dingbat wrote:Not quite right. Schools rugby should indeed be important. It's a vital part of the setup. What it should not be is as important, let alone more so.
Schools rugby should only be important in that it introduces players to the game. It shouldn't have the kudos that it does here to the extent that Will Green who has played 4 times from England, umpteeen years for Wasps (including winning the HEC), who was brought up in a completely different country, under a completely different culture has to list his school under his player profile on another site. The school that Will Green went to is utter irrelevant to everything and yet the school that you went to underpins Leinster Rugby to that extent. It has to be removed. Until people can look at Leinster Rugby without seeing the word school associated Leinster will struggle to expand it's fan base.
As another person recently posted - if you wish to do a Leinster Referee's course you have to enter the name of the school that you went to on the form - now how can the school I left (in England) in 1983 have any relevance to my wanting to referee a Rugby match?
"I don't think Edinburgh is the place it used to be"
Lads, the junior clubs throughout Leinster got little more than 2000 tickets between them, my club is a Leinster League Division 1 had we only got 20 stand and 40 terrace tickets. The 20 stand went to club sponsors while the remaining tickets went to a draw. Of those 40 roughly 35 went to Leinster fans the other 5 went to Lunsters and there was uproar over it as being a small club everyone knows who everyone else supports. The Leinster Branch also issued a threat as regards how the clubs distributed their tickets.
To be honest I think you are all being very harsh on Junior clubs who are more akin to GAA clubs and will support their province. The Senior clubs on the other hand is where I think the finger of blame should be pointed at.
The French pulled up the Scots' kilts and discovered they had no balls - Zinzan Brooke
I was in the East Upper on Sunday and "Come on you boys in blue" rang out and ended in a whimper. Someone said ... "It's Hill 16 on tour". I have to admit, I replied with "It's an insult to Hill 16". Something like Hill 16 in Croker is what we need. A place where opposition fans DARE not go near. Even when tickets are distributed evenly among GAA clubs when Dublin are playing, the opposition automatically give up Hill 16 tickets as they know there's no point even trying to stand up to the Dubs fans on the Hill. The Hill is FULL of Blue ... Different shades of blue too but it all just looks blue when it's packed.
I've been on Hill and there's a reason the opposition don't want Hill tickets and it's nothing to do with being drowned out by colour or noise. It's to do with the fact that there's a sizeable element of total focking toerags on the Hill who wouldn't have any qualms about starting fights on Meath men or Kerry men or whoever!!
Mauler wrote:After the Lions (British & Irish that is) came back from the tour to South Africa in 1997 the IRFU put up big posters around the city with pictures of Keith Wood, Eric Miller, Jeremy Davidson and Paul Wallace standing on a beach in their red Lions Jerseys, to try to piggyback on the result of the Lions in SA. That was our only success since 1985 & that was only 9 years ago. Our sport has grown exponentially in Ireland in those years. In that time we have had a relatively successful National team– (lets not start an EOS debate), 2 triple crowns, 4 victories against England & wins over Australia and South Africa, one European Cup success, three finalists and lots of appearances in Semi Finals, two Celtic League wins and a Celtic Cup win. Irish rugby punches way above its weight.
While our friend from the GAA Website does not feel any affiliation with Rugby per se, this is an opportunity for Leinster Rugby (the pro team) to break down these perceived barriers and say ‘we are the only pro team in the province, we are different from the traditional rugby club, we have some of the best players in the world playing for us … this can and SHOULD be your team’ Rugby in general and Leinster in particular has to go out and grow its fan base from further a field otherwise we will stagnate and will never grow bigger than we are now.
Again - Mauler I agree with everything you say.
"I don't think Edinburgh is the place it used to be"
I've been on Hill and there's a reason the opposition don't want Hill tickets and it's nothing to do with being drowned out by colour or noise. It's to do with the fact that there's a sizeable element of total focking toerags on the Hill who wouldn't have any qualms about starting fights on Meath men or Kerry men or whoever!!
Exactly. Rugby is a completely different sport with what has to be said a completely different type of supporter
groundhog wrote:Lads, the junior clubs throughout Leinster got little more than 2000 tickets between them, my club is a Leinster League Division 1 had we only got 20 stand and 40 terrace tickets. The 20 stand went to club sponsors while the remaining tickets went to a draw. Of those 40 roughly 35 went to Leinster fans the other 5 went to Lunsters.
So out of 60 tickets nearly half from your club went to non-Leinster supporters and you try to defend this system?
"I don't think Edinburgh is the place it used to be"
dingbat wrote:Not quite right. Schools rugby should indeed be important. It's a vital part of the setup. What it should not be is as important, let alone more so.
Schools rugby should only be important in that it introduces players to the game. It shouldn't have the kudos that it does here to the extent that Will Green who has played 4 times from England, umpteeen years for Wasps (including winning the HEC), who was brought up in a completely different country, under a completely different culture has to list his school under his player profile on another site. The school that Will Green went to is utter irrelevant to everything and yet the school that you went to underpins Leinster Rugby to that extent. It has to be removed. Until people can look at Leinster Rugby without seeing the word school associated Leinster will struggle to expand it's fan base.
As another person recently posted - if you wish to do a Leinster Referee's course you have to enter the name of the school that you went to on the form - now how can the school I left (in England) in 1983 have any relevance to my wanting to referee a Rugby match?
None of that contradicts my point.
With regard to referees, having a former Blackrock student ref the final of the Senior Cup would be a bad way to go. I don't think that's such a bad policy.
dingbat wrote:Not quite right. Schools rugby should indeed be important. It's a vital part of the setup. What it should not be is as important, let alone more so.
Schools rugby should only be important in that it introduces players to the game. It shouldn't have the kudos that it does here to the extent that Will Green who has played 4 times from England, umpteeen years for Wasps (including winning the HEC), who was brought up in a completely different country, under a completely different culture has to list his school under his player profile on another site. The school that Will Green went to is utter irrelevant to everything and yet the school that you went to underpins Leinster Rugby to that extent. It has to be removed. Until people can look at Leinster Rugby without seeing the word school associated Leinster will struggle to expand it's fan base.
As another person recently posted - if you wish to do a Leinster Referee's course you have to enter the name of the school that you went to on the form - now how can the school I left (in England) in 1983 have any relevance to my wanting to referee a Rugby match?
UM, you're giving the head on that nail an awful battering!
It happened and I was there.
4.48pm, Saturday 20th May 2006.
Ballyman wrote:How come any "old boys" haven't come and defended the whole ethos of schools rugby?? And this cr@p is televised??
I think the reason it's televised is because it isn't cr@p. I watched a lot of the schools rugby on Setanta, as I found a lot of it very entertaining, more so than a lot of club rugby matches I've seen. Some of the school kids throw the ball around resulting in very entertaining rugby. I find the same often applies in GAA games, on provincial of all-Ireland finals day, the minor game that's on first can often be a more entertaining game than the senior game as it's quite often more open.
dingbat wrote:With regard to referees, having a former Blackrock student ref the final of the Senior Cup would be a bad way to go. I don't think that's such a bad policy.
I have to disagree because what if the best referee happened to have gone to Blackrock? It puts another artifical distinction on the school you went to even 20 - 25 years later. Do you have to say what college you went to in case you referee them? Do you have to list every town in which you've lived in case you referee one of them?
"I don't think Edinburgh is the place it used to be"
Ballyman wrote:How come any "old boys" haven't come and defended the whole ethos of schools rugby?? And this cr@p is televised??
I think the reason it's televised is because it isn't cr@p. I watched a lot of the schools rugby on Setanta, as I found a lot of it very entertaining, more so than a lot of club rugby matches I've seen. Some of the school kids throw the ball around resulting in very entertaining rugby. I find the same often applies in GAA games, on provincial of all-Ireland finals day, the minor game that's on first can often be a more entertaining game than the senior game as it's quite often more open.
School SCT players are the LAST group that should be getting more television exposure...
Last edited by dingbat on April 26th, 2006, 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I've been on Hill and there's a reason the opposition don't want Hill tickets and it's nothing to do with being drowned out by colour or noise. It's to do with the fact that there's a sizeable element of total focking toerags on the Hill who wouldn't have any qualms about starting fights on Meath men or Kerry men or whoever!!
Exactly. Rugby is a completely different sport with what has to be said a completely different type of supporter
Bullshit. Every munster man and woman in LR on sunday has been to a munster football or hurling final. They support all their games.
I agree that you don't want toerags attending games starting fights. This is back to the stereotype again. Why would any GAA or soccer man bother his hole going to a Leinster game when he reads sh!t like this???
It happened and I was there.
4.48pm, Saturday 20th May 2006.
dingbat wrote:With regard to referees, having a former Blackrock student ref the final of the Senior Cup would be a bad way to go. I don't think that's such a bad policy.
I have to disagree because what if the best referee happened to have gone to Blackrock? It puts another artifical distinction on the school you went to even 20 - 25 years later. Do you have to say what college you went to in case you referee them? Do you have to list every town in which you've lived in case you referee one of them?
Why is Collina not allowed to referee matches in which Italians are involved?
dingbat wrote:With regard to referees, having a former Blackrock student ref the final of the Senior Cup would be a bad way to go. I don't think that's such a bad policy.
I have to disagree because what if the best referee happened to have gone to Blackrock? It puts another artifical distinction on the school you went to even 20 - 25 years later. Do you have to say what college you went to in case you referee them? Do you have to list every town in which you've lived in case you referee one of them?
Why is Collina not allowed to referee matches in which Italians are involved?
The classic mistake is to equate professional international sport with school sport - this is the nub of the schools debate - the former is important the latter is just school sport.
Of course Collina can't referee Italy matches - but I bet he could and does (did) referee matches at his old school and I bet they loved him doing it - because he's the best.
"I don't think Edinburgh is the place it used to be"
