Unpopular Opinions - OP Updated with Threadban List 4/5/21

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Theres literally no skill set to it....i seen notable rugby commentators on twitter etc getting excited because an outfield player could kick the ball in a straight line??


Like they undoubtfully try their best and have an great honesty of effort,fairly athletic and likely great fun to play...

But its a terrible spectacle,over hyped,full of buzzwords....and not enjoyable or comparable to other sports to watch

Its a sport for those not good enough to play others and i suppose they should be accomandated too

Hard to disagree with the majority of that. Not wishing to bring 'economics' into play, but to make my point I feel I need to. While Rugby isn't as 'Global' as soccer eg, or popular in America, it's still 'popular' in many Countries.

So having justified the 'economic' point I'm about to make I shall proceed. Even a Soccer/Football player in England playing in the second tier (and not even a highly paid one for the division), and nowhere near a 'household name' could well be on somewhere between £10 - £20,000 a year.

Now take a 'top' Rugby player - It was only about 4 or so years ago that there was talk of Johnny Sexton going to France for something like E500,000 a year; and this was considered 'astronomical' for a player, or similar synonyms were used to describe the monies 'on the table' in the build up to his potential transfer.

So while not exactly like with like; no matter how much Media and Rugby associations like to make out that Rugby is this hugely popular sport; the fact is, it isn't... nowhere even close.

EDIT The above should have read £10 - £20,000 a week

Rugby players aren’t disgustingly overpaid - what a horrible sport!

Rugby players haven't got the cachet of a top Football/Soccer, Basketball player - kids (grown ups too) don't buy jerseys en masse with Rugby Players' names/numbers on them.

Plenty would love to emulate LeBron, or Messi... Rugby just doesn't have that - Jonah Lomu (RIP) was probably the closest to a 'Superstar' in the last generation or so.. It doesn't appeal.. The skill levels, and the skills themselves look pretty simple to anyone looking on.. Not many are impressed..

'Hard Men' - 'Tough Men'. If a Male wants to show off his physical prowess/ toughness, and wants to make serious coin, there's Sports called boxing and MMA where he can make them big bucks..

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Rugby players haven't got the cachet of a top Football/Soccer, Basketball player - kids (grown ups too) don't buy jerseys en masse with Rugby Players' names/numbers on them.

Rugby players don’t have their names on the back of their jerseys. It’s a team sport, not all about the individual.

randd1

Batrachotox wrote: »

Rugby players don’t have their names on the back of their jerseys. It’s a team sport, not all about the individual.

It's because there's no room on the club jerseys due to the numbers of sponsors taking up all the available space.

randd1

randd1 wrote: »

It's because there's no room on the club jerseys due to the numbers of sponsors taking up all the available space.

Its not about individuls except when its the likes of sexton,stockdale.....ffs they expect people to believe this :pac:


5 years ago iirc,irish indo ran a story of how rugby was no longer an sport of the private schools and would soon be majority public schools....at the time it was 60% of the squad were from fee paying schools.....last match (where france hockeyed em,despite pundit on virgin media confidently predicted an ireland "bonus point" win),80% of the squad were from fee paying schools.....TeAm Of Us :pac:

Tacitus Kilgore

Never put too much weight on the opinion of a man who's afraid of a bit of mud, especially when it comes down to rugby :pac:

Quazzie

Deleted User wrote: »

Its not about individuls except when its the likes of sexton,stockdale.....ffs they expect people to believe this :pac:


5 years ago iirc,irish indo ran a story of how rugby was no longer an sport of the private schools and would soon be majority public schools....at the time it was 60% of the squad were from fee paying schools.....last match (where france hockeyed em,despite pundit on virgin media confidently predicted an ireland "bonus point" win),80% of the squad were from fee paying schools.....TeAm Of Us :pac:

Ah... that explains it.

It took a while, and there were a few interesting twists and turns, but we got there in the end.

Quazzie

Quazzie wrote: »

Ah... that explains it.

It took a while, and there were a few interesting twists and turns, but we got there in the end.

It should be said,ive no issue with fee paying schools.....just find it bizzare that irfu markets it as a game of the people,but only selects from a handful of schools....smacks of cronyism tbh

Yous are good enough to fleece for match tickets,but not play for us.....seems to be irfu message to the public

yourdeadwright

Deleted User wrote: »

It should be said,ive no issue with fee paying schools.....just find it bizzare that irfu markets it as a game of the people,but only selects from a handful of schools....smacks of cronyism tbh

Yous are good enough to fleece for match tickets,but not play for us.....seems to be irfu message to the public

They select the best players it just happens the best players play for these schools ,

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

It should be said,ive no issue with fee paying schools.....just find it bizzare that irfu markets it as a game of the people,but only selects from a handful of schools....smacks of cronyism tbh

Yous are good enough to fleece for match tickets,but not play for us.....seems to be irfu message to the public

That’s because for many of these schools their rugby program has literally a hundred years of a leg up on the competition - the tide will change slowly but it will turn.

It’d remain all fee paying if everyone took your attitude, and what a shame that would be.

Batrachotox

Batrachotox wrote: »

That’s because for many of these schools their rugby program has literally a hundred years of a leg up on the competition - the tide will change slowly but it will turn.

It’d remain all fee paying if everyone took your attitude, and what a shame that would be.

The tide isnt turning though....its gone from 60% to 80% of the squad in 5 years?


The game is dying out as bandwagoners will simply see through it.....virtually all the "classic" games shown during covid,were oireland defeats ffs.....less than 100k play it here,yet we are supposedly ranked highly in the world,despite picking out of a handful of schools??

yourdeadwright

Deleted User wrote: »

The tide isnt turning though....its gone from 60% to 80% of the squad in 5 years?


The game is dying out as bandwagoners will simply see through it.....virtually all the "classic" games shown during covid,were oireland defeats ffs.....less than 100k play it here,yet we are supposedly ranked highly in the world,despite picking out of a handful of schools??

Fee paying schools are the majority of best teams so of course they will have more players picked from the better teams, that just makes sense, ?

We are ranked high in the world ? what the problem ,

Ireland Rugby teams have beaten every top team in the world more than once bar our one win over new Zeeland
, As a soccer fan I can't say the same about our soccer teams Italy & Germany and that about it in the last 20 years ,

Rodney Bathgate

yourdeadwright wrote: »

Fee paying schools are the majority of best teams so of course they will have more players picked from the better teams, that just makes sense, ?

We are ranked high in the world ? what the problem ,

Ireland Rugby teams have beaten every top team in the world more than once bar our one win over new Zeeland
, As a soccer fan I can't say the same about our soccer teams Italy & Germany and that about it in the last 20 years ,

Two wins over NZ. (Not that it makes any difference.)

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

The game is dying out as bandwagoners will simply see through it.....virtually all the "classic" games shown during covid,were oireland defeats ffs.....less than 100k play it here,yet we are supposedly ranked highly in the world,despite picking out of a handful of schools??

Based on what?? That the team lost a match away in Paris? That's always a tough ask. Even in this which would've been regarded as a bad year by our satandards we were still in contention to win the 6 nations on the last day.

It's not like there's been some cataclysmic defeat that'll be a watershed moment for these "bandwagoners" as you call them...why is everyone gonna lose interest all of a sudden? Because you want them to?

The_Kew_Tour

Got to hand it to the marketing team and brand that show off the Irish rugby as probably the greatest thing since the slice pan.

My own unpopular opinion is that they are the most overrated team in world sport. I can’t think of another team that is being hyped so much but won so little.

I played it at good level and enjoyed it. But at International level we seem to think we are some sort of Rugby Powerhouse, when we ain’t.

Like see them do well, and appreciate they give 100% but watching the skill level of France compared to them, they were on different level, and they get better as much younger team.

Rothko

Batrachotox wrote: »

Ah I’m sorry but that’s a load of rubbish.

It’s evident from what you’ve said so far that you know very little about rugby and what’s involved in playing it. Or maybe you do know and are just trying to get a rise out of people.

Either way I don’t understand why you see the need to belittle other people’s sports. Maybe you don’t like it but if they do why do you care?

But then I suppose begrudgery always finds it’s place in Ireland..

I agree with most of what you said but I don't see any begrudgery in it at all.

The_Kew_Tour

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Got to hand it to the marketing team and brand that show off the Irish rugby as probably the greatest thing since the slice pan.

My own unpopular opinion is that they are the most overrated team in world sport. I can’t think of another team that is being hyped so much but won so little.

I played it at good level and enjoyed it. But at International level we seem to think we are some sort of Rugby Powerhouse, when we ain’t.

Like see them do well, and appreciate they give 100% but watching the skill level of France compared to them, they were on different level, and they get better as much younger team.

Irish rugby has never won a competitive knock-out game of rugby


The "golden generation",(remember we told its a team sport not indivvidual,so any mention of rodge,BOD,paulie etc isnt warrented).....went to 3 world cups and never managed to win a 1/4 final.....always some excuse,brought out by "professionals" is accepted unquestioned,despite us building for each world cup over the previous 18 to 24 months.......in reality,we're not good enough,over hyped and found out when push comes to shove in pressure matches which count



I watched the japan match at last world cup,for a team of supposed super-pro among best in world athletes (lol),they simply werent at the races in terms of athlethism/mobility



If it was a game of skill,smaller highly skilled players,would have a place,when in reality its conventrated on who can.build most mass in gym and maintain mobility aswell to.prosper in the game

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

If it was a game of skill,smaller highly skilled players,would have a place,when in reality its conventrated on who can.build most mass in gym and maintain mobility aswell to.prosper in the game

Again that’s just not true.

Faf de Klerk, Aaron Smith both 5’7”, some of the best players in the world.

And it’s not only scrum halves (who generally are smaller, more skilled players), Cheslin Kolbe is a starting South African winger, won the World Cup last year, 5’7” 80kg. It was famously said of Shane Williams that he was too small for rugby initially, only for him to go on to be one of the best outside backs of all time (4th all time highest try scorer), standing at 1.70m.

Size helps but it’s not everything in rugby

Justin Credible Darts

Batrachotox wrote: »

Faf de Klerk, Aaron Smith both 5’7”, some of the best players in the world.

Never heard of them, guess that tells you how popular rugby is.


The top players in football, tennis, golf etc are more known

Duffy the Vampire Slayer

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

Never heard of them, guess that tells you how popular rugby is.


The top players in football, tennis, golf etc are more known

Rugby isn't really a very popular sport on a global level. It's only taken seriously in a handful of countries, and is usually a minority sport in those too.

Justin Credible Darts

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

Never heard of them, guess that tells you how popular rugby is.


The top players in football, tennis, golf etc are more known

Who’s disagreeing with you there?

Simply pointing out that the previous poster’s assertion that it was only about being big was wrong.

Furthermore I don’t see how popularity relative to other sports is a stick to beat certain sports with. If everyone took your attitude no sports would ever grow barring the already established ones.

Rothko

Rothko wrote: »

I agree with most of what you said but I don't see any begrudgery in it at all.

Read back on the comments beforehand - people delighted with/wishing for the rugby teams failure. Saying the fans are all bandwagoners etc etc pretty begrudging if you ask me.

[Deleted User]

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Irish rugby has never won a competitive knock-out game of rugby

The Irish football team should pack it in too so by your estimations?

Justin Credible Darts

Batrachotox wrote: »

Who’s disagreeing with you there?

Simply pointing out that the previous poster’s assertion that it was only about being big was wrong.

Furthermore I don’t see how popularity relative to other sports is a stick to beat certain sports with. If everyone took your attitude no sports would ever grow barring the already established ones.

I have no argument to your point.


However, the complaint is how Rugby is hyped as a top sport, when it is an elitist game played by players vastly over rated, and supported by people who think the irish team is some thing special, when it is not.

Batrachotox

Batrachotox wrote: »

The Irish football team should pack it in too so by your estimations?

They have won a competitive knock out match,admiteldly 30 plus years ago in italia 90



But noone hypes irish soccer team up as worldbeaters.....lads thinking ireland are world beaters in rugby are being fed lies....they sucummed to japan....the irfu report into that world cup (i happened upon this one night somehow :pac: ),concluded this team of super pros,under estimated japan,and suffered from anxiety at prospect of playing a competive knock-out game

Batrachotox

Batrachotox wrote: »

Furthermore I don’t see how popularity relative to other sports is a stick to beat certain sports with. If everyone took your attitude no sports would ever grow barring the already established ones.

Its constantly on TV....alot more than it should be,given the playing numbers here


If it was difficult to access etc,how many bandwagoners would go to effort to find it?

ohnonotgmail

Deleted User wrote: »

Its constantly on TV....alot more than it should be,given the playing numbers here


If it was difficult to access etc,how many bandwagoners would go to effort to find it?

the only games on free to air TV are the ireland test matches. Ireland friendly games are on pay channels. The professional club games are all on pay channels. so you do have to effort to watch it and pay for the privilege.

Justin Credible Darts

Justin Credible Darts wrote: »

However, the complaint is how Rugby is hyped as a top sport, when it is an elitist game played by players vastly over rated, and supported by people who think the irish team is some thing special, when it is not.

Look I'll not dispute all of that

However

In the 2018-19 season directly prior to the World cup Ireland won a grand slam in the 6 nations and went on a world record equalling 18 match win streak which included a win over the All Blacks (which had only ever been done once before) and reached a ranking of #1 in the world. A few months before the world cup - I really don't think it's utterly ridiculous that people might have got their hopes up.

Yeah the team bottled it in the end but it would be churlish to suggest that they weren't ever in with a shot at winning.

Cienciano

The_Kew_Tour wrote: »

Got to hand it to the marketing team and brand that show off the Irish rugby as probably the greatest thing since the slice pan.

My own unpopular opinion is that they are the most overrated team in world sport. I can’t think of another team that is being hyped so much but won so little.

I played it at good level and enjoyed it. But at International level we seem to think we are some sort of Rugby Powerhouse, when we ain’t.

Like see them do well, and appreciate they give 100% but watching the skill level of France compared to them, they were on different level, and they get better as much younger team.

The trick to Ireland being "good" at rugby is that only 8 countries take it serious. And even then, we cannot get to the final 4 at a world cup.