Who is/was Ireland's most famous sports star?

Morrison J

salmocab wrote: »

But if your just going off % of the population that knows who someone is then almost everyone being talked about here is unknown.

Talking about % of a population that even knows about the sport. Theres a difference.

Soccer, golf, boxing, cricket are true global sports played in multiple continents.

Eoin Morgan could literally be on a billboard in England, India, South Africa, Australia or Zimbabwe. Every corner of the planet covered pretty much.

Rugby is literally played in one of the smallest populated continents in Oceania, a few islands off Asia, a handful of countries in Europe and .005% of Africa (being generous).

It's a very relevant point I'm making I think anyway.

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

Talking about % of a population that even knows about the sport. Theres a difference.

Soccer, golf, boxing, cricket are true global sports played in multiple continents.

Eoin Morgan could literally be on a billboard in England, India, South Africa, Australia or Zimbabwe. Every corner of the planet covered pretty much.

Rugby is literally played in one of the smallest populated continents in Oceania, a few islands off Asia, a handful of countries in Europe and .005% of Africa (being generous).

It's a very relevant point I'm making I think anyway.

Again I’m not arguing for BOD, cricket is not a true global sport, its played seriously in a very small amount of countries albeit some of them have massive populations. Every corner of the planet? It barely exists in either of the Americas outside of some Caribbean islands.

Marcus Rashford

If there had been social media and blanket tv coverage throughout the 20th Century and if we look at it on an 32 county basis, George Best would probably be number one. This island’s brightest star in the world’s global game.

salmocab

Marcus Rashford wrote: »

If there had been social media and blanket tv coverage throughout the 20th Century and if we look at it on an 32 county basis, George Best would probably be number one. This island’s brightest star in the world’s global game.

Certainly would be right up there, presuming he lived the lifestyle he did too. That would be social media gold.

TomasMacR

salmocab wrote: »

Certainly would be right up there, presuming he lived the lifestyle he did too. That would be social media gold.

I've a feeling the majority of top earning sports people are kept in check for precisely that reason though, particularly sports people as their earning power is all health and lifestyle related. I'm not saying Best would've been all that different but he certainly wouldn't have been as reckless as he was if there was some snapchat insta happy slag at the end of every bar he was hanging off. it just wouldn't have been sustainable.

who was the last decent massively talented alcoholic mess sports person? Gascoigne? that's been too long, we need someone new, a reckless horned up alco. currently for the most-part its clean cut wheatgrass drinking mindlessly boring people that give these stock interviews that would bore you to tears.

Marcus Rashford

TomasMacR wrote: »

salmocab wrote: »

Certainly would be right up there, presuming he lived the lifestyle he did too. That would be social media gold.

I've a feeling the majority of top earning sports people are kept in check for precisely that reason though, particularly sports people as their earning power is all health and lifestyle related. I'm not saying Best would've been all that different but he certainly wouldn't have been as reckless as he was if there was some snapchat insta happy slag at the end of every bar he was hanging off. it just wouldn't have been sustainable.

who was the last decent massively talented alcoholic mess sports person? Gascoigne? that's been too long, we need someone new, a reckless horned up alco. currently for the most-part its clean cut wheatgrass drinking mindlessly boring people that give these stock interviews that would bore you to tears.

Tiger Woods in terms of the women?

thecomedian

Eoin Morgan Is a very good shout. Cricket is the 2nd biggest sport in the world over 2 billion follow it.
He’s played in India and Pakistan.

jmayo

Exactly.
A lot of people are writing Morgan out because he is not a household name here in Ireland.
India is mad about cricket and he has both played in their top league for numerous teams, and he has captained England in one day internationals in India against their team.
The biggest viewship on their tv is cricket.
Now of course only something like 47% have a tv, but that still amounts to nearly 600 million people.
Even if only half of that was watching that is a still lot of people, definitely more than major rugby ever gets.

mcgregor is probably definitely the best known, but after that it is interesting.

A well known soccer player can definitely get attention from around the world.

I know some are saying mcilroy because golf is played all over the world.
Yes it is, but it is played by the reasonably well off, not the vast swathes of the general population in big chunks of the world.

partyguinness

I guess the starting criteria should start with the most popular worldwide sport which is probably football. But well known Irish players are few and far between at the moment so what's the next sport with broad mass appeal?

eagle eye

Morrison J wrote:

Soccer, golf, boxing, cricket are true global sports played in multiple continents.

I take exception to you calling cricket truly global. I don't think that even 1% of the combined population of North and South America could name a cricket player. I'd be surprised if many Irish people know the name Eoin Morgan. As for the rest of Europe outside the UK, is there much cricket played outside the UK in Europe?

Morrison J

eagle eye wrote: »

I take exception to you calling cricket truly global. I don't think that even 1% of the combined population of North and South America could name a cricket player. I'd be surprised if many Irish people know the name Eoin Morgan. As for the rest of Europe outside the UK, is there much cricket played outside the UK in Europe?

Yeah I see where you're coming from. I suppose it depends on your definition of global. I was saying it as in it's very popular in large pockets of nearly every continent.

Compare it to how global sports like soccer or basketball are then its a long way off to be fair. Compare it to a sport like rugby that is taken seriously by about 12 countries across only three continents and it's a different story.

Tombo2001

salmocab wrote: »

Again I’m not arguing for BOD, cricket is not a true global sport, its played seriously in a very small amount of countries albeit some of them have massive populations. Every corner of the planet? It barely exists in either of the Americas outside of some Caribbean islands.

Well by that definition, there are zero global sports, and none that even approach being global sports.

salmocab

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Well by that definition, there are zero global sports, and none that even approach being global sports.

Well no most sports are played in pockets and no very few are truly global, boxing, soccer, athletics probably one or two others. Then there are plenty that are played in lots of countries but generally in very small numbers. I’m not knocking cricket to be clear I like it and have been to matches. The poster said it was played in all corners of the globe which it isn’t. I don’t see that saying cricket isn’t played to a high level globally is a big deal tbh and I doubt many cricket fans think it is.

Morrison J

salmocab wrote: »

Well no most sports are played in pockets and no very few are truly global, boxing, soccer, athletics probably one or two others. Then there are plenty that are played in lots of countries but generally in very small numbers. I’m not knocking cricket to be clear I like it and have been to matches. The poster said it was played in all corners of the globe which it isn’t. I don’t see that saying cricket isn’t played to a high level globally is a big deal tbh and I doubt many cricket fans think it is.

You're being a tad pedantic. It's played in every continent bar South America pretty much and its even massive in Central America.

There aren't many sports that are popular in Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australasia and Europe. Cricket is one of them.

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

You're being a tad pedantic. It's played in every continent bar South America pretty much and its even massive in Central America.

There aren't many sports that are popular in Asia, Africa, the Americas, Australasia and Europe. Cricket is one of them.

It’s played to a high level in 12 to 15 countries (admittedly the WIndies is a a bit of anomaly country wise as it’s several countries. Then there a handful of countries that are doing well. I really don’t see this as knocking cricket it’s just the way it is. Yesterday you were saying basically rugby is nonexistent in Africa but today your telling me that cricket is popular there despite it being played and popular with the same set of people.

Relikk

upinsmoke wrote: »

A kid from Dublin with more than a dream...

take everything

Not sure about famous but successful probably Padraig Harrington. No other Irish person has won three Majors. And he's never given the praise he deserves

D9Male

That isn't the question.

DellyBelly

Conor McGregor by a mile. Follwed by Seamus in the WWF and then Rory I'd say

jasper100

Shergar was on TV again last night. Sounds like he was known worldwide after his kidnapping.

There was also an Irish person (or was it doubles?) who played badmington against some chinese dude in a recent olympics, at the time I think they said he was going to be the most watched irish sportsperson ever, because the chinese dude was a superstar back home.

Morrison J

salmocab wrote: »

It’s played to a high level in 12 to 15 countries (admittedly the WIndies is a a bit of anomaly country wise as it’s several countries. Then there a handful of countries that are doing well. I really don’t see this as knocking cricket it’s just the way it is. Yesterday you were saying basically rugby is nonexistent in Africa but today your telling me that cricket is popular there despite it being played and popular with the same set of people.

Never once said it was popular in Africa as a whole. It's popular in large pockets. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya would all play in cricket world cups. Stop taking issue with Africa anyway. Most of Africa doesn't have the money or infrastructure to participate in sport never mind follow it.

Rugby's significance globally pales in comparison to cricket. Thats all I'm saying. Don't see how that can be argued tbh.

DEFTLEFTHAND

take everything wrote: »

Not sure about famous but successful probably Padraig Harrington. No other Irish person has won three Majors. And he's never given the praise he deserves

Ah he is, the sports press here lick out of him.

He's also had numerous appearances on the likes of the LLS.

salmocab

Morrison J wrote: »

Never once said it was popular in Africa as a whole. It's popular in large pockets. South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya would all play in cricket world cups..

You said it was popular in Africa, yesterday you said rugby was basically non existent there and it’s played and supported broadly by the same set of people.

partyguinness

take everything wrote: »

Not sure about famous but successful probably Padraig Harrington. No other Irish person has won three Majors. And he's never given the praise he deserves

To be fair he does get the credit but it was 10 years ago. You can't expect everyone to be going on about it every 5 minutes.

Yer Da sells Avon

take everything wrote: »

Not sure about famous but successful probably Padraig Harrington. No other Irish person has won three Majors. And he's never given the praise he deserves

He's always very interesting to listen to.

eagle eye

Morrison J wrote:

Rugby's significance globally pales in comparison to cricket. Thats all I'm saying. Don't see how that can be argued tbh.

Rugby is very popular in Kenya, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Uganda, Tunisia and South Africa. It's also become very popular in Chile, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay. It's huge in Argentina.
It's huge in Japan and Hing Kong and getting very big in South Korea.

D9Male

Rugby is not "very popular" in Uganda, Brazil, Chile or Paraguay. That's just ridiculous.

salmocab

D9Male wrote: »

Rugby is not "very popular" in Uganda, Brazil, Chile or Paraguay.

It’s not no, like most sports it’s popular in a small amount of countries. It has a big spread across a lot of countries but mainly in small pockets or with certain people. Just like a lot of sports.

TomasMacR

D9Male wrote: »

Rugby is not "very popular" in Uganda, Brazil, Chile or Paraguay. That's just ridiculous.

It’s also not ‘huge’ in Japan. It’s not even big. I wouldn’t even call it popular.

Yamanoto

Brian O'Driscoll

eagle eye

TomasMacR wrote:

It’s also not ‘huge’ in Japan. It’s not even big. I wouldn’t even call it popular.

25 million Japenese watched the Rugby World Cup match between Japan and Samoa in 2015. That was a group stage game. That's a fifth of the population.

Ash.J.Williams

fatknacker wrote: »

It should be Katie Taylor

In fairness to her, on the international stage she was a nobody last year but she's making serious noise this year

Pac1Man

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

but she's making serious noise this year

Is it still monotone?

rob316

McGregor and it's not even close, regardless what you think of him or mma.

Worldwide he's top 3 with Ronaldo and Messi I reckon. The Americans absolutely worship him.

Yer Da sells Avon

D9Male wrote: »

Rugby is not "very popular" in Uganda, Brazil, Chile or Paraguay. That's just ridiculous.

As soon as the Ireland rugby team starts going through a bad patch, just watch as it stops being 'very popular' here.

salmocab

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

As soon as the Ireland rugby team starts going through a bad patch, just watch as it stops being 'very popular' here.

It went through a bad patch already this year

eagle eye

Yer Da sells Avon wrote:

As soon as the Ireland rugby team starts going through a bad patch, just watch as it stops being 'very popular' here.

That's never happened before and we have had many barren years.

Tell me how

rob316 wrote: »

McGregor and it's not even close, regardless what you think of him or mma.

Worldwide he's top 3 with Ronaldo and Messi I reckon. The Americans absolutely worship him.

I think you misunderstand Americans focus.

Ask a group of Americans for the most famous sports star and they will likely start with NFL, then NBA, then Golf, then Boxing...

Saw a very prominent American sports tv/radio host recently talk about Tom Brady being the best sports person on the planet.

Yer Da sells Avon

salmocab wrote: »

It went through a bad patch already this year

I mean a proper bad patch, like the '90s. Especially if it coincides with the soccer team qualifying for a major tournament. Everyone will stop pretending to like and understand rugby then.

salmocab

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I mean a proper bad patch, like the '90s. Especially if it coincides with the soccer team qualifying for a major tournament. Everyone will stop pretending to like and understand rugby then.

Oh people are only pretending? I see.

Yer Da sells Avon

salmocab wrote: »

Oh people are only pretending? I see.

Yes.

Tikki Wang Wang

In terms of actual achievements Stephen Roche (won cycling triple crown only done once previously) or Michelle Smith (triple Olympic gold winner)

Tell me how

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I mean a proper bad patch, like the '90s. Especially if it coincides with the soccer team qualifying for a major tournament. Everyone will stop pretending to like and understand rugby then.

Soccer team has to do more than just qualify for a major tournament.

As tournament participant numbers increase, the novelty of getting there is wearing off. Even qualifying campaigns with usually at least 3 in a group of 6 being teams which no one would get excited about watching.

There isn't massive interest in watching a team scrape past poor teams to a play-off position and then maybe get the luck of the draw there and on to a tournament where we expect to be beaten unless the draw is again kind to us.

salmocab

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

Yes.

Or you don’t like it and think no one else could?

Yer Da sells Avon

salmocab wrote: »

Or you don’t like it and think no one else could?

I like it about as much as most other people did until relatively recently.

salmocab

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

I like it about as much as most other people did until relatively recently.

I presume your trying to say people only like it because in the last 15 or so years the teams have being doing well?

Yer Da sells Avon

salmocab wrote: »

I presume your trying to say people only like it because in the last 15 or so years the teams have being doing well?

Its popularity does seem to have increased enormously since the Ireland team started doing well, so you may have a point there.

eagle eye

Yer Da sells Avon wrote:

I mean a proper bad patch, like the '90s.

Everyone watched it then too.

salmocab

Yer Da sells Avon wrote: »

Its popularity does seem to have increased enormously since the Ireland team started doing well, so you may have a point there.

Indeed, also it’s popularity increase correlated with the increase in professional rugby played regularly by very good players based in Ireland. This made it all a lot more accessible than it used to be when the only rugby available for people to see was some 5N games and a few other games. Mostly with no chance of attending as tickets were like hens teeth.

TomasMacR

eagle eye wrote: »

25 million Japenese watched the Rugby World Cup match between Japan and Samoa in 2015. That was a group stage game. That's a fifth of the population.

A once off event and its viewership numbers is no reflection of how popular a sport is...absolutely nothing to do with it.

I'd be fairly confident that our own viewership numbers were quite high for yer one that got the olympic medal in sailing yet we're not all running down to dun laoghaire harbour with a laser boat on a trailer tied to the back of the car.