Tim continuing to dispute there are more soccer players than rugby players in Ireland. And poor Sidney hanging on his every word.
Mike Ross
Over-represented in all media or certain media? Because the customers of that media were interested in it and that helped the media to sell their papers etc or because some mysterious powerful people deemed it so?
Iâd reckon that rugby always had a place in the Irish sporting calendar, both for those die-hard rugby fanatics but also for the casual Irish sporting fan. This has been amplified in recent years with the Heineken Cup etc but thatâs prob a little bit because rugby became more accessible, more people were interested in it and it was marketed well. Coupled with some success and the fact that people enjoyed going to or watching games led to a media upswing.
This happened while the soccer team was going through a very average period but where weâve had other sporting successes, from cricket to women boxing, there has been a surge in popularity and media interest too so Iâm not sure itâs just a rugby thing
What it does tell us is that the Irish are event junkies, and love a good sporting bandwagon and that the media tend to follow that instinct. There wasnât much whining on here in 2012 when the same effect was seen at the Euroâs. There wasnât much talk of it when there were massive traffic queues of Wexford cars going to Thurles last summer despite this not normally being an issue at Wexford games.
I suppose I just donât understand why people get so upset though about other people having fun if it doesnât really impact on their lives. Like, I can get ignoring something your not interested in or even a bit of eye-rolling but to be so actively offended - it canât be healthy.
dude, the Welsh have had more success than us! 3 grand slams in the period we have won one.The Australians have been credited for their turn around in fortunes with picking overseas players. We canât play rugby even though we play rugby! We need to get the players out of the structures that clearly isnât working at the highest level.Argentina has transformed their game in 4 years while we have been fooling ourselves about the greatest team ever.How many Argentines play at home ??? I love rugby but its time as a nation we came out of the bubble and stopped patting ourselves on the back.Before I would have rowed in behind my rugby brother but Iâve done lot of reflecting this week. Weâve never won a knockout game at a world cup! end of.
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You are suggesting that the game is overexposed. The media position on the sport is quite clear that in isnât over the last 15 years;
- RTĂ built up the Heineken Cup product. Sky Sports came in and outbid them for it
- TV3/Setanta/RTĂ have had repeated bidding wars over the RWC rights. TV3 received bumper audiences this WC which reflects itâs popularity
- RTĂ have had to bid against Sky Sports for the Six Nations rights
- The Irish Times, the Irish Independent - these are businesses and have to answer to someone. They print what sells. Additionally, deserved derision of their business models aside, Joe.ie et al are click bait sites. They show what makes them money
You are simply upset that you have to spend your time watching the association football team, that were all the rage when you were growing up, get weaker and weaker. And with that, the bandwagon moves elsewhere. People like winners and thatâs the case the world over.
Welsh club rugby was my point
Australia have beaten 3 Northern Hemisphere sides so far, which they have still done quite regularly during their âdownâ years in the last 10 years. Their resurgence as always, is based on beating New Zealand.
Getting into an argument about models is a seperate deal. To touch on it briefly though, New Zealand have the Irish model. Argentina are moving to it. The English moved towards it as far as they could with the Union - Club Accords trying to get players released.
All of that is irrelevant to the point that it is laughable to criticise Irish rugby for itâs grassroots. Itâs grassroots is far more connected to the national side than the FAIâs. Itâs grassroots built a stadium which the FAI desperately needed for 20 years and the IRFU gave them reasonable rates on (when there were no other options for the FAI than to go abroad). Itâs grassroots have shown more of a resiliance at national level to dips in performance. Excuses are galore - ârugby is a drinking eventâ. Theyâre just empty excuses because the association football fan boys know that in truth everyone is the same. The majority are looking for winners and a bandwagon. Celtic, Liverpool and Manchester United supporters, the FAI national side between 1988 and 2002 and the rugby side over the last few seasons.
The prime example =used by the anti rugby brigade for this is schools rugby. Shown on commercial station Setanta and covered in the Irish Times and Irish Independent.
Of course what they have ignored over the years is that Setanta also cover things like the All Ireland Schools football final, All Ireland basketball finals for boys and girls, Cumann na mBunscoil events ect. Those arenât âposhâ kids though.
But the rugby football team are losers and abject failures and still get feted / lauded as inspiring winners by the media. It must be almost impossible to never go beyond the last 8 in a 9-team event but they manage it time after time. Contrast this with the football team who get held to a much higher standard by the media in a vastly more competitive environment.
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If youâre going to state that somebody is having a meltdown, get your spelling right while doing it.
Makes you look like a bit of a simpleton if you donât.
WTF?
What are you talking about? 
The Irish rugby team werenât held to much of a standard between 1985 to 2000 mate, when they started winning some games again. The rugby team have a far higher winning % than during that time for the last 15 years. The Provincial sides have won trophies. Ireland have beaten on a regular basis all the top nations in the world save for New Zealand. Rugby has built up a bank of credit that will take a couple of years of very poor performances to lose.
The association football team have been steadily losing theirs since 2002 and allied to the incompetence of the FAI, are going to be get flack. The media narrative on John Delaney et al is absolutely correct no matter how much you want to joke about it. The FAI have been a shambles, save for Delaney getting 5 mill out of Blatter.
They are still seething.
Three days after being dumped out of the World Cup at the quarter final stage yet again and they just canât accept it.
- attack the GAA
- attack the FAI
- claim they have a strong grassroots set up when every small village and crossroads in the country has a GAA club or soccer club.
- claim that most of their players are Irish unlike the FAI when the IRFU side donât play the national anthem at world cups, donât stand behind the national flag and pick players like Jared Payne, Nathan White, Richardt Strauss and Michael Bent who are as Irish as the Chinese prime minister.
43-20 pummelling to the worst Southern Hemisphere team. Just go and hide out of embarrassment for the next four years.
Soccer and GAA are the games of the masses and the games of the people in Ireland.
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Iâm not the one whoâs confused, honey.
Keep making a mug out of yourself, whether itâs accidental or intentional, I donât really mind.
Itâs tremendous entertainment.
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Ah lovely. 
Youâre all over the shop mate.
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If you have to put a fisherman smiley in a post to indicate that youâre fishing for a response, youâre just proving yourself to be rubbish at fishing, and just making yourself look like an utter simpleton, pal.
But on the fish theme, youâve certainly done yourself up like a kipper. As have your bum chums like @Rocko, @Bandage and @dodgy_kipper.
Maybe @Rocko will shut this thread down too? He doesnât like being embarrassed, after all.
Would you fuck-off⌠You only have to live in a country three years and you can play for the national Rugby team⌠The NZ team is full of pacific Islanders. The Japs were full of none slinty eyed players from all over the globe, Ireland had at least two lads who have no Irish connection and so on and so forth. A fucking shambles- At least the Soccerball chaps had parentage - and why the fuck shouldnât we claim them?
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Diego Costa played for Brazil in March 2013 and represented Spain at the 2014 World Cup.
The majority of the 1990 and 1994 Eire teams were not Irish.
Joe McKenna is from what part of Limerick, again?
If youâre going to criticise another sportâs eligibility rules, it helps when teams you support in other sports donât bring in outsiders.
Just so you donât leave yourself open to charges of rank hypocrisy.
Mate youâre the only one whoâs been stitched up here.
The abject failure of your heroes at yet another tournament seems to have tipped you over the edge.