An irish spy caught photographing the All Blacks Captains Run.
Its all kicking off in Paris.
An irish spy caught photographing the All Blacks Captains Run.
Its all kicking off in Paris.
I donât need any excuse to dislike this stupid sport or those that play or watch it.
Some would and some wouldnât, Michelle OâNeill rejoicing in Irish wins has a few of them not knowing which way to turn. Iâve not seen any child walking about in an Irish jersey yet, so far itâs only middleaged men and women Iâve seen with them on. Maybe things will pick-up after this weekend.
Lord Kilclooney is a fervent Irish rubby fan even if the presence of the Tricolour irks him somewhat
Can Ireland and England meet in the final? Farrell vs Farrell
1/10 they open with âTo Win Just Onceâ
âDoctorâ Ciara is the type that put people off the game/the team for sure. How anyone can listen her in general.
Iâm sure sheâd knew she get a reaction. Or was probably told such a message would get a reaction. Its what Newstalk is all about
Donât have a sub to open it. Maybe someone here can
Youâve answered your own question there. No Irish rugby team ever could ever be described as âsuccessfulâ.
âShare the Darknessâ
Donât do it, rugby. Do not do it. You want to do it. Youâre bursting to do it. But please, please donât do it. Donât go ruining the Rugby World Cup for the rest of us.
The pull must be strong, we see that. Itâs like thereâs a big red button throbbing in front of your face, aching for your big secondrow shovel palm to whomp down upon it and release the roar of RugbyRugbyRugby to every corner of the four proud provinces. Just know this, rugby â you donât need to press it.
There is a world, remember, in which you can just be a sport. To thine own self be true, old friend. You are rugby â enjoy that simple fact. Relish your awesome physical dance, your intricate running patterns, your enviable approach to referees. Bathe in your camaraderie, delight in your sleight of hand. Take boundless joy in the fact that yours is a genuine team sport, one where even the best individual only ever succeeds as a bit-part in a collective.
Is all of that not enough? Can you not take it and be happy? Would it be so hard to just go and put on a tournament â a tournament that weâre all very much excited for, we should stress â and be relaxed and comfortable with it? Why must you do what you always do? Why must you be so incorrigibly rugby about it all?
Rugby, you have no chill. Thatâs your problem, right there. You have a great sport but you canât bring yourself to leave it at that. You canât let a big tournament come and go with it being Rugby Country this and Team Of Us that and All It Takes the other. Weâll be honest with you here, rugby â for the rest of us, that stuff is a ferocious pain in the hoop to be listening to.
Oh, look, we know. We know the other sports would sicken a small hospital too when they get going. Donât worry about that, rugby. We know the GAA would have you believe that itâs the only sport on the planet that ever heard of a volunteer. And that the soccer crowd wonât so much as look at you unless youâve been to the Carlisle Grounds in the pissings of rain every Friday for the past decade. And that horse racing is bent as a saxophone convention. And sure cricket is only for perverts and oddballs.
Ireland players - not the Team Of Us, please - huddle at the Stade de Bordeaux on Thursday in the run-up to their Rugby World Cup opening game against Romania. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire
Hereâs the thing, rugby. All those sports know who they are. They know where they stand. They are who they are, they live where they live. Most of all, they donât go swanking around the place making bigger claims for themselves than reality can sustain.
If anything, they go the other way. You have Gaelic football, aka the self-flagellatorsâ support group, talking itself down since Mick OâConnell stopped rowing his boat. You have the sorrowful mysteries of Irish soccer, wherein you are not one bit surprised to find youâre allowed roughly eight minutes to enjoy Evan Ferguson before he gets injured.
Even hurling, which has a famously grand welcome for itself, is actually pretty self-contained and is mostly just a sort of circular admiration society. It canât even be bothered claiming West Cork, never mind the rest of the land. Youâd never hear even the most devoted hurling acolyte claiming, say, Tyrone as Hurling Country. Hurling Country doesnât even really know where Tyrone is. And yet, despite it all, nobody anywhere has a bad word to say about hurling.
That could be you, rugby. If youâd only just chill the beans there and let the next seven weeks play out, youâd find that plenty of the country is quietly behind you anyway. You donât need all this frantic jitterbugging and hopping from one foot to the other, braying into the winds about your soaring popularity.
We could have set our watch by you this week, rugby. Sunrise, sunset, here comes the rugby, running its mouth as usual. And so we started the week with that survey carried out by a â wait for it â rugby sponsor claiming that rugby is the most popular sport in Ireland. Of course it is.
Here comes the rugby: The logo of the France 2023 Rugby World Cup is projected on to the Arc de Triomphe. Photograph: Julien De Rosa/AFP via Getty Images
That was followed up later in the week by research from â and this is not a gag â a website called The Grueling Truth, claiming to have numbers that show that Ireland is âthe third most rugby-obsessed nation in the worldâ. Based on some kind of Google search trend data thing, Ireland is apparently more into rugby than New Zealand, South Africa or any of the Brits.
According to the Grueling Truthers, we trail only Papua New Guinea and Fiji â and considering the bulk of Papua New Guineaâs interest is in rugby league, we should surely be seen as the moral holders of the second spot on the podium at least. Something to aim for across the next four-year cycle, no doubt.
Why, rugby? Why must we have this? We are a modern country. We are a welcoming people. All sporting colours, creeds and backgrounds are embraced. The days of most of Ireland dismissing rugby as the preserve of a few private school poshos in Dublin, Belfast and Cork and the odd mullocker from Limerick are gone. We like you, rugby. The TV audiences over the coming month will bear this out, donât worry about that.
[ Rugby World Cup: All you need to know about Irelandâs opponents in Pool B ]
[ Rugby World Cup TV schedule: All games will be to free-to-air for fans in Ireland ]
But would it kill you to just take that for what it is? A confluence of events. An Ireland team that is genuinely exciting to watch. A building sense that itâs not ridiculous to think they could go and win a World Cup. A thrilling moment in time, which surely wonât last in perpetuity, in which we can enjoy â enjoy! â the idea of taking on South Africa and either New Zealand or France as equals. This is such magnificent fun for everyone to behold. Let us have it.
Thereâs a way for you to play this, rugby. Be cool. Be humble. Be what you are. Do that and the people will come of their own accord. You donât have to browbeat them into acclaiming your popularity or gerrymander the numbers or juke the stats. This could even be the World Cup that does it.
In the words of the prophet OâGara, lâopportunitĂ©, câest f**king Ă©norme.
Donât blow it, rugby. Donât do it.
They actually do.
Well thatâs patently untrue. Irish teams have won significant trophies. That is success.
Yes - they have underperformed in World Cups but donât let resentment consume your heart
My experience through they work is the nordy prods (with money) are big into it.
Takes some time to get used to that accent going on about likes of Keith Earls or Conor Murray representing âusâ and âIrelandâ.
The OâDriscoll documentary where he explored the history of the 32 county rugby team was really good. He met Orangemen who considered themselves British but supported Ireland against England and was baffled by it.
I had random pints in the shelbourne one night with some proper tweed jacket, brogue wearing purple faced Ulster unionist and his daughter before we played England a few years back. He was a great laugh and 100% Irish rugby.
Youâve answered your own question there. No Irish rugby team ever could ever be described as âsuccessfulâ.
Could they not?
@mikehunt winding up a big one here. He hasnât been this wound up since the apple funds controversy.
Your definition of âsignificantâ is different to mine. Rugby is taken seriously in a handful of countries. The World Cup is the only competition where those handfull of teams all compete. Up to now Ireland have not made it past the last 8 in any world cup. You may call that successful, it stinks of failure to me.
Your definition of âsignificantâ is different to mine. Rugby is taken seriously in a handful of countries. The World Cup is the only competition where those handfull of teams all compete. Up to now Ireland have not made it past the last 8 in any world cup. You may call that successful, it stinks of failure to me.
Youâre just looking for reasons to be a dick. Fair enough if that makes you feel better about yourself.