The Rugby Thread (Part 2)

[gilgamboa]

@Perez2017

I havent met 1 person who has mentioned the return of the URC. Decent competition mind but it’s Europe that captures the imagination of the casual fan. Munster couldn’t sell out a home quarter and semi in the URC just gone.

When they get the telly in as standard in Newtown it will take off

[Cheasty]

@Perez2017

I havent met 1 person who has mentioned the return of the URC.

Yes but you haven’t met one person full stop.

65k tickets sold for a URC game at Croke Park and there’s still over two weeks left to go to it.

[LionelRitchie]

@Cheasty

Argentina is in no man’s land

Please expand

[LionelRitchie]

@gilgamboa

@neilld

Years ago, you’d have had Dupont lining out against Vannes last Friday.

Yeah he is getting a well deserved month off now

Nfl bound for a bit too. Have to admire his appetite to learn more when everyone else thinks he already has it all

[LionelRitchie]

@Cheasty

They’re now turning to AFL in

Can you citr recent examples please?

@Cheasty

The crowds who used to attend the Waratahs now go to the SCG to watch the Swans

Again, any evidenc3?

While afl is making inroads, its nrl absorbing unions nursery.

I know your love for afl but i dont think youre correct in thinking its absorbing union’s nursery of gps schools.

Nrl has never been stronger. While union has tried to cherry pick nrls most marketable as theyve done in the past, nrl no longer has to make shrewd targets. Wallabies are walking across the codes without much coaxing.

The expense of Aru arrogance is being laid bare.

As an aside, freddy fitlers kid signed with union this week. Was pitched as tho hed a dilemma and went union. Truth is, he wasnt up to scratch to make nrl. Name of more value to a union team than even wooden spooners of league. Chasm only growing

[binkybarnes]

@tallback

Looks like Leinster vs Munster is heading for a sellout. 65k tickets sold already.

Will that mean that rugby will account for 2 of the top attendances at matches in Croker this year? I suppose it’s a nice bit of support to offset declining GAA attendances

No gratitude on display from the rubby crowd.

Its the equivalent of allowing your daughter’s boyfriend to stay over and him wiping his knob on the curtains the following morning.

[neilld]

The GAA should request Sexton play a bit of junior football or something for some pr the other way.

[StoneCold]

@tallback

Will that mean that rugby will account for 2 of the top attendances at matches in Croker this year?

two provinces with combined populations of over 4 million and still only 65 thousand tickets sold?

[Spidey]

Not sure sending a guy with his his HIA history in to play junior football is a good idea

[gilgamboa]

@binkybarnes

No gratitude on display from the rubby crowd

What were ye expecting over and above the 300k odd rent they are probably paying

[myboyblue]

@gilgamboa

@binkybarnes

No gratitude on display from the rubby crowd

What were ye expecting over and above the 300k odd rent they are probably paying

Not to be ignorant cunts?

[binkybarnes]

@gilgamboa

What were ye expecting over and above the 300k odd rent they are probably paying

Ye moaned long and hard when you were not allowed in.

[endakenny]

Rubby have really bought into the social element of sport and turned their games into an “event” rather than a match.

I have numerous friends who attend GAA games and once or twice a year some of them will go to some rubby match. The rubby match is posted on their socials as it’s seen in the same breath as EP or a concert. It’s seen as fun and hip, none of these care about the actual game but it’s a grand day out in Dublin or Cork followed by a night out. It can be planned months in advance so you’ve a hotel booked for the night out afterwards also.

GAA is none of the above social things, they don’t help themselves with lack of promotion or playing games in half empty stadia either. It’s why the Munster championship is the only GAA equivalent as it is both an event & a serious sporting competition.

There is no reason why a Railway cup type competition shouldn’t fill Croke park with a bit of marketing.

[myboyblue]

@endakenny

There is no reason why a Railway cup type competition shouldn’t fill Croke park with a bit of marketing.

While I would tentatively agree, you have Club action working against it as well as vitriolic animosity from rival counties, and a lack of buy in from the public due to, as you say poor marketing. This is what rugby got right. Marketing. They nailed it.

I wouldnt trust the GAA’s Communications dept to manage that. They even made a shite of the one good promotion they had going in the Guinness hurling campaign.

[BruidheanChaorthainn]

@endakenny

Rubby have really bought into the social element of sport and turned their games into an “event” rather than a match.

I have numerous friends who attend GAA games and once or twice a year some of them will go to some rubby match. The rubby match is posted on their socials as it’s seen in the same breath as EP or a concert. It’s seen as fun and hip, none of these care about the actual game but it’s a grand day out in Dublin or Cork followed by a night out. It can be planned months in advance so you’ve a hotel booked for the night out afterwards also.

GAA is none of the above social things, they don’t help themselves with lack of promotion or playing games in half empty stadia either. It’s why the Munster championship is the only GAA equivalent as it is both an event & a serious sporting competition.

There is no reason why a Railway cup type competition shouldn’t fill Croke park with a bit of marketing.

The ignorance of the gaa folk at times is incredible. Irish rugby is a lot more popular than thirty years ago and you’ve folk sneering at them for it.

It’s an absolute scandal how little hurling is played in the country.

You can say rugby is an event but it’s a fairly miserable event in Thomond or ravenhill on a winters night.

There isn’t much glory in it.

The gaa seem more In interested playing events like Boston thing or the all stars in Argentina than actually growing hurling which is very sad.

[endakenny]

Rubby is played seriously in less than 20 schools and approx 80 clubs in the whole of Munster. Granted a lot of this is due to the nature of the sport but It is not a serious participation sport compared to Hurling, Football and soccer.

Rubby is grand for a Saturday night in November when your looking for an excuse to get out to the boozer, that’s it’s main selling point.

[BruidheanChaorthainn]

@endakenny

Rubby is played seriously in less than 20 schools and approx 80 clubs in the whole of Munster. Granted a lot of this is due to the nature of the sport but It is not a serious participation sport compared to Hurling, Football and soccer.

Rubby is grand for a Saturday night in November when your looking for an excuse to get out to the boozer, that’s it’s main selling point.

I dunno who you think is turning up in pissing rain to sink pints at rugby ground in November.

Television viewership is through the roof for rugby as well.

You’ve gaa club players afraid to play in April and may because the pitches are too wet according to lads on here meanwhile rugby has proven you can grow sport and all you get is sneery comments.

Hurling is max taken seriously in 12 counties and parts of those counties have no interest.

[Diabhal]

Excellent post. Lads on here will sneer at the social media optics but the only big Grab All Association event that was unavoidable on the likes of Insta and Tiktok (can only speak to anecdotal evidence on this one) was Galway-Armagh, driven I’d say 70% of the way by the All Ireland champs.

Rubby union has nearly everything cornered for the lucrative and vain mid-20’s to mid-40’s market. Work night out? There’ll be pics doing the rounds from the Sportsground Dexcom Arena. Miserable wet November? There’ll be a tsunami of pics from the Aviva where we’ve efficiently beaten the Argies. Paddy’s weekend? You better believe Leah and the gang will be posting about watching it in a publican house smoking area loaded up on G&T’s.

Rubby Union dominates the FOMO market. You might not respect the sport but they’ll still make money off ya.

[BruidheanChaorthainn]

@Diabhal

Excellent post. Lads on here will sneer at the social media optics but the only big Grab All Association event that was unavoidable on the likes of Insta and Tiktok (can only speak to anecdotal evidence on this one) was Galway-Armagh, driven I’d say 70% of the way by the All Ireland champs.

Rubby union has nearly everything cornered for the lucrative and vain mid-20’s to mid-40’s market. Work night out? There’ll be pics doing the rounds from the Sportsground Dexcom Arena. Miserable wet November? There’ll be a tsunami of pics from the Aviva where we’ve efficiently beaten the Argies. Paddy’s weekend? You better believe Leah and the gang will be posting about watching it in a publican house smoking area loaded up on G&T’s.

Rubby Union dominates the FOMO market. You might not respect the sport but they’ll still make money off ya.

A lot of gaa people don’t want the sport to be popular. It’s beneath them to try and grow the game.

[glasagusban]

I was listening to some suit from Leinster on the radio a while back talking about the RDS redevelopment and how they are “adapting their offering” to attract younger generations who “want to be entertained” and “expect to see cheerleaders and a range of other entertainment”.