o’gara?
a nationalist?
have they ever been to Cork Constitution Rugby Football club?
Talkback touched on one reason why rugby is popular as opposed to GAA, the accessibility if the games being held on a Friday or sat afternoon or night as opposed to Sunday. I’d go one more and say that, plus alcohol being served in the stadium and allowed to be consumed while watching the match. Perfect for event junkies and girls who know nothing about the sport. There are of course many genuine fans but the drinking culture attached to going to a Munster rugby game is huge.
What’s the situation now with fans at Munster games regarding the interaction between the so called Limerick die-hards, im thinking of the working class, crubeen eating, salt of the earth dockers from Young Munster, Shannon and Richmond and the upwardly mobile, hipflask, sheepskin coat barristers, solicitors and doctors from Cork Constitution, are they all now on the same page? Are they all now united behind the cause?
I presume as well the ladies are meeting up before the game, Iseult from Kinsale with her fitted jersey ( she loves Donners don’t you know) will no doubt be sipping Martinis in her sunglasses whilst Maura from the Dock Road is on her twelfth Smithwicks, also Ultan Morley from Donnybrook ( the Douglas version) will no doubt enjoy the pre match hydrogens with Haulie and Foley from the Ballysimon Road as they wax lyrical over the miracle match and 1978.
Im not sure really are other posters truly au fait with the cuntishness of the cork rugby fan? The leinster thing is well documented but what was going on in cork circa 2002 was nauseating, again the whole arrogance factor had to be seen to be believed, former students of pres and Christians fighting in nightclubs, parents from cobh, youghal and crrigtohill of all places clamouring to pack their kids off to same, fellas in their 20’s were even changing their accents to this mid atlantic, higher pitched, nasal, haughty foghorn noise…fuck me.
How is the whole munster and limerick inferiority complex now these days?
Particularly the whole ‘ah shur gailimh will never get picked , he’s from the rale munsther”, meanwhile the likes of Tyrone Howe, Bryn Cunningham, Paul Dean, Fergus Ahern, Dion O’ Cuinneagain and more galling some cork private school, barrister type like David Corkery walks on the team
[quote=“Bandage, post: 861768, member: 9”]Can we leave all obvious wind ups and insults out of this thread please?
But I really want to know how otherwise intelligent people (in some cases) follow this activity. That clip of Paul O’Connell trying to pass the ball was hilarious and it’s broadly representative of the skill set of the average rugby footballer.
When I stopped watching the game in 2011, it was a mix of steroid addled gym monkeys and overweight fatties trundling into each other in straight lines. I understand nothing has changed in the intervening period.
So why do Irish people in their thousands follow it? Surely it can’t be all attributed to marketing and how the provincial “franchises” were sold to the public? I’d accept if that had a relatively short lived impact but it’s a decade or more later and still people are going to these games in their droves. Is it simply that most people are thick?
Or have people invested in supporting the activity to such an extent that they’d lose face if they admitted there’s literally no skill involved in the game? Kick up in the air, charge after it, collide and repeat.
Maybe it’s the fact there was some success (not unexpected given the best Irish players are concentrated at two provincial franchises compared to English and French players being spread around a dozen or more teams) and people like to feel part of it?
Is it the social class thing? Rugby football has traditionally been the pastime of the upwardly mobile. Are other people grasping to be part of it? Is it more the day out and the social interaction and networking that keeps people coming back?
And what about people who were subject to it from a very early age due to their upbringing or where they went to school? This might go back to the time invested point but at what stage do they admit that they’ve been sold a pup?
For example, my auld lad is hugely interested in horse racing and brought us to meetings all over the country as kids but when I got older I naturally concluded that watching midgets beating horses around a circle is a retarded pastime and I’ve no interest in the activity.
But I find that people who grew up with rugby football are very defensive about it and loyal to the activity - they’re like cult members who see no wrong in what’s a really, really poor spectacle.
The nub of the point is that there’s simply no sporting skill involved in rugby football. People go to games and cheer when a group of competitors push an opposing group of players back. Why are they doing this? People are free to do what they like - I’ve no problem with it - but I can’t get my head around this. It’s fucking mental.[/quote]
It achieves a live following in the uk in part because live football is so scummy that you wouldn’t bring your family anywhere near it, oh, and by and large soccer is shit. It achieves a following in Ireland in part because it is better organised and marketed than the gaa. As a spectacle, unlike soccer, it is better live than on telly, but it is becoming more and more a bloodsport in the premiership. I go to sale sharks for a few pints most home games as there is fcuk all else to do, and the players are in bits after every game. It’s beginning to make uncomfortable viewing to be honest. Need to drink more.
tripe
there are fuck all clubs in England yet the crowds are at best low championship crowds
its a bespoke public school sport ,thats where its following is from
Football is better live,Rogbee is shit either way but really shit live as no one knows what is going on
The point on injury is interesting. I used to work with a guy who got paralysed playing rugby football. You’d have to be an absolute simpleton to play this activity.
some wonderfully well constructed and thought provoking discussion here so far, 
Not all of us can aspire to the glory of the mid-week astro leagues mate - count yourself lucky.
Anyone who was out in Dublin after the game on Sat knows that there is a massive social element to big rugby games alright. I was at the game on Sat and I couldn’t believe the amount of lads up and down the steps getting pints throughout the game either.
I don’t think rugby is popular as opposed to the GAA. I think both have made massive gains in the last 15 years with the summer being all about the championship which pulls in the casual fan and similarly the Oct-Apr there is a lot of focus on rugby.
Thinly veiled “my job is so worthless it can be done by a quadriplegic simpleton”.
I don’t think that there is an Irish obsession about it. A lot of lads who watch rugby would be interested in it largely for it’s novelty, rarity and the fact it’s on when there isn’t really any other sporting competition i.e. early June. The Sky Sports hype this year was fairly embarrassing to be honest. I wasn’t cut up when they lost series and it didn’t bother me that much when they won this year. I’d far prefer to see my club, province or country win a game.
Indeed. Imagine one of those rugby footballer gym monkeys or fatties trying to play football. 
what a fucken idiot:D
ow stupid are some people
[quote=“tallback, post: 862427, member: 1158”]Anyone who was out in Dublin after the game on Sat knows that there is a massive social element to big rugby games alright. I was at the game on Sat and I couldn’t believe the amount of lads up and down the steps getting pints throughout the game either.
I don’t think rugby is popular as opposed to the GAA. I think both have made massive gains in the last 15 years with the summer being all about the championship which pulls in the casual fan and similarly the Oct-Apr there is a lot of focus on rugby.[/quote]
The drinking in the stadium differentiates it big time from GAA though, IMO.
[quote=“mickee321, post: 862461, member: 367”]what a fucken idiot:D
ow stupid are some people[/quote]
And sadly because the people engaging in this activity are either uncoordinated freakshows (see Paul O’Connell) or steroid taking gym monkeys or both, then serious injuries are going to happen. A load of oafs will continue to topple over and snap each others’ spines.
Yeah, totally. It’s definitely more at international games than provincial, certainly for the RDS anyway. At Leinster games you’ll have the odd lad bringing a pint back to their seat but you don’t have guys hopping up and down for beers. Not sure what it’s like in Thomond.
if that fella had been more agile he might have stayed on the right side of that slurry pit in Downshire last year, very, very sad
Non stop parade of lads up and down to the bar for any internationals or Munster games I’ve been to. Only a handful in fairness.
Oooooh “edgy”. :rolleyes: