Ah that’s tremendous footage. Remember it so well. Great memories.
The one slight tinge of disappointment on those July days in 1989 was that for the first time in British Lions test history, there was no Irish representation. Brendan Mullen was Ireland’s lone representative in the first test defeat but was dropped for the 2nd & 3rd test. The Lions though is bigger than any petty national grievances and really is the sum of four parts. As has been remarked many times over the years, that test series win in 1989 would not have happened without Donal Lenihan and the sterling work he did in leading the midweek team - Donal’s Donouts.
Interesting piece by Matt Williams in yesterday’s Irish Times.
[SIZE=6][SIZE=33px]Lions can do the game of rugby in Australia a great service[/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][FONT=Arial][SIZE=16px]While the game continues to flourish around the globe, in Australia it is struggling and in need of some help[/SIZE][/FONT][/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]I doubt the Lions have ever toured a country where the hosts needed their visit more.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]Like a winemaker who has neglected his vines and focused on the marketing of the product, the Australian rugby vineyard, that produced such great vintage Wallaby teams, has been left fallow and will take time to regenerate.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]In the past I have written articles about this neglect. I have also written directly to the ARU. I am not surprised I did not receive any form of reply.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]However, joyously, the embers of change appear to be glowing.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]Bill Pulver, the newly appointed chief executive of the ARU, is going to the IRB with a series of special requests. These are about creating a new tier of competition in Australian rugby.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]It is an Australia Super Rugby second XV competition to hopefully develop quality players. Australian Super Rugby needs a feeder competition.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]The wonderful Sydney and Brisbane grade competitions, that produced almost all of Australia’s Wallabies have been so degraded they are tragically irrelevant. Like Ireland, many clubs are insolvent and the playing standard is poor.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]Pulver will request the IRB to allow experimental laws in this new competition. The ARU wants 60 minutes games with five-minute sin bins. The motivation for this is born out of desperation. Australian rugby is broke and cannot fund a new “stand alone” competition.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]The second XV games will be coached by the Super franchises’ Academy coaches and played as curtain-raisers to the main Super rugby fixtures, so the costs are negligible.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]The hope is the punters will come one hour early and watch the “stars of the future”. If you think this reeks of desperation I would agree with you. However, Bill Pulver knows what I am telling you. It is desperate measures in desperate times in Australian rugby.
I hope the IRB understand that those of us who have been around a long time and love the game have grave concerns for the long-term viability of rugby in Australia.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]In the past the ARU focused on the elite end of the game. They did this with great success for the Wallaby and Super rugby teams. However the ARU ignored the alarm bells being sounded by many rugby people, like myself, about the state of the game below the professional teams.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=16px]While the player production line has not collapsed, the quality of the skills in the creative players arriving at Super rugby has alarmingly reduced. Thankfully the new leadership in the ARU under Bill Pulver is attempting to put in place new structures. The IRB needs to help Australia help itself.[/SIZE]
Heard ‘Mattie’ on Newstalk recently talking to ‘Fester’ and Gerry Thornley, what a crock of shit that was. Apologizing for Australians (which I can understand) but he is some asshole all the same.
[quote=“myboyblue, post: 772040, member: 180”]Interesting in what way?
Heard ‘Mattie’ on Newstalk recently talking to ‘Fester’ and Gerry Thornley, what a crock of shit that was. Apologizing for Australians (which I can understand) but he is some asshole all the same.[/quote]
Australia have gone to pot in most sports. Their Olympic performance last year was their worst in a generation. Hopeless at cricket now and rugby in the doldrums as well. They’ve become even more insular and concentrate on bullsh*t local pursuits like Australian Rules and Rugby League which have no real popular appeal outside of Australia, well maybe pockets of Yorkshire & Lancashire in the case of Rugby League.
I don’t think ‘pot’ was their issue. Much like Spain, Nadal etc, the truth about Aussie sport is falling out. Regardless, Mattie is still an Uncle Tom.
Fair comment on the drugs. I do think its a pity though what he is saying about the state of their rugby if there is merit in it. They’ve always been great innovators in rugby and among the best sides to watch. Fond memories of their 84 Grand Slam winning side with the Ellas, Lynagh, Farr Jones, Campese and then the likes of Tim Horan & Jason Little joining the latter three in their World Cup winning team of 1991. Rugby in Australia always attracted a better class of participant/spectator as well. Rugby League is the ultimate yob’s sport.
Surprised Sidney hasnt been on to discuss the importance of this week for the Loins. Its all about bonding this week for the brave British boys, as witnessed below, its going marvelously well.
[quote=“myboyblue, post: 772131, member: 180”]Surprised Sidney hasnt been on to discuss the importance of this week for the Loins. Its all about bonding this week for the brave British boys, as witnessed below, its going marvelously well.
[quote=“Fitzy, post: 772135, member: 236”]The referee has to explain to the players, during the game, how to play it. That’s a sport? Its a pretty thick one if that’s the case.
[/quote]
That’s a nonsensical argument. The referee clarifies his interpretation of some of the more technical rules of the game to the captains as the game unfolds. The referee’s word is sacrosanct and invariably accepted in good grace and a gentlemanly manner by all the players. Its certainly a better way to do things than the kind of spectacle you regularly get in football like when Andy D’Urso was chased around the field and practically manhandled by a crowd of Manchester United players who didn’t agree or couldn’t accept his decision to award Middlesboro a penalty at Old Trafford.
Applying your logic are we to take it a cricket team which engages in a vociferous appeal for a wicket, when its clearly a case of not out doesn’t understand the rules of cricket and the concepts of out and not out?
[quote=“Wrigley Field, post: 772184, member: 1735”]That’s a nonsensical argument. The referee clarifies his interpretation of some of the more technical rules of the game to the captains as the game unfolds. The referee’s word is sacrosanct and invariably accepted in good grace and a gentlemanly manner by all the players. Its certainly a better way to do things than the kind of spectacle you regularly get in football like when Andy D’Urso was chased around the field and practically manhandled by a crowd of Manchester United players who didn’t agree or couldn’t accept his decision to award Middlesboro a penalty at Old Trafford.
Applying your logic are we to take it a cricket team which engages in a vociferous appeal for a wicket, when its clearly a case of not out doesn’t understand the rules of cricket and the concepts of out and not out?[/quote]
Crouch, touch, pause, engage :rolleyes:
Australian sport, once driven to success by the Elite AIS, is now on its knees due to this institution. It’s a farce, having coached a few people out of there what they are being coached is pretty low level. They got comfortable and the rest of the world has passed them by.
Rightly though, most Aussies, like a large majority of Irish people who are not that bothered about Rugby and soccer success, are quite happy to encourage, watch, play and support their own indigenous sport of Aussie Rules. And they’d be dead right too.
[quote=“caoimhaoin, post: 772367, member: 273”]Australian sport, once driven to success by the Elite AIS, is now on its knees due to this institution. It’s a farce, having coached a few people out of there what they are being coached is pretty low level. They got comfortable and the rest of the world has passed them by.
Rightly though, most Aussies, like a large majority of Irish people who are not that bothered about Rugby and soccer success, are quite happy to encourage, watch, play and support their own indigenous sport of Aussie Rules. And they’d be dead right too.[/quote]
A junior footballer from cork knows more about sport than the Australian institute of sport
right you are
in the last year we were:
In the top 10 countries in the world at the olympics
won the highest prize in Golf
in a strong position to qualify for the football world cup
We will always be successful
In regards to Aussies not being bothered about football in favour of GAYFL- incorrect as proven to you earlier in the week
