Rugby In Ireland - Sky's the Limit?

[Tankie]

Rugby's been going well for quite a few years now. The heineken cup is raising it's profile.

It's like anything else though - it's only prevolent in certain areas. If you were to map out the rugby clubs in Ireland you'd see large gaps without clubs. You'd not see this in GAA or soccer.

I like watching the international rugby. There's 2 clubs within ~40 miles proximity of where I'm from though. Can't profess to knowing all the rules yet though...

But this is exactly what the discussion is about, 20 years ago soccer was only played in certain parts of the country and now its in every town and city. The is probably not a pub in the country that do not show soccer on atleast of of their tv's every saturday and sunday.

[qub la la la]

i think the number of people looking to part-take in soccer would be a lot less inclined to be found in the middle of a scrum or a ruck. Different sort of men altogether. going from gaelic to soccer i think would be handier than the rugby - except your headers who just love the fightin and goalkeepers in general.

[ziggysego]

When England won the Rugby World Cup a few years back, there was a lot of talk that Rugby would over take Soccer to be the country's number one sport. After the excitement went away, Soccer remained the most popular sport in England. Same will happen here Tankie.

[INDIANA]

Rugby isn't played in vast tracts of Ireland. It has no penetration up North , very little in Dublin. Only Munster is a stronghold. Club rugby is on its knees. We've 3 professional teams all of whom have a number of foreign players. 15,000 turned up in Dublin to see them yesterday. Our club team had a bigger turnout last year for the All-Ireland. You've no idea of the old school network in leinster . Unless thats eradicated it won;t have a huge impact in Leinster.
Kilmacud won the all-ireland last week with 6 blackrock college lads. Blackrock college now field GAA teams. When the likes of BOD go we're going to struggle.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

All it shows is how the Irish like to jump on a bandwaggon. It happens every year in the gaa when a county does well. The only problem for rugby similar to the Irish soccer team is that Ireland/Munster wont do well every year.

There is a huge difference between rugby and soccer in the fact that Ireland/Munster/Leinster/Connacht/Ulster are actually Irish and play in Ireland - this has been one of the biggest success drivers of the GAA and could be what drives rugby forward.

My point was the current popularity has been built on the success of a few teams. Once Ireland go back down the pecking order a lot of the current support will die away. Same happened soccer with the Ireland soccer team. In the early 90's the talk was soccer would destroy the gaa, it didnt happen and in my opinion rugby wont destroy it either or take over from it.

[stiffler]

When England won the Rugby World Cup a few years back, there was a lot of talk that Rugby would over take Soccer to be the country's number one sport. After the excitement went away, Soccer remained the most popular sport in England. Same will happen here Tankie.

good post zig

[Tankie]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

All it shows is how the Irish like to jump on a bandwaggon. It happens every year in the gaa when a county does well. The only problem for rugby similar to the Irish soccer team is that Ireland/Munster wont do well every year.

There is a huge difference between rugby and soccer in the fact that Ireland/Munster/Leinster/Connacht/Ulster are actually Irish and play in Ireland - this has been one of the biggest success drivers of the GAA and could be what drives rugby forward.

My point was the current popularity has been built on the success of a few teams. Once Ireland go back down the pecking order a lot of the current support will die away. Same happened soccer with the Ireland soccer team. In the early 90's the talk was soccer would destroy the gaa, it didnt happen and in my opinion rugby wont destroy it either or take over from it.

I'm not sure how thins one will go, soccer never had any support at home so it was always going to drop in popularity s people do not feel connected. People in Munster are very much connected to Munster and Leinster has grown from an average attendance of around 2k in 2003 to around 16.5k now with 10k season ticket holders, that type of support generally does not dwindle away over night. The biggest challenge for Irish rugby will be the recession as it is a professional game in this country and need money to compete in Europe.

If there is a HEino Cup semi - final in Croker between leinster and munster I think the country will be ruby mad in the run upto after this and that has a serious affect on kids, just take a look at Hardstations example.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

All it shows is how the Irish like to jump on a bandwaggon. It happens every year in the gaa when a county does well. The only problem for rugby similar to the Irish soccer team is that Ireland/Munster wont do well every year.

There is a huge difference between rugby and soccer in the fact that Ireland/Munster/Leinster/Connacht/Ulster are actually Irish and play in Ireland - this has been one of the biggest success drivers of the GAA and could be what drives rugby forward.

My point was the current popularity has been built on the success of a few teams. Once Ireland go back down the pecking order a lot of the current support will die away. Same happened soccer with the Ireland soccer team. In the early 90's the talk was soccer would destroy the gaa, it didnt happen and in my opinion rugby wont destroy it either or take over from it.

I'm not sure how thins one will go, soccer never had any support at home so it was always going to drop in popularity s people do not feel connected. People in Munster are very much connected to Munster and Leinster has grown from an average attendance of around 2k in 2003 to around 16.5k now with 10k season ticket holders, that type of support generally does not dwindle away over night. The biggest challenge for Irish rugby will be the recession as it is a professional game in this country and need money to compete in Europe.

If there is a HEino Cup semi - final in Croker between leinster and munster I think the country will be ruby mad in the run upto after this and that has a serious affect on kids, just take a look at Hardstations example.

If its going to have such an effect on children I guess as a gaa supporter you'll be hoping the match doesnt happen then?

[muppet]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

When you see rain do you go looking for an Ark?

[Gnevin]

Rugby isn't played in vast tracts of Ireland. It has no penetration up North , very little in Dublin. Only Munster is a stronghold. Club rugby is on its knees. We've 3 professional teams all of whom have a number of foreign players. 15,000 turned up in Dublin to see them yesterday. Our club team had a bigger turnout last year for the All-Ireland. You've no idea of the old school network in leinster . Unless thats eradicated it won;t have a huge impact in Leinster.
Kilmacud won the all-ireland last week with 6 blackrock college lads. Blackrock college now field GAA teams. When the likes of BOD go we're going to struggle.

Who doesn't count Connaught or Ulster ?

[Tankie]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

All it shows is how the Irish like to jump on a bandwaggon. It happens every year in the gaa when a county does well. The only problem for rugby similar to the Irish soccer team is that Ireland/Munster wont do well every year.

There is a huge difference between rugby and soccer in the fact that Ireland/Munster/Leinster/Connacht/Ulster are actually Irish and play in Ireland - this has been one of the biggest success drivers of the GAA and could be what drives rugby forward.

My point was the current popularity has been built on the success of a few teams. Once Ireland go back down the pecking order a lot of the current support will die away. Same happened soccer with the Ireland soccer team. In the early 90's the talk was soccer would destroy the gaa, it didnt happen and in my opinion rugby wont destroy it either or take over from it.

I'm not sure how thins one will go, soccer never had any support at home so it was always going to drop in popularity s people do not feel connected. People in Munster are very much connected to Munster and Leinster has grown from an average attendance of around 2k in 2003 to around 16.5k now with 10k season ticket holders, that type of support generally does not dwindle away over night. The biggest challenge for Irish rugby will be the recession as it is a professional game in this country and need money to compete in Europe.

If there is a HEino Cup semi - final in Croker between leinster and munster I think the country will be ruby mad in the run upto after this and that has a serious affect on kids, just take a look at Hardstations example.

If its going to have such an effect on children I guess as a gaa supporter you'll be hoping the match doesnt happen then?

Not a chance I think this will be a great day for Irish sport.

[aroundincircles]

I dont think rugby has a chance in ulster either.

[Rav67]

Rugby's been going well for quite a few years now. The heineken cup is raising it's profile.

It's like anything else though - it's only prevolent in certain areas. If you were to map out the rugby clubs in Ireland you'd see large gaps without clubs. You'd not see this in GAA or soccer.

I like watching the international rugby. There's 2 clubs within ~40 miles proximity of where I'm from though. Can't profess to knowing all the rules yet though...

But this is exactly what the discussion is about, 20 years ago soccer was only played in certain parts of the country and now its in every town and city. The is probably not a pub in the country that do not show soccer on atleast of of their tv's every saturday and sunday.

People always talk about soccer getting bigger after italia '90 but is that actually true?  You hear about massive crowds going to Belfast Celtic v Linfield or Shamrock Rovers games back in the 50s and 60s, I've been told crowds of 50,000 would have went.  Obviously no soccer game bar an international could possibly hope to pull that size of gate at the minute or in the forseeable future.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

Tankie it also has to be remembered that you picked out the viewing figures from one of Irelands biggest games in 60 years. As you pointed out rugby has been growing in recent seasons, however even last season without the historic match or the prospect of glory none of the Ireland 6 nation games averaged more than the All Ireland Finals. It also has to be remembered that 30 counties have no direct interest in the All Ireland finals so your relying on neutrals.

[Tyrone Dreamer]

In work today and there was nothing but rugby being discussed, Ireland are the grand slam champions and there is a possibility of an All Ireland Heino Cup Semi Final taking place in Croker in front of 83k Irish people. The game on Saturday has and average audience of 945k and peaked at 1.2m viewers.

Is there a possibility that Rugby will take over like soccer did in the 1990's and challenge soccer and GAA for the number 1 or 2 slot in Irish sport? What do people think?

All it shows is how the Irish like to jump on a bandwaggon. It happens every year in the gaa when a county does well. The only problem for rugby similar to the Irish soccer team is that Ireland/Munster wont do well every year.

There is a huge difference between rugby and soccer in the fact that Ireland/Munster/Leinster/Connacht/Ulster are actually Irish and play in Ireland - this has been one of the biggest success drivers of the GAA and could be what drives rugby forward.

My point was the current popularity has been built on the success of a few teams. Once Ireland go back down the pecking order a lot of the current support will die away. Same happened soccer with the Ireland soccer team. In the early 90's the talk was soccer would destroy the gaa, it didnt happen and in my opinion rugby wont destroy it either or take over from it.

I'm not sure how thins one will go, soccer never had any support at home so it was always going to drop in popularity s people do not feel connected. People in Munster are very much connected to Munster and Leinster has grown from an average attendance of around 2k in 2003 to around 16.5k now with 10k season ticket holders, that type of support generally does not dwindle away over night. The biggest challenge for Irish rugby will be the recession as it is a professional game in this country and need money to compete in Europe.

If there is a HEino Cup semi - final in Croker between leinster and munster I think the country will be ruby mad in the run upto after this and that has a serious affect on kids, just take a look at Hardstations example.

If its going to have such an effect on children I guess as a gaa supporter you'll be hoping the match doesnt happen then?

Not a chance I think this will be a great day for Irish sport.

Just to clarify is gaa your number one sport? If so its a bit strange that you would want a match taking place that you believe could help rugby become the biggest game in the country. Personally I dont think it will have as big an impact as you make out. A month or 2 later up to 80,000 Irish men will fill Croke Park for a Dublin Meath 1st round game and there will be big crowds around the country at Cork/Kerry,Tyrone/Armagh,Monaghan/Derry games and many more.