The Leinster Way of Rugby

irishbucsfan · 08-05-2011 04:41PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Ah yeah, but "The Leinster Way" is just Thornley using some Poetic License and waffleolgy to sauce up a fairly decent summary of the "behind the scenes" of Leinster Rugby "LTD".

So long as it doesn't catch on, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't like it either though tbh.

Good stuff. For some reason I thought he was quoting someone on the marketing team in the article. Dunno why.

Monty Burnz · 08-05-2011 04:48PM

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Good stuff. For some reason I thought he was quoting someone on the marketing team in the article. Dunno why.

Let's hope someone in the Leinster PR department doesn't read it and think, 'hey, great idea!'...

Foxtrol · 08-05-2011 05:47PM

jolley123 wrote: »

Foxtrol never mentioned rugby in Munster being an everyman's game as a myth. He stated that rugby in Munster being a working-class game is a myth.

So in essence, the two of you are in agreement. Which makes this whole thing even more laughable.

This all seems to have degenerated very quickly. If you look back to my original post in the thread I was responding to David900 who stated that the Munster Brand was better than the Leinster Brand because the Leinster Brand was playing up to a lot of stereo types. I've a bit marketing experience and was trying to point out how I thought they were both doing good jobs but also the differences I saw in the marketing strategy and specifically the target market of the two Brands; Munster aiming at a lot of current GAA fans while Leinster are trying to grow their market outwards (by focusing a lot of the time at the younger market) while being very mindful of not alienating its old market. In essence Munster were playing up to their sterotype while Leinster were trying to show that their sterotype shouldnt put off the rest of the province from supporting their team.

The difference between me & Monty came about on whether or not Munsters marketing goes out of its way to play up to the narrative of the club as being a working mans team. My opinion was that though they dont come out with blatant advertising they cleverly and subtlety do their best to lean opinion towards them being a salt of the earth, working mans team while ignoring the remainder.

I didn't mean to turn this into a Munster/Leinster thing but it seems that you cant even compare the two without getting peoples backs up.

Monty Burnz · 08-05-2011 06:16PM

Foxtrol wrote: »

The difference between me & Monty came about on whether or not Munsters marketing goes out of its way to play up to the narrative of the club as being a working mans team. My opinion was that though they dont come out with blatant advertising they cleverly and subtlety do their best to lean opinion towards them being a salt of the earth, working mans team while ignoring the remainder.

I didn't mean to turn this into a Munster/Leinster thing but it seems that you cant even compare the two without getting peoples backs up.

That's the difficulty with forum messages - half the time I looked back at my posts and wasn't happy with what I wrote, but you can't change it after people pick up on what you said.

errlloyd · 08-05-2011 08:14PM

I don't think you can in any way put down Munster's success as a brand to marketing. Like they beat the ****ing all blacks, its a working class sport, the men are cult heroes and gods and Limerick is a much smaller place then Dublin. Arguably in Dublin Rugby has an almost negative image to the majority of people. Its a posh sport, confined to D4.

A poster mentioned Leinster not reaching out earlier on, this is exactly what he was saying. I dunno how you fix that problem. Get Joe Schmit to coach some community college to a Senior Cup? Last time a state school won it was 1985 De Le Salle Churchtown right?

I think Leinster is a much harder brand to promote, and I think blue magic has been pretty effective in promoting it.

John_Rambo · 08-05-2011 08:20PM

Monty Burnz wrote: »

but you can't change it after people pick up on what you said.

Yeah, I picked you up wrong for a while, but I see where you are coming from. In the end I think Foxtrol has it bang on the nail there.

wixfjord · 08-05-2011 08:23PM

errlloyd wrote: »

I don't think you can in any way put down Munster's success as a brand to marketing. Like they beat the ****ing all blacks, its a working class sport, the men are cult heroes and gods and Limerick is a much smaller place then Dublin. Arguably in Dublin Rugby has an almost negative image to the majority of people. Its a posh sport, confined to D4.

A poster mentioned Leinster not reaching out earlier on, this is exactly what he was saying. I dunno how you fix that problem. Get Joe Schmit to coach some community college to a Senior Cup? Last time a state school won it was 1985 De Le Salle Churchtown right?

I think Leinster is a much harder brand to promote, and I think blue magic has been pretty effective in promoting it.

No no no. That's perhaps what it was percieved as, but what we're saying is that, down to success, reaching out, and the success of the marketing, you're now seeing huge growth in non-traditional areas, albeit slowly.

danthefan · 08-05-2011 08:56PM

errlloyd wrote: »

I don't think you can in any way put down Munster's success as a brand to marketing. Like they beat the ****ing all blacks, its a working class sport, the men are cult heroes and gods and Limerick is a much smaller place then Dublin. Arguably in Dublin Rugby has an almost negative image to the majority of people. Its a posh sport, confined to D4.

A poster mentioned Leinster not reaching out earlier on, this is exactly what he was saying. I dunno how you fix that problem. Get Joe Schmit to coach some community college to a Senior Cup? Last time a state school won it was 1985 De Le Salle Churchtown right?

I think Leinster is a much harder brand to promote, and I think blue magic has been pretty effective in promoting it.

Seems you've been taken in by the marketing and you don't even realise it.

08-05-2011 10:12PM

errlloyd wrote: »

I don't think you can in any way put down Munster's success as a brand to marketing. Like they beat the ****ing all blacks, its a working class sport, the men are cult heroes and gods and Limerick is a much smaller place then Dublin. Arguably in Dublin Rugby has an almost negative image to the majority of people. Its a posh sport, confined to D4.

A poster mentioned Leinster not reaching out earlier on, this is exactly what he was saying. I dunno how you fix that problem. Get Joe Schmit to coach some community college to a Senior Cup? Last time a state school won it was 1985 De Le Salle Churchtown right?

I think Leinster is a much harder brand to promote, and I think blue magic has been pretty effective in promoting it.

Where have you been for the last 10 years? Thems backwards views son.

wixfjord · 08-05-2011 10:16PM

Deleted User wrote: »

Where have you been for the last 10 years? Thems backwards views son.

We don't take kindly to yore type round here!

durkadurka · 08-05-2011 10:25PM

You will see the same fans in the rds as in Croker.

Eg my local GAA club had to cancel training recently because most of the coaches were in edinburgh for the rugby. The lads who coach my kid at soccer have season tickets for Leinster.

Loads of the Leinster lads played gaa or at least follow it.

Seven leinster counties are represented in leinster's first team .

Sure it's big in southside but it goes well beyond that.

People love sport.

08-05-2011 10:28PM

durkadurka wrote: »

People love sport.

durkadurka · 08-05-2011 10:30PM

Hogan knows best

LeeHoffmann · 09-05-2011 01:03PM

Arguably in Dublin Rugby has an almost negative image to the majority of people. Its a posh sport, confined to D4.

Maybe it used to be that way, but not at all now. I'm from a v working class town in north Co Dublin, half the people in the town are heading to Cardiff for the match though we're all broke and some don't even have tickets! They just want to be there. The days of it being for the 'posh blokes' are well behind us now!

justsomebloke · 09-05-2011 01:14PM

ye I travel in from swords for all the games and was quite surprised that the day of the semi they had leinster flags all up the main street in swords so it is reaching a lot further then it use to

almighty1 · 09-05-2011 01:49PM

The free flags at the stadium are a great marketing stunt also, as they make their way out to homes and streets.

Also great for the atmosphere inside the stadium, full house in the Aviva must just look like a big huge blue cauldron to the opposition.

crisco10 · 09-05-2011 02:00PM

almighty1 wrote: »

The free flags at the stadium are a great marketing stunt also, as they make their way out to homes and streets.

Also great for the atmosphere inside the stadium, full house in the Aviva must just look like a big huge blue cauldron to the opposition.

Flags are incredibly effective. 08/09 was the season where the power of free flags came into being. Blue is a colour that can fade into the background, but the flags counter act that magnificantly! I'll never forget getting to my seat in Edinburgh 2009, seeing the flag on my seat and thinking "This is going to be a blue day".

Monty Burnz · 09-05-2011 02:08PM

almighty1 wrote: »

full house in the Aviva must just look like a big huge blue cauldron to the opposition.

Much like the one in Gargamel's house when one of his plans finally works.

kevin99 · 12-05-2011 10:05AM

John_Rambo wrote: »

Dead right. That's what happens when you hire heavy hitters in marketing. The taglines "Irish by birth...." etc... people gobble it up, the cash comes rolling in.

Agreed.

I would ditch the announcer at RDS and Aviva. He hypes up everything, instead of just reading out the two teams.
And they should can the music. It's ****e. Too loud.

I remember going to the old Lansdowne road to watch Leinster v Sale on a wet and windy Friday night.
It was the early noughties, probably a HC match, not sure.
It was a sparse attendance, I was sitting in the East stand and I always remember the crowd scattered all over the place.
There were huge speakers suspended from the East and West stands and at half time the announcer was trying to get everybody to sing 'Dublin in the Rare ould Times'and 'Molly Malone'.
It didn't work.
Munster fans have adopted the 'Fields of Athenry'. Leinster don't have a unifying song.
But they have come a long way since that cold, November Fri night.

Let the Leinster performances be music to my ears, and not a deafening U2 track.
..........

On another point Leinster should play exhibition or friendly games outside Dublin to garner support.

hardCopy · 12-05-2011 11:32AM

kevin99 wrote: »

On another point Leinster should play exhibition or friendly games outside Dublin to garner support.

I thought they already did this for preseason games.

Didn't they have games in Greystones and Navan recently? Maybe I'm thinking of open training sessions?

GerM · 12-05-2011 12:59PM

hardCopy wrote: »

I thought they already did this for preseason games.

Didn't they have games in Greystones and Navan recently? Maybe I'm thinking of open training sessions?

They were open sessions as far as I recall. They used hold friendlies further afield but the money available by staging it in Donnybrook makes it hard to hold them elsewhere. If they have 4k people in attendance with tickets generally being €20 that's a the salary of a squad player sorted for the season. The last one I recall was in Naas in 2005 when Heaslip and Kearney tore Parma apart and most people didn't have a clue who they were. Great day, shame they don't/can't do it more often. Think it was only about €10 in and only 1k or so people there though so the financial disparity is significant.

ALH-06 · 12-05-2011 01:48PM

TheHighRoad wrote: »

There are also joint plans between the RDS and Leinster, who are 20-year tenants, to rebuild the old Anglesea Road stand.

Does anyone have any more info on the RDS redevelopment? When is the Anglesea Stand being rebuilt? Any other improvements?

It also mentions Leinster Rugby moving to new premises in UCD. So does that mean that all of Leinster's training & conditioning sessions will be conducted in UCD?

Quint2010 · 12-05-2011 02:11PM

Can confirm this match is only on TG4 and BBC2 NI. Its not on RTE television.

durkadurka · 12-05-2011 02:18PM

ALH-06 wrote: »

Does anyone have any more info on the RDS redevelopment? When is the Anglesea Stand being rebuilt? Any other improvements?

Lot of talk but not too much money apparently.

There's probably only sense in redoing it to bring total capacity up to maybe 22 - 25000. After that you're into Lansdowne territory. The anglesea stand is terrible though.

GerM · 12-05-2011 02:23PM

ALH-06 wrote: »

It also mentions Leinster Rugby moving to new premises in UCD. So does that mean that all of Leinster's training & conditioning sessions will be conducted in UCD?

Not sure about the RDS but the UCD premises was proposed to be the old Phillips building on the Clonskeagh Road. It would serve as a training and administrative headquarters for the branch and cost in the region of €2.5m with some cash being provided by a private benefactor. I'm not sure where this would leave the current gym they occupy in Riverview. Would make sense to amalgamate everything into one building next to their training pitches in UCD.

Just a shame that the Donnybrook development is such a white elephant. Leinster would be in fantastic financial shape if it had never taken place. As it stands, it would seem they are in pretty decent shape anyway following a bumper couple of years.

durkadurka · 12-05-2011 02:24PM

I posted this somewhere a few months ago.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...268445089.html

"The RDS is considering redeveloping its showgrounds, home to Leinster rugby. This could involve the demolition of the Anglesea Stand to boost capacity from about 18,000 to about 22,000. A decision is likely before the end of the year.
“It needs to be redeveloped,” said Duffy. “We are conscious of the need to bring it up to modern spectator comfort standard and we want to make it all-seater.”

CIARAN_BOYLE · 12-05-2011 03:03PM

ALH-06 wrote: »

Does anyone have any more info on the RDS redevelopment? When is the Anglesea Stand being rebuilt? Any other improvements?

Theres a break clause in the lease that says either part can walk away from the arrangement between Leinster and the RDS after 10 years with no penalties (I think that is four more seasons time)

I can't see the RDS doing any redevelopment untill it is confirmed that Leinster will be playing games in the RDS for the forseeable future, I mean that I presume they will but they would need guarantees

WeeBushy · 12-05-2011 03:04PM

GerM wrote: »

Not sure about the RDS but the UCD premises was proposed to be the old Phillips building on the Clonskeagh Road. It would serve as a training and administrative headquarters for the branch and cost in the region of €2.5m with some cash being provided by a private benefactor. I'm not sure where this would leave the current gym they occupy in Riverview. Would make sense to amalgamate everything into one building next to their training pitches in UCD.

Just a shame that the Donnybrook development is such a white elephant. Leinster would be in fantastic financial shape if it had never taken place. As it stands, it would seem they are in pretty decent shape anyway following a bumper couple of years.

They are moving all operation onto the UCD campus, including gym facilities. UCD are building a fantastic new health centre with a state of the art gym and 50m swimming pool, so Leinster will be using that from when it opens next year. Was originally supposed to open in September but has been pushed back until January of next year, so I'm assuming they will stay in Riverview until then. Not sure how it will work, i.e. will the gym be closed to students when they are there etc, but if not it would be pretty cool working out beside the likes of Healy, O'Driscoll etc. Good motivation for myself

That was a good point you made about playing games outside of Dublin just not being financially viable. Now that Leinster are a lot more popular than even 3/4 years ago, I wonder if it would be viable to move pre-season friendlies elsewhere and still draw in crouds, as it would be brilliant for Leinster's profile.

ALH-06 · 12-05-2011 03:44PM

WeeBushy wrote: »

They are moving all operation onto the UCD campus, including gym facilities. UCD are building a fantastic new health centre with a state of the art gym and 50m swimming pool, so Leinster will be using that from when it opens next year.

But how is that going to work, if they're sharing those facilities with 20,000 students (and a paying general public, presumably)?

WeeBushy wrote: »

it would be pretty cool working out beside the likes of Healy, O'Driscoll etc. Good motivation for myself

I'd find it kinda demoralising actually... I was swimming in the pool once up in Fitzpatrick's Castle when Ferris and Darcy came in - I became instantly ashamed in the presence of their chiseled abs and general massiveness and hastily retreated to the dressing room.

Jemo · 12-05-2011 04:01PM

They would probably avail of an elite gym area. In DCU the scholarship or trophy winning athletes have their own wing of the gym. I'd imagine the Munster guys must have something similar in UL also. The regular parts of most gyms wouldn't be equipped for the kind of weight and quality of machine these guys would need. Plus, I imagine they would like some privacy.

The Leinster Way of Rugby

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