would this play out? Very badly.

This would apply to all the provinces btw. If the Leinster branch announced funding for Gonzaga, Castleknock and CUS to help them catch up with Blackrock and Michael's, there would be war.

Our efforts at underage should be aimed at growing the game to as wide a base as possible.

These schools have to look after themselves. They can go to the government cap in hand looking for funding. They can look at wealthy former students for funding as well.

Spreading the game far and wide and making it more attractive all through underage rugby is where money should be spent and I'm talking about clubs not schools.