Will Andy Farrell get the adoration Jack Charlton got?

That's as good of a coherent argument as we've gotten.

All the people who hate Ruby..not a big lover of it myself. I'd think hard about watching a Leinster or Munster match if I was paid to. But as someone who loved soccer up to maybe 15 years ago, I absolutely hate it at the moment. There's just too much of it, we've been over saturated with it for years almost ever day or night for most weeks from August to May (into July in an even numberedbyear). The sensationalised coverage does me nut in and its really hard to get away from it at all.

But back to the rugby. I'll probably watch it Saturday night but wouldn't watch the other quarter finals. I won't be devastated if we lose like I would have been after losing to Italy in 1990, Holland in 1994 or Spain in 2002. But I'll be happy for them and Irish fans if they win.

Farrell, even if Ireland win the world cup will get platitudes similar to Jack Charlton in the late 80s and 90s. But it'll be much shorter lived and won't be looked back on with the same romantic affection 30 years later. Or even half that.

Well if my analysis is up my hole, your reading comprehension is up your hole.

I'm not arguing that there were more Irish born on the soccer squad than the current rugby squad, the opposite in fact.

As I said I only had to glance at the rugby squad to know there was more Irish born on it.

The financial situation for both is very different.

Let's look at the IRFU.

They have a very wealthy support base.

Even twenty years ago they could command a higher ticket price for international games than the FAI.

They can get more money from corporate and sponsorship because they have such an affluent fan base.

They sold out their 10 year tickets in the Aviva in no time, while the FAI struggled to do the same.

And they have private schools to train and develop their upcoming talent.

The FAI have nothing.

Even though there are thousands more soccer fans in Ireland than there are rugby fans, these thousands of fans spend the majority of their soccer money on UK and European soccer, be that TV subscriptions, merc, trips to games etc

The FAI see feck all of the money spent by soccer fans in Ireland.

And there is not much they can do about it, the giant league on their doorstep is not going to shrink below the level of the LOI anytime.

That some list of excuses. How many millions did the FAI burn away for the last 20-30 years? no fan should be making excuses for them.

2022 the FAI got 5.8m

IRFU got 2.2m and GAA 2.4m

The FAI books are available every year. I think you should have a look at the "nothing" they get.

Let's not forget the FAI had private investors paying manager wages etc, would that not be a very wealthy supporter base?

Plus according to this thread rugby is based out of D4 and nowhere else in the country, are you trying to say no wealthy people live outside of D4 or support soccer? because if i fly to UK on Friday it will be full of soccer fans. Why are they not staying in Ireland? well thats the FAI fault

Big bad Denis.....

He contributed to Trapp's salary.

Whoosh!

I know. Playing on my old man bad memory.

Rory mcgilroy adds a bit to the ulster rugby coffers.

Jack and the boys gave us back hope at the end of the grim 80s. Outwith winning the RWC Jack will always be more fondly thought of. Rugby is still viewed as an elite sport played by rich boys whereas soccer is a working class sport with universal appeal.

I think he does, but a millionaire handing millions to the FAI would contradict the point of the FAI having nothing and only rugby having rich supporters.

Would you not let the kid pick himself ?

go to NZ and they have a rugby ball 🤣

The soccer team is run by FAI so unless we can import the half of England we won’t be successful

The talented players will pick GAA or rugby is my point, the chance as to be successful and building a career is a lot higher at those sports

second captains had a better on discussion on why a young talented player would pick different sports, the result at the end was rugby gave them the best chance of success. As we seen with the current team, players still living at home or close to home are currently playing at top international and club rugby…..

As I said always wait till next year when the 7s is in the Olympics, men and women’s, with a huge GAA star in the womens

7s is a game which is easy to play on the greens instead of 15s

From a soccer point of view, the 90s team might say they had a link to ireladn

But you are now talking about 3/4th generation people who have next to no link to Ireland. As we have seen the young talented players in England have zero interest in playing for Ireland instead of england

Plus from my own cousins, their parents still discuss Ireland but their kids and their grandkids have no interest. They are English.

Tie that in with the FAI total lack of interest in developing young Irish players unless they fall over them it’s not really a bright future. Plus it still up to the player to build their own career in England before the FAI will come calling to play for them.

The FAI should be building a league in Ireland, dump the current mess, have a route for young players to stay in Ireland till they are 20+ and then move to England as a pro and the success rate would be way higher. But the FAI will never do that, so that’s why I said they should be scrapped, along with the northern version

I agree with you.

The big difference is how that money is spent. IRFU are playing a blinder over the last couple of decades in that respect.

I've been to New Zealand, twice, and I see that they have a rugby ball where here you would see a football (soccer or GAA) or hurley.

But we are not talking about New Zealand.

Also the popularity of soccer in Ireland doesn't depend on what the FAI or the national team does, it helps if the national team are doing well, but the popularity of soccer in Ireland depends more on how the EPL or the UEFA champions league is doing and being marketed, or whether the world cup is on in a time zone that gives it maximum coverage here.

And it's been that way for decades, the popularity of soccer in Ireland has been driven by the consumption of British media, and will always be, and that will always trump the efforts of the IRFU.

As for the Olympic 7s, it's a side show, like all Olympics.

And even though I fully appreciate Viki Wall as an athlete, she is not a superstar, she is obviously no David Clifford or Stephen Cluxton, and I'd argue that she isn't even a Cora Stanton.