Just looking at that map, in east Cork at least Midleton and Youghal are struggling for money and numbers. In Midleton, they have huge numbers playing hurling, at least a hundred turning up for Under-8/10 training and generally an exceptional youth system. Also, I was under the impression that the Cobh Rugby Club was dead.
Cobh are mid table in the top tier of Junior rugby, a fine club. Always knocking about at the business end of the league.
Youghal and Midleton both threw a shit load of money at their teams over the past few years. Dont know much about Midleton but Youghal won the first div of the junior league and the challenge cup (cup for all Munster junior sides, big comp) a few years ago. Team appears to have fallen apart somewhat alright but cyclical Id imagine.
Couldnt tell you if they are struggling for numbers I am slightly out of the lop in Dublin. My own experience tells me that mini rugby is absolutely thriving but similar to a lot of sports numbers tail off through the age groups. Wil be a big struggle for IRFU to try to buck this trend in the future, in 5/6 years time all the kids who started playing on the back of the Munster phenomenum will be in the adult grade, v important that the retention rate improves.
For anyone whos interested here is the league table for Div 1 Munster junior league. 5 tip teams in it but decent spread overall.
It would seem to these eyes that tom humphries is everything the GAA represents in this modern day ireland.
fat/bloated,deluded,parochial,out of step with modern day ireland.
the Irish Times continued persistence with this fat mans narrow-minded delusionâs only serves to show how this once great bastion of journalism has descended into a petty little rag with that wonky-eyed PD editor at the helm.
At least the Sun has a nice pair of tits each morning to look forward toâŚ
Tom Humphries is a cunt.
One minute.
So does Tom Humphries.
:D:d:d
Watch the Break you were very quick to look for facts from the fellas arguing against you. WB Yeats and dancarter above have laid out a few facts for you now whereâs your argument against them?
This thing about rugby being a game for toffs is purely a Dublin and Ulster thing as I think Humphries admits himself in his piece. Anyone from around the country, especially a big town would know every breed of fat useless bastard plays it these daysâŚ
[quote=âgolaâ]Watch the Break you were very quick to look for facts from the fellas arguing against you. WB Yeats and dancarter above have laid out a few facts for you now whereâs your argument against them?
This thing about rugby being a game for toffs is purely a Dublin and Ulster thing as I think Humphries admits himself in his piece. Anyone from around the country, especially a big town would know every breed of fat useless bastard plays it these daysâŚ[/quote]
First of all, gola, fair play to you for throwing down this challenge when I was offline. That was very brave of you. Secondly, my post was an invitation to those people who stated over and over again that Humphries as a chip on his shoulder to actually refute the central tenets of his argument.
Now, hereâs a breakdown, originally posted by WBY I think of the schools attended by the Irish team:
Kearney- Clongowes
Bowe- Royal School Armagh
O Driscoll- Blackrock
Wallace-Campbell
Fitzgerald- Blackrock
OGara- PBC
OLeary-CBC
Horan- Munchins
FLannery- Munchins
Hayes- Doon CBS (non fee paying)
O Callaghan- CBC
O Connell- ard Scoil Ris (non fee paying)
Wallace-- Crescent Comp- (non fee paying)
Heaslip- Newbridge College
Ferris- Friends School lisburn
So you have three (all munster) players from the total from non-fee paying schools. Go through the Kilkenny hurling team, or the Tyrone football team and see if you discover a similar breakdown. Try the Irish international soccer team while youâre at it. Then tell me there is nothing remotely elitist about Irish rugby and such assertions are completely unfounded.
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]First of all, gola, fair play to you for throwing down this challenge when I was offline. That was very brave of you. Secondly, my post was an invitation to those people who stated over and over again that Humphries as a chip on his shoulder to actually refute the central tenets of his argument.
Now, hereâs a breakdown, originally posted by WBY I think of the schools attended by the Irish team:
So you have three (all munster) players from the total from non-fee paying schools. Go through the Kilkenny hurling team, or the Tyrone football team and see if you discover a similar breakdown. Try the Irish international soccer team while youâre at it. Then tell me there is nothing remotely elitist about Irish rugby and such assertions are completely unfounded.[/quote]
What the fuck! Iâll presume youâre pulling the piss and donât have a massively inflated opinion of yourself! how the fcuk would i know or care when youâre online? 
Rugby seems to be the type of sport where most fellas who reach the top need to have got a very good grounding in its skills etc from the top coaches as young fellas. Happens this occurred among fellas our age in the schools but the boys posts seem to suggest its changing.
It wouldnât be very elitist any more where Iâm from (large provincial town)with fellas from the big council estate in town having played youths and junior at a provincial level.
You could just as easily say hurling is elitist, how many kilkenny lads went to kierans for instance. In hurling its called tradition.
I would actually say a lot of the fellas in the Irish team above would have gone to those schools because they were good rugby players. I doubt the fees in the likes of Newbridge or the Cork schools are exorbitant or beyond the reach of the vast majority in this country. Maybe they got scholarships who knows? Why does it matter so much anyway?
No doubt rugby was elitist in the past. Fellas with a clue about this like dancarter etc seem to be certain this is changing. What do you make of their posts?
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]
So you have three (all munster) players from the total from non-fee paying schools. Go through the Kilkenny hurling team, or the Tyrone football team and see if you discover a similar breakdown. Try the Irish international soccer team while youâre at it. Then tell me there is nothing remotely elitist about Irish rugby and such assertions are completely unfounded.[/quote]
maybe you could further qualify the fee paying schools theory by answering the following qustions
a) how many schools play rugby
b) the number of them that are fee paying
c) the number of winners of the schools that are not fee paying
then contrasting this for example the kilkenny hurlers and how many of them went to non hurling playing schools or the number of lads that play for kilkenny that didnât play hurling in school
TBH the fee paying school is a misnomer
[quote=âgolaâ]
I would actually say a lot of the fellas in the Irish team above would have gone to those schools because they were good rugby players. I doubt the fees in the likes of Newbridge or the Cork schools are exorbitant or beyond the reach of the vast majority in this country. Maybe they got scholarships who knows? Why does it matter so much anyway?
No doubt rugby was elitist in the past. Fellas with a clue about this like dancarter etc seem to be certain this is changing. What do you make of their posts?[/quote]
I made that exact point about fellas going to the schools because they were good at rugby here a while ago.
I know a lot of fellas get scolarships into schools for this reason. Also it is a fact that in the country a lof of kids in end in boarding school because it is cheaper and easier to send them there, particulalary if there is a large time consuming farm in the background. I know loads of fellas who went to boarding school, very few who i would consider posh.
On a slightly related topic, 4 of the Kilmacud team were from Blackrock college, thats a higher proportion than the the Irish rugby team. It doesnt make Kilmacud an elitist club. I see that Leinster have invited Kilmacud to the Mag Lge game at the weekend as guests as a congratulations for their AI victory.
[quote=âartfoleyâ]maybe you could further qualify the fee paying schools theory by answering the following qustions
a) how many schools play rugby
b) the number of them that are fee paying
c) the number of winners of the schools that are not fee paying
then contrasting this for example the kilkenny hurlers and how many of them went to non hurling playing schools or the number of lads that play for kilkenny that didnât play hurling in school
TBH the fee paying school is a misnomer[/quote]
What would this serve as a clarification of Art? Fee paying schools were/are the preserve of the upper middle classes. Rugby is their sport as reflected in their dominance of it and their relative lack of interest in, I donât know, the gaelic games played by almost every non-fee paying school in this country. That makes rugby the preserve of the upper middle classes, and not of the ordinary bog trotter. Read the history of Rugby League V Rugby Union in England if this still confuses you.
To be honest, dan and kevâs arguments about the spread of rugby to non-traditional areas is getting to the point, even though itâs not the whole story. But you foley, you are just talking shite.
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]First of all, gola, fair play to you for throwing down this challenge when I was offline. That was very brave of you. Secondly, my post was an invitation to those people who stated over and over again that Humphries as a chip on his shoulder to actually refute the central tenets of his argument.
Now, hereâs a breakdown, originally posted by WBY I think of the schools attended by the Irish team:
So you have three (all munster) players from the total from non-fee paying schools. Go through the Kilkenny hurling team, or the Tyrone football team and see if you discover a similar breakdown. Try the Irish international soccer team while youâre at it. Then tell me there is nothing remotely elitist about Irish rugby and such assertions are completely unfounded.[/quote]
The main problem I had with your original post WTB was that you made a stupid comment about how it was a FACT that the IRFU was not making an effort to spread the game despite the past ten years of success. That was clearly bullshit.
[quote=âWatch The Breakâ]What would this serve as a clarification of Art? Fee paying schools were/are the preserve of the upper middle classes. Rugby is their sport as reflected in their dominance of it and their relative lack of interest in, I donât know, the gaelic games played by almost every non-fee paying school in this country. That makes rugby the preserve of the upper middle classes, and not of the ordinary bog trotter. Read the history of Rugby League V Rugby Union in England if this still confuses you.
To be honest, dan and kevâs arguments about the spread of rugby to non-traditional areas is getting to the point, even though itâs not the whole story. But you foley, you are just talking shite.[/quote]
so youâre not going to address the questions ?
you brought the fee paying schools into this now you should be able to defend your argument in the face of close scrutiny, which you are not
when rugby starts to spread and more schools are playing but the same spread of schools appears then you would have a valid point until then you donât
Iâm with Dan on this one
[quote=âartfoleyâ]so youâre not going to address the questions ?
you brought the fee paying schools into this now you should be able to defend your argument in the face of close scrutiny, which you are not
when rugby starts to spread and more schools are playing but the same spread of schools appears then you would have a valid point until then you donât[/quote]
Wait a bit till the second Billy Goat Gruff comes along foley. Heâs much bigger.
[quote=âdancarterâ]I made that exact point about fellas going to the schools because they were good at rugby here a while ago.
I know a lot of fellas get scolarships into schools for this reason. Also it is a fact that in the country a lof of kids in end in boarding school because it is cheaper and easier to send them there, particulalary if there is a large time consuming farm in the background. I know loads of fellas who went to boarding school, very few who i would consider posh.
On a slightly related topic, 4 of the Kilmacud team were from Blackrock college, thats a higher proportion than the the Irish rugby team. It doesnt make Kilmacud an elitist club. I see that Leinster have invited Kilmacud to the Mag Lge game at the weekend as guests as a congratulations for their AI victory.[/quote]
Which of the Kilmacud lads went to 'Rock, apart from Vaughan?
Niall Corkery, Cian O Sullivan, Mark Davoren I think
Year after I finished school In Enniscorthy CBS they started up a rugby team after the Club rugby officer met with school reps. This would have been unheard of when I was there-GAA only school. They started a soccer team the same year as the rugby too.
Would have loved the chance to play rugby at school.
Humphries would be better off trying to explain the hyprocrisy and arrogance of the Cork '08 panel and his unfettered support for them then talking about a subject he knows nothing about (rugby).