Id agree with Ken 100%. Rugby isnt no 1 in waterford
âGo way boyâ
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Ken McGrath has got hurling and association football the wrong way around there but heâs on the money about rugbyâs place in the pecking order.
The reality is that rugby has made very little inroads beyond its traditional heartlands.
There is no realistic prospect of an Irish international or even an established provincial player coming from a working class area of any of the cities on this island bar Limerick, or from a GAA stronghold in the six counties.
The pathways to playing rugby at a high level are as closed off to most sectors of society as they have ever been. Rugby people seem happy enough with that while claiming otherwise.
Waterpark RFC v Waterford City RFC, rugby and class warfare. Its a bit like Ballygunner v Mount Sion or Boca Juniors v River Plate.
Franno is some WUM merchant . He will surely have the country rowing over this for a week . This topic deserves a couple of days on Joe Duffy .
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And donât forget the great battles in the preliminary round of the Munster Schools Cup between Waterpark & Newtown .
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Is rugby replacing UFC in the hearts of Irish people?
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Letâs not go nuts, now.
For youngsters from any socio-economic background on any part of the island, the pathways to being a UFC superstar are far more open than the pathways to playing rugby at a high level are for most of them.
Sid is doing an excellent impression of Lucas Brown here.
Who is this Ken McGrath character?
Ask that question on the Clare GAA thread or on clarehurlers .
Love child of Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolfe
Youâre buying into the stereotype of Limerick as a beacon for working class rugby players there.
Outside of Earls - the biggest media darling in Irish rugby who gets condescending praise as âthe boy from the rough part of town done goodâ - can you name all these other Limerick lads from proper working class areas playing for Munster and Ireland over the last decadeâŚ?
Week on from winning the grand slam and the rubby boys are still jumping through hoopsâŚitâs comical.
Limerick is fairly unique in terms of Irish cities though in terms of it at least having pathways to high level rugby for youngsters from a working class background, because there are non-fee paying schools there that play rugby to a high level - Ard Scoil Ris, Castletroy and I think one of St. Munchinâs or Crescent (not sure which) is non-fee paying.
Colaiste Iognaid in Galway is probably the only non-fee paying school in any another city which has a history of recent rugby success. De La Salle Churchtown is a non-fee paying school in Dublin which won the Leinster Schools Cup back in the 80s but they are no longer a rugby force.
Schools rugby, not club rugby, overwhelmingly feeds the professional game in Ireland. The schools are effectively hothouses or development squads run on an almost professional basis. Club rugby for secondary school age youngsters is second rate by comparison. If you donât attend a rugby school your chances of making it in the professional game are slim.
The vast majority of these schools - pretty much all of them in Leinster and Ulster and the majority in Munster and Connacht too, are fee paying.
So if youâre a youngster from a less well off background who wants to play rugby and there is no non-fee paying rugby school near you, your chances of playing at a high level are not good.
Whatâs your honest opinion on this peopleâs game/national sport stuff @gilgamboa? Are the people of Kanturk more interested in rugby or GAA or soccer?
Not enough criminal legal aid types from council estates who support Sinn Fein on the Ireland rugby team. Thatâs essentially your gripe?
Wow. It doesnât take much bait for the rugby set to bite down on and admit their real views of working class people, does it?
Iâm sure Keith Earls would be interested to learn your characterisation of him as a criminal legal aid type who supports Sinn Fein.
Not too many Limerick hurlers from proper working class areas of Limerick City over the last decade. Its only the posh boys in Caherdavin that seem to play hurling in Limerick City.
Of the 100 most recently capped players for Ireland, the non fee paying St Munchins College is the school that has contributed the most players, seven in total - Conor Murray, Damien Varley, Denis Hurley, Donnacha Ryan, Keith Earls, Barry Murphy and Jerry Flannery.
If you are a youngster and you want to be capped for Ireland, your best chance would seem to be to attend the non-fee paying St Munchinâs.