The D4 Media/ Posh Boys and Irish Rugby – Spoon feeding the masses

Balmed Out · 13-02-2014 09:38AM

Vladimir Kurtains wrote: »

Don't think that's confined to rugby in fairness. Have seen the same sort of behaviour from people watching other sports.

Not confined (except the shushing) but it is far worse. I worked in pubs 16 - 10 years ago so a bit out of date and in every pub (always cork city) we always hated when rugby was on. The behavior towards staff was always very poor and condescending.

I like rugby but I think people have to realize the negative attitude towards the sport has nothing to do with other sports or rivalries its due to a certain element who are a part (a minority) of the rugby support basis

Heroditas · 13-02-2014 09:38AM

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Protestants!!! Dear lord!!

Yes, with their cake making and crumpets. The nerve of them.

Frank Lee Midere · 13-02-2014 09:47AM

crybaby wrote: »

Tt doesn't matter to you but jesus I was heart broken when we lost to New Zealand last year as were many other Irish people yet when Dublin won the All-Ireland it made me smile and then I didn't think anything of it again. Are you really trying to claim the grandslam win didn't evoke elation in a lot of Irish people?

People like different things, interesting to see the hatred directed towards rgby as it starts to steal some of the limelight from GAA

I don't get that. I've read this thread a and it is clearly football ( soccer ) fans, working class warriors from Dublin who despise Rugby. The reaction from primarily GAA fans is positive. It's the football guys who can't imagine any other sport. Lots of people just follow the GAA and rugby since they don't overlap in their main competitions.

Guy:Incognito · 13-02-2014 09:51AM

joseph brand wrote: »

The OP is simply saying what a lot of us think.
There are a lot of schools in 'poorer' areas of Dublin where rugby isn't played.

!"

And there are plenty where it is. Most of the secondary schools in tall ago have been playingit for years.

When I went to primary school (in terenure) we weren't allowed play soccer, only gaelic and hurling.

Fratton Fred · 13-02-2014 09:52AM

You'd never get a good Catholic like Sam Maguire playing rugby.

Five Irish winners of the Heineken cup in eight years and people wonder why it is becoming more popular? Success breads success both on and off the pitch. If you're a 15 year old in Dublin, would you rather watch Leinster play Racing metro in the semi of a European cup, or Dublin play Cavan, again.

Benny_Cake · 13-02-2014 09:55AM

Fratton Fred wrote: »

You'd never get a good Catholic like Sam Maguire playing rugby.

Five Irish winners of the Heineken cup in eight years and people wonder why it is becoming more popular? Success breads success both on and off the pitch. If you're a 15 year old in Dublin, would you rather watch Leinster play Racing metro in the semi of a European cup, or Dublin play Cavan, again.

No reason why you can't see both, and plenty do. Scheduling permitting, of course.

Eight Ball · 13-02-2014 09:56AM

AndonHandon wrote: »

Rugby is one of the few popular sports where we, as a nation, compete against other nations and are actually good at it.

That's because hardly anyone else plays it. It would be like American's boasting about being good at baseball.

Frank Lee Midere · 13-02-2014 09:58AM

Benny_Cake wrote: »

No reason why you can't see both, and plenty do. Scheduling permitting, of course.

Which it does. Every year. Unless you are a fan of the league , and very few are.

Guy:Incognito · 13-02-2014 09:59AM

Bambi wrote: »

Which schools? I'm from ballymun horse, you dont see many kids around here throwing oval balls around

Not only are kids playing it there's even a junior team that play on the pitch in the middle of where the flats used to be. Dcu have a team aswell.

Abù101 · 13-02-2014 10:01AM

It's cause it's winter and there is no other sport on. Soccer is boring. No conspiracy just tv needs content and George hook is content. Look at American sport. The big threee are all sepersted out.

Dyr · 13-02-2014 10:02AM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Not only are kids playing it there's even a junior team that play on the pitch in the middle of where the flats used to be. Dcu have a team aswell.

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

Fratton Fred · 13-02-2014 10:04AM

Benny_Cake wrote: »

No reason why you can't see both, and plenty do. Scheduling permitting, of course.

Of course.

I wonder how Dublin's attendances have faired thanks to the two all Ireland wins?

Dyr · 13-02-2014 10:04AM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Not only are kids playing it there's even a junior team that play on the pitch in the middle of where the flats used to be. Dcu have a team aswell.

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

Guy:Incognito · 13-02-2014 10:04AM

hotmail.com wrote: »

Definitely not in Dublin. It's a middle class sport. Is this a news flash or something or are Irish people still weary of mentioning 'class'.

I'll be sure to mention to the lads at training tonight that we're middle class now. They'll be chuffed. I'll probably drop an email to the clondalkin lads too as well as the prison guards that play for mill mount house, the uni dare lads from Ballymun etc

StephenHendry · 13-02-2014 10:04AM

the op makes some good points, we are successful as a rugby playing team over the last 10 years , far more than the soccer team, i think depending on where you come from rugby is seen as elitist by some but in areas like limerick it is hugely popular amongst all 'classes' if you like, if you take wales for example it is popular across all of the countr, where you're from be it a working class area doesn't come into it

i've never played the game but i appreciate the efforts the players put in at all levels, it puts the soccer players to shame. its manliness like the gaa is admirable imo

Todd Toddington III · 13-02-2014 10:08AM

Ush1 wrote: »

Rugby is grand, it's golf that attracts the true ****.

Not in Ireland brosef. Golf here is played by all "classes" (hate that word but ill use it for your benefit).

Chips Lovell · 13-02-2014 10:08AM

http://www.herald.ie/sport/rugby/kids-blitz-a-big-success-in-ballymun-27935545.html

....16 teams from seven local schools in the area took part in a tag tournament for both boys and girls.

Holy Spirit Boys, St Joseph's National, Gaelscoil Bhaile Munna, Victory Boys, Virgin Mary Boys, Sacred Heart Boys and Virgin Mary Girls all contributed teams....

Todd Toddington III · 13-02-2014 10:11AM

hotmail.com wrote: »

Definitely not in Dublin. It's a middle class sport. Is this a news flash or something or are Irish people still weary of mentioning 'class'.

Theres a rugby club in crumlin ya know. Hardly a bastion of the elite now is it?

wp_rathead · 13-02-2014 10:17AM

Inner City Hedgehog wrote: »

Rugby simply isn't a very skilful game compared to other sports. It's largely a contest of who can push the hardest. Put any big 18-25 year old who has never played the game into a team and with a bit of gym work they'll be good at it within a short space of time. Who knows, they might even make the international team like John Hayes who never played rugby until he was 18.

That would never happen in soccer, hurling or basketball.

Then you have all the bull**** surrounding it, the marketing campaigns, the soft focus media coverage of it (which horse racing and golf also get), the fact that it's the sport of choice for people who don't like sport.

It just doesn't matter to people in the same way that soccer and GAA do. When Ireland lose a World Cup or European Championship match in soccer, or your county loses a championship match in GAA there's always a feeling of real disappointment. Rugby rarely if ever evokes that kind of feeling in people.

Are you the spokeman for all people now?

I couldn't give much of ****e if Galway loose a game in GAA- but im not gonna b!tch about the coverage of GAA over the summer..

Don't understand people's need to put down other sports - is pathetic imo

And the whole "rugby is a class sport" is cringe worthy - just makes the poster sound extremely insecure

Guy:Incognito · 13-02-2014 10:20AM

Bambi wrote: »

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

You didn't ask me anything . I never mentioned schools. I'm from the south side and in my 30's. My knowledge of what school kids on the far side of the city do is limited.

Todd Toddington III · 13-02-2014 10:31AM

Bambi wrote: »

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

Look back through the posts, someone already answered this

Steve Perchance · 13-02-2014 10:44AM

Bambi wrote: »

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

Someone already answered you - Trinity Comp and St. Kevins both have teams.

There's also a junior club with mens, womens, junior and minis teams based in Ballymun. The construction work in Balcurris Park is to improve the rugby pitch those teams will be using for matches from next season.

Theres a lot of misperceptions of rugby, its elitist, you have to be massive to play it etc. None of them are true. There's a dublin metro league with ten divisions for players of all levels, people of all shapes and sizes and people from a multitude of backgrounds.

My reason for playing/following rugby is that it is the best team sport I've played. Each position has a different and important role in the team. If anyone fails we all fail. If someone scores a try we all played a part. You try and bury the opposition in a game but afterwards you say thanks for playing (and mean it). No sledging or abuse of the officials.

If you don't like rugby thats grand. But all the class bull**** shouldnt be the reason, cos it isnt true

Heroditas · 13-02-2014 10:53AM

Bambi wrote: »

thats great bud, but I asked you which schools.
In your own time

For the second time - Trinity Comp.
As well as that, the list of junior schools taking part i n the blitzes were provided.

EDIT: as Steve Perchance said, Balcurris has been allocated to Unidare, who have renamed themselves Ballymun Glasnevin Finglas (BGF) Ravens.
That pitch is in an awful state in the winter and needs a huge amount of work done to it to make it playable if it rains.

FTA69 · 13-02-2014 10:57AM

To put it simply, blanket generalisations about any sport or those who play it are usually pretty wide of the mark. Similarly there's no need to try and infuse an entire sporting culture with some sort of class or religious basis when at a local level it boils down to ordinary people having fun.

That having been said, you can't really deny that rugby in Ireland has a pretty prominent involvement from people who are from traditionally priviliged backgrounds. At it's core, schools rugby is still largely dominated by elitist private schools. A lot of people on this thread have been going on about working-class rugby in Cork, something which is news to me. Most rugby players I know in Cork went to Pres, Bandon Grammar, Midleton and Christians; hardly bastions of the working class. The sport also has a traditionally middle-class following of the sort lampooned by Ross O'Carroll Kelly. These people exist. And they're often a pain in the hole to boot.

Heroditas · 13-02-2014 10:58AM

Your second paragraph contradicts your first one.

FTA69 · 13-02-2014 11:09AM

Heroditas wrote: »

Your second paragraph contradicts your first one.

It doesn't at all.

I said it's important not to make blanket or black and white generalisations about a sport i.e. "rugby's for prods" or "rugby's for the rich".

Pointing out that private schools have a prominent involvement in the sport is simply a fact.

Too Tough To Die · 13-02-2014 11:11AM

Had some lunatic try to tell me Brian O'Driscol was the greatest Irish sportsperson of all time. Madness, i couldn't take him seriously.

Heroditas · 13-02-2014 11:13AM

FTA69 wrote: »

It doesn't at all.

I said it's important not to make blanket or black and white generalisations about a sport i.e. "rugby's for prods" or "rugby's for the rich".

Pointing out that private schools have a prominent involvement in the sport is simply a fact.

A generalisation can still be fact-based.

However, certainly in Leinster and Ulster and in part of Munster (i.e. Cork), rugby is a fee-paying school sport.
It's certainly becoming more popular in other schools and many clubs across the country are seeing growing memberships but the select band of schools will still produce the top players for a good while yet.
Funnily enough, it's the clubs like Lansdowne, Wesley, Old Belvedere and particularly Blackrock who are struggling for members while the likes of Naas and Navan expand!

HooohRaaah · 13-02-2014 11:21AM

The OP makes some excellent points.
What drives me mad is people slagging off our national soccer team while saying "our rugby lads great"

The soccer team have to actually qualify for the World Cup and European Championships against some very tough opposition. When we did qualify we ended up playing the two eventual finalist in Euro 2012. Not bad for country playing in a sport that every single nation plays at a decent level yet the general public think "ah the football team are ****e" The rugby team don't have to qualify for anything. In the Irish public's eyes the Irish rugby players are absolute heros. The fawning over Paul O'Connell is embarrassing. He is a 6 ft 5 big lad who tackles people. Where is the skill in that? He's made out to be a national hero.

Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, France and Italy all play a tournament each year. We've won that how many times in the past 55 years? embarrassing record from the nations darlings. When we did do the Grand Slam we had the two best teams in Croke Park. We wouldn't have won it otherwise.

Around the world only New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Argentina and Fiji play it to a good level. I'd bloody well hope that we could be somewhat competitive. Against New Zealand in November Ireland didn't score one single point in the second half yet the country treated them as gods the following day. Not one single point scored!!

NTMK · 13-02-2014 11:28AM

FTA69 wrote: »

It doesn't at all.

I said it's important not to make blanket or black and white generalisations about a sport i.e. "rugby's for prods" or "rugby's for the rich".

Pointing out that private schools have a prominent involvement in the sport is simply a fact.

IMO its because private schools built a rep for rugby when it was a far more elitist sport. the schools will always atract the most promising players as they have the reputation for it.

They also have the best facilities and equipment because very few public schools can/will pay for some of the equipment that is great for development.

The D4 Media/ Posh Boys and Irish Rugby – Spoon feeding the masses

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