Low Lie the Fields of Athenry.
Loving the seete from the typical munster heads on twitter. Hook it into my veins
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He had to go
Which one?
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Fair few lads on here were there that day.
We all partied
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Serge Betsen never lived that down. Both clubs are in free fall these days.
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Where did it all go wrong? I would say it started yo crumble after losing leinster in croker in 09. The recession hit and the fancy Danās where broke. There was a real lockout of tickets for real rugby fans in munster and those people started to have enough. It was also the start of leinster dominance but they did it right with a sustainable supply of young players coming through year on year. Money aside leinster set up a system that can provide world class players for themselves. Munster are only at the same point as leinster then at that stage, without a current brilliant team
The Leinster schools system went into overdrive as the only wealth left in the country was concentrated in South Dublin.
They fell into a system where the is deep competition backed by a wealthy alumni and leimster built on that. Where if you remember that match in croke park it was impossible to get tickets without corporate ties irrc and it was the bandwagon rolling until the wheels came off with the real rugby people left long behind. There was a sour taste in a lot of people over the next few years and now you have plenty of people who wouldnāt piss on munster. One of the most loved sports teams in irish sport shot themselves in the foot by allowing people to be alienated.
I remember around the time a fella I know said itās a great new stadium and in a few years Iāll have it to myself and the dog for the interpros like the old days. I thought it was ridiculous at the time sure we are backing the same team all together. 10 years on I wouldnt cross the road to watch them for free
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āNot being able to go to Thomond Park is nearly like a bereavementā
āIN 2008, WHEN THE ALL BLACKS CAME BACK, IāLL NEVER FORGET THAT AS LONG AS I LIVE. I THINK ITāS UP THERE WITH THE HEINEKEN CUP WINS IN 2006 AND 2008 IN CARDIFF. PHOTOGRAPH: TIM HALES/INPHO
Thereās a real core of down-to-earth people who have been following Munster all their lives
Iām sure a lot of people know of that slogan that has become a goldmine for someone in the T-shirt printing industry: āIrish by birth, Munster by grace of God.ā
Iām one of those souls blessed with my place of birth, a proud Limerick woman, and my passion for Munster rugby has brought me to places ā monsoons in the old Stradey Park in Llanelli, taking over The Shed in Gloucester ā that only serves to affirm the special bond among us with red shirts on our backs.
Why was I so drawn to rugby? Iām originally from Ardagh in west Limerick which wouldnāt have been a rugby stronghold by any means. Dan Larkin was from a neighbouring parish which was as close as the game got to us but, as a family, we watched everything. Soccer. GAA. Limerick hurling. But I loved watching the interprovincials, the Five Nations as it was. It really resonated with me and touched my core.
The opportunity to really live out my passion for Munster rugby though came with the redevelopment of Thomond Park and the chance to buy a season ticket. Two of my sisters, Olive and Audrey, and my niece, Kelly, also bought season tickets for the West Stand and ā for someone who had moved away after college at 21 ā that connection has become like part of my family and those match trips are just so special and I miss them so much.
Not being able to go to Thomond Park is nearly like a bereavement. Weāre going nowhere in the last year and a half, it is so sad. I canāt even see all of the matches on television because theyāre on so many different channels. But I can always count on Limerick 95fm. Donn OāSullivan and Ronan OāMahony, who played for us, are on commentary and they have that dry Limerick wit and in fairness they do a brilliant job. They can be hilarious. People would say to me, āIs everyone from Limerick mad?ā And Iād say, ānot really, but a lot of us are!ā
I miss my match day routines. I donāt drive. I live in Bray and would get the bus into Dublin and then the train from Heuston and then walk from the station just to get a bit of clear head time before I get into the madness of Thomond Park.
The Munster haka
In 2008, when the All Blacks came back, Iāll never forget that as long as I live. I think itās up there with the Heineken Cup wins in 2006 and 2008 in Cardiff. The whole night captured what Munster rugby is all about. The originals who had beaten the All Blacks all those years back in 1978. The soldier coming down off the helicopter with the ball. The team facing the All Blacks and the four Kiwis who played for us doing the Munster haka. I got the train back to Heuston the next day and I was based in Arran Quay at the time, hopped on the bus just three stops down to get in a bit quicker, and I had got my Munster jersey on. The bus driver said to me, āYou wouldnāt have a programme from last night, would you?ā I said, āI do, but Iām keeping it.ā
Deadly bar
But thatās the sort of connection Munster rugby has with people. In supporting the team, you realise itās not just people from Limerick or Cork or Kerry or Tipperary or Clare or Waterford . . . I remember being in Newport for a match and I was trying to find this deadly bar weād been in for a previous match. I heard a bit of a noise from a public house down an alley and when I walked in there were at least 150 Munster fans playing music and singing and a couple behind the bar helping serve pints.
I got into a conversion with another Munster supporter and discovered heās from Wexford, one of those I call the refugees who find their salvation with us. Thereās others from Meath Iāve met and all over the country. I remember another time after a match in the RDS and Iām talking to a man, whose grandson was in the Leinster academy and who was with him, and he tells me he is a Munster fan.
Why is it? Maybe it is that idea of the parish and that closeness to your fans. Munster rugbyās roots are very much working class Limerick and if anyone came into the team and had any notions at all, there was a time when Paulie or Rog or Dunners would be like āget a gripā, thatās at the root of it and that culture is still there.
Thereās been more good days than bad, thatās for sure. Thereās been miracle matches and so much more. But sad days too. Axelās passing. I wasnāt in Paris, I was intending to watch the match in Jimmy Doyleās pub on the seafront that day when my phone started hopping with messages and calls and I just couldnāt believe it. I still get emotional to this day thinking about him. Munster rugby has provided so many memories. Like that time in Stradey Park in Llanelli in 2008 when a monsoon descended on us for the entire game and Marcus Horan scored a late try and I just remember there were 40 phases where we just owned the ball to close out the match. Even the Scarlets supporters were congratulating us.
A real connection
To me, thereās a misconception about rugby in England and on trips away with Munster Iāve discovered thereās a real connection. If you have never been to England before for rugby, everyone assumes it is very middle-class game and only the wealthier people play the sport but our experience in any of those places, be it in Leicester or Gloucester or the Ricoh Stadium or Northampton, itās a bit like Munster rugby and I think thatās why the fans get on so well. Thereās a real core of down-to-earth people who have been following it all their lives.
I would know a lot of people through social media because of Munster rugby and I have never met them but we would all be supporting, and tweeting about the match. Thereās a lovely guy down in Clare, I have never met the man, but I was looking for a Munster face mask and next thing I get two masks in the post from Ian, who is a Scottish guy living in Clare and a huge Munster supporter. But that sums us up. There is that huge family part of it that is very special, particularly when you are living away.
Carmel OāConnor is a project manager with the Talk About Youth project, based in St Andrews Resource Centre in Pearse Street, Dublin 2 which delivers youth work to young people in the south inner city area
The headline was enough - who, or what, wrote that?
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Who published it
OāDowd has a lot of questions to answer hereā¦
Iām gonna take a guess at this lads.
Bet she doesnāt know there is proud clubs in Newcastlewest and abbeyfeale. She speaks of middle class people at the richo area is a funny one. Coventry is students and working class and the locals refer to wasps as the gypsies.
And people wonder why I think munster supporters are fucking clowns
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