The Ubiquity of Rugby

BraziliaNZ

Paparazzo wrote: »

Same way you identify with a county, city, country, group of countries, continent.
If you're from that place you support them. When they have most of their players from that area, it makes it even easier.

Yeah but there's a load of GAA teams in Leinster that hate each other, so it's just weird that they combine to become Leinster in another sport, it's like some kind of Voltron made out of mini robots that don't get along

BraziliaNZ

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Fair enough, but I'd guess that puts you in a small minority of Irish football fans. I can certainly relate to a province that represents where I grew up and where I played the game, and where people I know or people from my neighbourhood are out on the field representing me.

But for such a parocial country it's weird that they all come together for Leinster! I don't relate to it but whatever you're into

Paparazzo

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Yeah but there's a load of GAA teams in Leinster that hate each other, so it's just weird that they combine to become Leinster in another sport, it's like some kind of Voltron made out of mini robots that don't get along

It's the same with club gaa combining to become county, club LoI fans combining to become Ireland fans, provincial rugby fans combining to become national team fans, Ireland rugby fans cheering when an Jeremy Guscott scored that drop goal for the british lions , cheering on Ian Poulter when he makes a putt in the Ryder Cup.

ceegee

Sindri wrote: »

ceegee wrote: »

While cheating in rugby by feigning injury is rarer than soccer it tends to be much more planned when it does occur ie front rows going off "injured" to ensure uncontested scrums. Not to mention Bloodgate, which pretty much blitzes any of Drogba et al's antics

http://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/fresh-italian-scandal-just-the-tip-of-global-gamefixing-conspiracy-3122889.html

Fixing football matches is almost as old as the game itself, and fixed football matches in Italy are also far from a new phenomenon. But yesterday's dramatic developments are striking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Italian_football_scandal

You do realise match fixing generally involves throwing games for monetary reasons? Not sure wtf that has to do with people feigning injury to win (which was what i was discussing)

Monty Burnz

BraziliaNZ wrote: »

Yeah but there's a load of GAA teams in Leinster that hate each other, so it's just weird that they combine to become Leinster in another sport, it's like some kind of Voltron made out of mini robots that don't get along

And how about when Ireland plays an international football game? How does that work?

Monty Burnz

ceegee wrote: »

You do realise match fixing generally involves throwing games for monetary reasons? Not sure wtf that has to do with people feigning injury to win (which was what i was discussing)

Presumably it's about cheating in the games - if a team throws a game, it's rather hard to see it as anything other than premeditated cheating.

BraziliaNZ

Monty Burnz wrote: »

And how about when Ireland plays an international football game? How does that work?

People relate to their nation, I don't think people really relate to feckin' provinces! Maybe it doesn't matter really I just never understood it, especially as Leinster supporting is such a new phenomenon. I feel nothing if I watch Leinster and couldn't care less if they win or lose but if I watch Ireland play rugby or internationally in any sport really I feel like I'm part of it and care. National pride I guess.

Sindri

kfallon wrote: »

Somebody learn a new word today? :pac:

Do you agree or disagree with my post?

Sindri

ceegee wrote: »

You do realise match fixing generally involves throwing games for monetary reasons? Not sure wtf that has to do with people feigning injury to win (which was what i was discussing)

You were talking about cheating and you mentioned bloodgate and used it to qualify diving.

ceegee

Sindri wrote: »

ceegee wrote: »

You do realise match fixing generally involves throwing games for monetary reasons? Not sure wtf that has to do with people feigning injury to win (which was what i was discussing)

You were talking about cheating and you mentioned bloodgate and used it to qualify diving.

I used bloodgate as an example of how people feign injury to gain an advantage, as happens in soccer.

Match fixing is a completely different issue, and anyone who thinks it doesnt occur at some level in all sports is fooling themselves. Its disgusting but its a completely seperate issue from people who want to win by any means necessary

Monty Burnz

ceegee wrote: »

I used bloodgate as an example of how people feign injury to gain an advantage, as happens in soccer.

Match fixing is a completely different issue, and anyone who thinks it doesnt occur at some level in all sports is fooling themselves. Its disgusting but its a completely seperate issue from people who want to win by any means necessary

Well you suggested that the cheating in rugby is more 'pre-meditated' than the cheating in football, and the match-fixing investigations and convictions were cited to refute that point.

If you have any evidence of match-fixing in rugby, I'd be very interested in hearing it.

pajunior

fissureseal wrote: »

The thing that really does my head in about rugby is the smugness of nearly all the commentators and alot of fans of the game esp this idea that the " right type" of people go to the game , that somehow they're more civilised that the soccer or gaa crowd .I see it today again on the Irish times with gerry thornleys rugby column on the time of year signalling end of the rugby season he says " there's a whiff of summer , not to mention things like cricket , tennis and athletics , in the air " I suppose the " right type" ie rugby fan follow these sports in the summer , similarly incredibly elitist sports in Ireland , does Gerry even realise that for the majority of people the summer means the gaa season and that there's a major soccer tournament starting in a few days in which we ve qualified , but I suppose he's only catering to his rugby audiences tastes , they wouldn't lower themselves to these sports even tho they're the most popular summer sports of the country . I played rugby till I was 18 , am old enough to remember the bad days of the Irish team in the 80 s and early 90s but find the incredibly smug and patronising attitude to other sports that alot of the newly styled rugby experts too much to stomach

So you're posh if you prefer tennis, athletics and cricket over soccer and GAA.
Gerry Thornley said absolutely nothing against those sports.

DEFTLEFTHAND

fissureseal wrote: »

The thing that really does my head in about rugby is the smugness of nearly all the commentators and alot of fans of the game esp this idea that the " right type" of people go to the game , that somehow they're more civilised that the soccer or gaa crowd .I see it today again on the Irish times with gerry thornleys rugby column on the time of year signalling end of the rugby season he says " there's a whiff of summer , not to mention things like cricket , tennis and athletics , in the air " I suppose the " right type" ie rugby fan follow these sports in the summer , similarly incredibly elitist sports in Ireland , does Gerry even realise that for the majority of people the summer means the gaa season and that there's a major soccer tournament starting in a few days in which we ve qualified , but I suppose he's only catering to his rugby audiences tastes , they wouldn't lower themselves to these sports even tho they're the most popular summer sports of the country . I played rugby till I was 18 , am old enough to remember the bad days of the Irish team in the 80 s and early 90s but find the incredibly smug and patronising attitude to other sports that alot of the newly styled rugby experts too much to stomach

I wouldn't pay attention to anything Gerry Thornley says, he's not a credible journalist. Our rugger boys don't take criticism very well so he plays their game and only writes nice things about them so he doesn't lose insider access.

ceegee

Monty Burnz wrote: »

ceegee wrote: »

I used bloodgate as an example of how people feign injury to gain an advantage, as happens in soccer.

Match fixing is a completely different issue, and anyone who thinks it doesnt occur at some level in all sports is fooling themselves. Its disgusting but its a completely seperate issue from people who want to win by any means necessary

Well you suggested that the cheating in rugby is more 'pre-meditated' than the cheating in football, and the match-fixing investigations and convictions were cited to refute that point.

If you have any evidence of match-fixing in rugby, I'd be very interested in hearing it.

I was speaking about a specific aspect of cheating - players feigning injuries, which has been shown to be premeditated in the case of harlequins (on five occasions). In the case of props feigning injuries to get uncontested scrums this would presumably be a managers call. In football, players do it in response to tackles and as such its harder to pre-plan. I certainly havent heard of players being cut open by team medics to fake an injury.

Regarding match fixing - Ive no specific evidence but experience shows that if people can bet on it, you can be sure someone somewhere is taking a bung, be it throwing a game, or giving away the first penalty or lineout.



For the record, I am a fan of both soccer and rugby, I just find the holier than thou attitudes of some fans on both sides to be stupid. There is no sport in the world that hasnt got its fair share of thugs, cheats, and idiots.

Monty Burnz

ceegee wrote: »

I was speaking about a specific aspect of cheating - players feigning injuries, which has been shown to be premeditated in the case of harlequins (on five occasions). In the case of props feigning injuries to get uncontested scrums this would presumably be a managers call. In football, players do it in response to tackles and as such its harder to pre-plan. I certainly havent heard of players being cut open by team medics to fake an injury.

You made that charge that cheating in rugby is more premeditated. I'm just pointing out that there is widespread premeditated cheating in football too.

ceegee wrote: »

Regarding match fixing - Ive no specific evidence but experience shows that if people can bet on it, you can be sure someone somewhere is taking a bung, be it throwing a game, or giving away the first penalty or lineout.

I imagine it is tricky enough in rugby with 15 guys on the pitch ready and able to drop a ball or give away a penalty for any one guy to win others money on such a bet.

ceegee wrote: »

For the record, I am a fan of both soccer and rugby, I just find the holier than thou attitudes of some fans on both sides to be stupid. There is no sport in the world that hasnt got its fair share of thugs, cheats, and idiots.

For sure.

Krusader

ScienceNerd wrote: »

I'm a huge football fan, not so much into Rugby. I find it reasonably entertaining and will watch it when it's on.

The popularity of Rugby in recent times is down to the success of the Irish team and said success being marketed well, which makes supporting rugby fashionable. Obviously not all rugby fans would fall into that description and I know there are plenty of hardcore supports borne out of the last 10 years or so. People like to follow the winning team it's nothing new and there's no point getting bent out of shape about it.

Football, for all my love for it, has some massive flaws; mainly playacting and officiating inconsistencies. It's something 99% of football fans will agree on. To call all footballers overpaid is a bit silly though, the sport exist outside of the 0.1% at the top who fill the headlines.

We are the 99.9%

DEFTLEFTHAND

bullvine wrote: »

Serious Q. Whats the options for a teenage kid playing Rugby in Dublin if you dont want to send him to a fee paying school like Blackrock College or similar. Are you restricted with the level they can achieve, with Football I can just send him to St Francis, Home Farm etc.. they are tied to a school!

Thats not a problem just get him set up with a local club, guys like Shane Horgan, Mark McHugh , Sean O'Brien, Bull Hayes and plenty of others didn't come from the fee schools system.

fissureseal

pajunior wrote: »

fissureseal wrote: »

The thing that really does my head in about rugby is the smugness of nearly all the commentators and alot of fans of the game esp this idea that the " right type" of people go to the game , that somehow they're more civilised that the soccer or gaa crowd .I see it today again on the Irish times with gerry thornleys rugby column on the time of year signalling end of the rugby season he says " there's a whiff of summer , not to mention things like cricket , tennis and athletics , in the air " I suppose the " right type" ie rugby fan follow these sports in the summer , similarly incredibly elitist sports in Ireland , does Gerry even realise that for the majority of people the summer means the gaa season and that there's a major soccer tournament starting in a few days in which we ve qualified , but I suppose he's only catering to his rugby audiences tastes , they wouldn't lower themselves to these sports even tho they're the most popular summer sports of the country . I played rugby till I was 18 , am old enough to remember the bad days of the Irish team in the 80 s and early 90s but find the incredibly smug and patronising attitude to other sports that alot of the newly styled rugby experts too much to stomach

So you're posh if you prefer tennis, athletics and cricket over soccer and GAA.
Gerry Thornley said absolutely nothing against those sports.

Are you seriously telling me that cricket and tennis are not elitist sports in ireland ?? How many cricket games do you see being played out on greens in council estates these summer evenings ?? All I was saying about Gerry thornley is that the comment showed the mindset of alot of rugby fans re other sports - that the two big sporting events of the summer ie the gaa season and euro 2012 are not worthy of mention but elitist sports that only a few hundred play in Ireland automatically spring to mind when they think of summer says it all really. Suppose all the private schools must be well stocked up with tennis courts and bowling greens .

Monty Burnz

fissureseal wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that cricket and tennis are not elitist sports in ireland ?? How many cricket games do you see being played out on greens in council estates these summer evenings ?? All I was saying about Gerry thornley is that the comment showed the mindset of alot of rugby fans re other sports - that the two big sporting events of the summer ie the gaa season and euro 2012 are not worthy of mention but elitist sports that only a few hundred play in Ireland automatically spring to mind when they think of summer says it all really. Suppose all the private schools must be well stocked up with tennis courts and bowling greens .

I played tennis on the road and a version of cricket/rounders on the green of the housing estate I grew up on. We did not, however, do greyhound racing. Clearly greyhound racing is a more elitist sport.

The_Kew_Tour

Tox56 wrote: »

I'm an avid fan, but these people coming along pumping money into the game, raising it's profile and becoming part of the fanbase are great for the game. If you would rather stay away and sneer at these 'glory hunters' that's your choice, but 90% of avid fans will be embracing this new popularity.

No problem with that at all thats is fantastic imo.

The problem is the new breed of fan going to game who only interested in just to be seen to be seen at the game and not interested one bit in supporting the team.

The atmosphere at Ireland games is nothing like it was.

pache

Rugby is for fellas who are no good at sport...:D:D

Monty Burnz

pache wrote: »

Rugby is for fellas who are no good at sport...:D:D

Intelligent comment ftw.

pajunior

fissureseal wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that cricket and tennis are not elitist sports in ireland ?? How many cricket games do you see being played out on greens in council estates these summer evenings ?? All I was saying about Gerry thornley is that the comment showed the mindset of alot of rugby fans re other sports - that the two big sporting events of the summer ie the gaa season and euro 2012 are not worthy of mention but elitist sports that only a few hundred play in Ireland automatically spring to mind when they think of summer says it all really. Suppose all the private schools must be well stocked up with tennis courts and bowling greens .

Plenty actually, every sunny evening in UL I saw lads out playing cricket on the 10 acres, I know loads of people who play Tennis from all walks of life.

No the sports are not elitist because any of them would welcome anyone to participate. Maybe people from council estates love playing soccer because 1 it requires zero equipment (and I mean zero, Samuel Eto used to play with a load of plastic bags rolled up) and 2 a lot of people from similar backgrounds make it big in soccer.

Also the two biggest events are the euros and GAA???? You have to be joking. Ever hear of this thing called the Olympics, been around for a while maybe you'll hear the odd posh lad talking about it at work or something. Also the ashes is bigger than GAA and Roland Garros and Wimbeldon are bigger than GAA. Not that I am taking away from GAA which is an amazing institute.

flyswatter

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

No problem with that at all thats is fantastic imo.

The problem is the new breed of fan going to game who only interested in just to be seen to be seen at the game and not interested one bit in supporting the team.

The atmosphere at Ireland games is nothing like it was.

Couldn't agree more. The Aviva atmosphere is muck.

Nermal

ceegee wrote: »

I was speaking about a specific aspect of cheating - players feigning injuries, which has been shown to be premeditated in the case of harlequins (on five occasions).

It sparked a massive investigation and got doctors struck off. Whereas feigning injury goes on multiple times in every soccer match, without comment.

I cannot put into words how pathetic feigning injury is. After getting cleaned out in a tackle, you stand back up as quickly as possible, to show you're not hurt, even if you can't breathe properly. It is the mark of a shameful beta male to roll around crying on the ground, no matter what advantage it brings him.

Talking back to the referee is equally appalling. It makes players look like whining children.

No doubt these things will be pervasive in rugby eventually, they are the unwelcome price paid for professionalism. When they do I shall be finding something else to look at.

Duckworth_Luas

pajunior wrote: »

Also the two biggest events are the euros and GAA???? You have to be joking. Ever hear of this thing called the Olympics, been around for a while maybe you'll hear the odd posh lad talking about it at work or something. Also the ashes is bigger than GAA and Roland Garros and Wimbeldon are bigger than GAA. Not that I am taking away from GAA which is an amazing institute.

He's quite correct as he meant to Irish people the two biggest events are the Euro soccer championships and the GAA season. Do you think anyone in Wexford, Ballybofey, Ennis or Tallaght gives a fiddelers about Roland Garros?

fissureseal

pajunior wrote: »

fissureseal wrote: »

Are you seriously telling me that cricket and tennis are not elitist sports in ireland ?? How many cricket games do you see being played out on greens in council estates these summer evenings ?? All I was saying about Gerry thornley is that the comment showed the mindset of alot of rugby fans re other sports - that the two big sporting events of the summer ie the gaa season and euro 2012 are not worthy of mention but elitist sports that only a few hundred play in Ireland automatically spring to mind when they think of summer says it all really. Suppose all the private schools must be well stocked up with tennis courts and bowling greens .

Plenty actually, every sunny evening in UL I saw lads out playing cricket on the 10 acres, I know loads of people who play Tennis from all walks of life.

No the sports are not elitist because any of them would welcome anyone to participate. Maybe people from council estates love playing soccer because 1 it requires zero equipment (and I mean zero, Samuel Eto used to play with a load of plastic bags rolled up) and 2 a lot of people from similar backgrounds make it big in soccer.

Also the two biggest events are the euros and GAA???? You have to be joking. Ever hear of this thing called the Olympics, been around for a while maybe you'll hear the odd posh lad talking about it at work or something. Also the ashes is bigger than GAA and Roland Garros and Wimbeldon are bigger than GAA. Not that I am taking away from GAA which is an amazing institute.

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro . You ever see the cost of getting tennis lessons for your kid who s interested in it ?? Yeah of course they 're not elitist , it's just if you can't afford to get the training needed to make it to the top then it's your fault not theirs . The fact that you see a few kids pull the rackets out of the lockers when Wimbledon comes round doesn't take away from the issue that for the vast majority of good young tennis and rugby players if daddy isn't pretty wealthy your career will start and end on your council estate lawn

By the way , I grant you I should have included the olympics in the list of summer sporting events of major Irish interest earlier but Roland garros is a bigger deal than the gaa ???!!! U got to be kidding me , says it all really ....,,,Stick to watching the cricket

Ares

pajunior wrote: »

Plenty actually, every sunny evening in UL I saw lads out playing cricket on the 10 acres, I know loads of people who play Tennis from all walks of life.

Now I'm a cricket fan and I've seen those lads who play cricket but 95% odd of those guys in UL that play cricket are from the Indian subcontenint; Indians, Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Sri Lankan.

Its a case of immigrants holding onto their games from home.

Most Irish that play the game are from an upper class background. It is what it is.

housetypeb

Would all of you agree at least, that rugby is a game played by men with odd shaped balls?

twistyj

Its ok to like Rugby

Its ok to like Soccer

Its ok to like GAA

Its ok to like all 3

Its ok to not like any.

I have friends that fit all of these and thats ok too.

One of my friends says he likes all sports purely for the rivalry and guess what.... thats o.... well you get the picture

mariano rivera

This Leinster "European Champions" is a bit Piss-weak!

I mean its only Irish, British, Italian & a few French teams when they are bothered

Spain, Russia, Germany, Scandinavian, Eastern European Countries etc. do not play it to any reasonable standard

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

BarackPyjama

mariano rivera wrote: »

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

There's a European GAA football and/or hurling tournament?

twistyj

mariano rivera wrote: »

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

Rightly so,

and also you could nearly say we are WORLD CHAMPIONS as New York and London are included in the championship

ormond lad

fissureseal wrote: »

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro . You ever see the cost of getting tennis lessons for your kid who s interested in it ?? Yeah of course they 're not elitist , it's just if you can't afford to get the training needed to make it to the top then it's your fault not theirs . The fact that you see a few kids pull the rackets out of the lockers when Wimbledon comes round doesn't take away from the issue that for the vast majority of good young tennis and rugby players if daddy isn't pretty wealthy your career will start and end on your council estate lawn

By the way , I grant you I should have included the olympics in the list of summer sporting events of major Irish interest earlier but Roland garros is a bigger deal than the gaa ???!!! U got to be kidding me , says it all really ....,,,Stick to watching the cricket

Rugby was elitist to a large degree and if you look at the work being doing by the 4 provincial branches of the IRFU they are working very hard to get rid of that perception.
Most people who go on to become pros at the moment do attend fee paying schools but things are changing. 20% of the members of the leinster academy are from the youths system which is a much bigger percentage than any time before.

Monty Burnz

mariano rivera wrote: »

This Leinster "European Champions" is a bit Piss-weak!

I mean its only Irish, British, Italian & a few French teams when they are bothered

Spain, Russia, Germany, Scandinavian, Eastern European Countries etc. do not play it to any reasonable standard

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

You can only beat what's out there. I guess we'll have to wait until the ROI win a World Cup or Shamrock Rovers win the Champions League before we can celebrate some real field-sport success.

*waits*

DB21

mariano rivera wrote: »

This Leinster "European Champions" is a bit Piss-weak!

I mean its only Irish, British, Italian & a few French teams when they are bothered

Spain, Russia, Germany, Scandinavian, Eastern European Countries etc. do not play it to any reasonable standard

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

Load of bollocks tbh. At least in the HEC, when you're out, you're out. No backdoor re-entry, like the GAA have for their favourites.

Monty Burnz

fissureseal wrote: »

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro .

Or join a club. Same with tennis, or cricket, or football, or hurling or whatever.

melekalikimaka

mariano rivera wrote: »

This Leinster "European Champions" is a bit Piss-weak!

I mean its only Irish, British, Italian & a few French teams when they are bothered

Spain, Russia, Germany, Scandinavian, Eastern European Countries etc. do not play it to any reasonable standard

We are also EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS at Hurling and Gaelic Football BTW

hahahahahaha. you sure know how to spin a yarn i'll give you that

twistyj

DEFTLEFTHAND

DB21 wrote: »

Load of bollocks tbh. At least in the HEC, when you're out, you're out. No backdoor re-entry, like the GAA have for their favourites.

But sure each team in the H.C is guaranteed six games a year in the pool stages. You can afford to lose a game and still progress to the knockouts.

The GAA qualifier system offers the chance for every county to have a second bite of the cherry, its not just for the big guns.

fissureseal

Monty Burnz wrote: »

fissureseal wrote: »

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro .

Or join a club. Same with tennis, or cricket, or football, or hurling or whatever.

Join a club , as easy as that Monty eh ?? Strange then how nearly all our top rugby and tennis internationals just happened to have had daddys with deep pockets who could afford to put them through the private schools in terms of the rugby players or who could bankroll them on the tennis circuit , But of course thats all just a coincidence according to you , everyone being equal and able to get a fair shot by "joining a club " , Sorry to ruin your naive utopian vision of the ( rugby) world but god monty you really need to pull your head out of the sand

ormond lad

fissureseal wrote: »

Join a club , as easy as that Monty eh ?? Strange then how nearly all our top rugby and tennis internationals just happened to have had daddys with deep pockets who could afford to put them through the private schools in terms of the rugby players or who could bankroll them on the tennis circuit , But of course thats all just a coincidence according to you , everyone being equal and able to get a fair shot by "joining a club " , Sorry to ruin your naive utopian vision of the ( rugby) world but god monty you really need to pull your head out of the sand

Yes just join a club.
Eh, not really. Just because you go to a private school doesnt mean you have a "daddy with deep pockets".
You are the one with the niave vision of the rugby world and need to pull your head out of the sand

Naomi00

fissureseal wrote: »

Join a club , as easy as that Monty eh ?? Strange then how nearly all our top rugby and tennis internationals just happened to have had daddys with deep pockets who could afford to put them through the private schools in terms of the rugby players or who could bankroll them on the tennis circuit , But of course thats all just a coincidence according to you , everyone being equal and able to get a fair shot by "joining a club " , Sorry to ruin your naive utopian vision of the ( rugby) world but god monty you really need to pull your head out of the sand

Yeah it is that easy.
My club's membership for a season is €50.
To join a club you just turn up at training, doesn't matter if you've never played before or don't even know the rules. I'd say it's way harder to just join a GAA club to be fair, not cost wise just that they don't seem open to new players at all.
And the 'class' thing is made up by people from Dublin with a big ol' chip on their shoulder.

ceegee

fissureseal wrote: »

Monty Burnz wrote: »

fissureseal wrote: »

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro .

Or join a club. Same with tennis, or cricket, or football, or hurling or whatever.

Join a club , as easy as that Monty eh ?? Strange then how nearly all our top rugby and tennis internationals just happened to have had daddys with deep pockets who could afford to put them through the private schools in terms of the rugby players or who could bankroll them on the tennis circuit , But of course thats all just a coincidence according to you , everyone being equal and able to get a fair shot by "joining a club " , Sorry to ruin your naive utopian vision of the ( rugby) world but god monty you really need to pull your head out of the sand[de/Quote]


The number of players from nonfee paying schools is getting bigger all the time.

Current players:
Keith Earls, Conor Murray, Sean O'Brien, Eoin Reddan, Tommy Bowe (i think), Paul O'Connell, Sean Cronin

Recent players: Mal O'Kelly, Keith Wood, Shane Horgan, John Hayes, Anthony Foley, Jerry Flannery, Ian Dowling, David Wallace, Peter Clohessy

(that list is probably missing a good few names)

Our most famous tennis player of recent years also went to a nonfee paying school

Monty Burnz

fissureseal wrote: »

Monty Burnz wrote: »

fissureseal wrote: »

Yeah silly me of course they 're not elitist , of course they welcome anyone to participate , provided of course you can pay the fees to get your little johnny into the private school where he can get the rugby education needed to be a top pro .

Or join a club. Same with tennis, or cricket, or football, or hurling or whatever.

Join a club , as easy as that Monty eh ?? Strange then how nearly all our top rugby and tennis internationals just happened to have had daddys with deep pockets who could afford to put them through the private schools in terms of the rugby players or who could bankroll them on the tennis circuit , But of course thats all just a coincidence according to you , everyone being equal and able to get a fair shot by "joining a club " , Sorry to ruin your naive utopian vision of the ( rugby) world but god monty you really need to pull your head out of the sand

You understand all that stuff about correlation and causation, right? No? Well I'm sure you'll find something about it in Wikipedia.

Pherekydes

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

The GAA qualifier system offers the chance for every county to have a second bite of the cherry, its not just for the big guns.

For many years, Dublin were not afforded that second bite! Kind of makes a mockery of the back door system.

bullvine

Is the PRO12 final not a back door system?

DebDynamite

I was in a pub in Dublin 4 on Sunday having a bite to eat. We left as the second half of the Leinster v Ospreys was well under way. Up the road we drove past a pub where tables and benches were set-up outside. At a quick glance, I saw 4 people sitting out in the sun , having a beer, wearing Leinster jerseys, while the game was being shown inside the pub. I know a few people who travelled over to Twickenham the other week for the Heineken Cup final and none of them were at the game in the Ospreys RDS at the weekend.

I work with doctors and they are so into the rugby, with most of them not having a interest in any other sport. The rugby does seem to attract quite a few casual fans, to whom it’s more of a status symbol than anything. I’m not saying they’re all like that of course.

I’m from Leinster and my boyfriend who’s from England couldn’t understand when I couldn’t really have cared less that Leinster won the HC cup the other week. I just never got into the rugby, being from a small town in the country and not going to a private school, it was just never part of my life and don’t feel that the Leinster team represents me.

BizzyC

DebDynamite wrote: »

I’m from Leinster and my boyfriend who’s from England couldn’t understand when I couldn’t really have cared less that Leinster won the HC cup the other week. I just never got into the rugby, being from a small town in the country and not going to a private school, it was just never part of my life and don’t feel that the Leinster team represents me.

Why does everyone assume you need to go to a private school to follow rugby???

When I was in school the only game available to us was Rugby cause it was the only sport our teachers could coach. We were a public school and 90% of the teams we played were public schools....

I really think that people have a lot of misconceptions that all Rugby originates from schools like Blackrock and Belvedere...

Bad Panda

Monty Burnz wrote: »

Did you hurt yourself?

No.

I found it boring. No freedom to express yourself in rugby like in soccer. I'm fairly skillful and I enjoy a challenge...which is why rugby wasn't for me.