The Official Irish Rugby Thread

[Two Pour Bore]

Let's not forget the real reason here .... free cash into the pockets of the organisers and Tinds

Yeah, 100% this. An effort for a few arseholes to get sweet executive level paypackets and expense accounts, plus first class flights and fancy pants airport lounge access.

Have you seen their projections for their income and what they need/want to make? According to one article I read the only private sports competitions that have reached that level of success, in near the amount of time they're claiming, has been the Indian Premier League in cricket, which had an immediate, local market of pretty much a billion people who already wanted something like it, and Formula E, which had massive backing from the car manufacturers who wanted somewhere to showcase and develop their next gen electric engine tech, plus a worldwide audience, plus the heightened interest, in general, from the Netflix F1 series. Especially in the US. As well as the drivers who wanted it. Not even the Saudi golf thingy came close to the success the rugby thing would need, and that had fucking billions of oil money and the PIF behind it. This hasn't a hope.

I know it's stepping on the blazers' territory, as they see it as a pale imitation, but the direction rugby really has to go in, in parallel to the 15 man game, is Rugby 7s. There's an inbuilt audience for it in rugby anyway, as can be seen with half of Cork having been to the Kinsale 7s at some point in their lives. A huge amount of people, relative to the 15s game, play Sevens over the summer, or tag, which is the same game with no contact (tell the birds that, though.) And it can all be run in one location at a weekend, and can set up a tour circuit with more amenable times to northern/southern hemisphere regions and continents. And that's without going into it being prime for less rugby knowledgeable markets like the US, as can be seen with the Olympics 7s tournaments. It's just, as usual, the blazers are fucking dinosaurs and are on a mission to kill rugby through stubbornness.

 

[How bad boy]

Yeah, 100% this. An effort for a few arseholes to get sweet executive level paypackets and expense accounts, plus first class flights and fancy pants airport lounge access.

Have you seen their projections for their income and what they need/want to make? According to one article I read the only private sports competitions that have reached that level of success, in near the amount of time they're claiming, has been the Indian Premier League in cricket, which had an immediate, local market of pretty much a billion people who already wanted something like it, and Formula E, which had massive backing from the car manufacturers who wanted somewhere to showcase and develop their next gen electric engine tech, plus a worldwide audience, plus the heightened interest, in general, from the Netflix F1 series. Especially in the US. As well as the drivers who wanted it. Not even the Saudi golf thingy came close to the success the rugby thing would need, and that had fucking billions of oil money and the PIF behind it. This hasn't a hope.

I know it's stepping on the blazers' territory, as they see it as a pale imitation, but the direction rugby really has to go in, in parallel to the 15 man game, is Rugby 7s. There's an inbuilt audience for it in rugby anyway, as can be seen with half of Cork having been to the Kinsale 7s at some point in their lives. A huge amount of people, relative to the 15s game, play Sevens over the summer, or tag, which is the same game with no contact (tell the birds that, though.) And it can all be run in one location at a weekend, and can set up a tour circuit with more amenable times to northern/southern hemisphere regions and continents. And that's without going into it being prime for less rugby knowledgeable markets like the US, as can be seen with the Olympics 7s tournaments. It's just, as usual, the blazers are fucking dinosaurs and are on a mission to kill rugby through stubbornness.

There already is a reasonably successful 7s tour circuit, Hong Kong Sevens got 110,000 with 30,000 travelling to Hong Kong specifically for it. They got 530,000 attendees for the last season
They do manage to get pretty good attendance in LA.

It's returns are so marginal, the IRFU cut the team earlier this year and reports are that the series loses millions.

If sevens can't make it profitable with all that and many fewer players to pay, then no chance an upstart is going to make it

 

[Two Pour Bore]

There already is a reasonably successful 7s tour circuit, Hong Kong Sevens got 110,000 with 30,000 travelling to Hong Kong specifically for it. They got 530,000 attendees for the last season
They do manage to get pretty good attendance in LA.

It's returns are so marginal, the IRFU cut the team earlier this year and reports are that the series loses millions.

If sevens can't make it profitable with all that and many fewer players to pay, then no chance an upstart is going to make it

I'm well aware of that, but the costs in a global tournament are massive, due to being global. Also its marketing is shite. No-one watches on TV due to there being no regularity of when its actually airing, especially with regards to the TV rights money paid for it. With the global nature it's played at weird intervals, and can be on during the day for me one week, then at 3am a few weeks later. That's no way to build a dedicated following. Which is what I mean by the blazers fucking things up. They just imagine this glitzy worldwide spectacle is going to naturally draw crowds, and TV crowds are where the money is.

Look at the Celtic League/Magner's League/Pro14/URC and its success. It's been on FTA TV for yonks, pretty much every week, at dependable times. And it's built, slowly. To the point the Saffas wanted in and are now bossing the league around. You can go on about Welsh TV money all you want but for what is essentially three small nations, one big nation where rugby is a tiny sport, and one nation that's broke as fuck it's doing phenomenally well because it made mostly (Welsh grouching aside) dependable, sensible decisions, over a prolonged period. All these fancy new tournaments demand instant success, or success within three years or so. That's not how things work outside of Venture Capitalism, which is all a scam, anyway, and no way to run a business. It's why you get these big name "stars" acting like they're Jeff Bezos and who have no fucking clue about their product.

 

[cactus jack]

Lewis Moody diagnosed with motor neurone disease

Former England captain and 2003 World Cup winner Lewis Moody has been diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

www.rte.ie

 

[How bad boy]

I'm well aware of that, but the costs in a global tournament are massive, due to being global. Also its marketing is shite. No-one watches on TV due to there being no regularity of when its actually airing, especially with regards to the TV rights money paid for it. With the global nature it's played at weird intervals, and can be on during the day for me one week, then at 3am a few weeks later. That's no way to build a dedicated following. Which is what I mean by the blazers fucking things up. They just imagine this glitzy worldwide spectacle is going to naturally draw crowds, and TV crowds are where the money is.

Look at the Celtic League/Magner's League/Pro14/URC and its success. It's been on FTA TV for yonks, pretty much every week, at dependable times. And it's built, slowly. To the point the Saffas wanted in and are now bossing the league around. You can go on about Welsh TV money all you want but for what is essentially three small nations, one big nation where rugby is a tiny sport, and one nation that's broke as fuck it's doing phenomenally well because it made mostly (Welsh grouching aside) dependable, sensible decisions, over a prolonged period. All these fancy new tournaments demand instant success, or success within three years or so. That's not how things work outside of Venture Capitalism, which is all a scam, anyway, and no way to run a business. It's why you get these big name "stars" acting like they're Jeff Bezos and who have no fucking clue about their product.

Yeah, I really wasn't certain about the SA participation in the URC previously, but they've really elevated it. Big crowds near the end of the season, strong competitive teams, matches on at a reasonable time of day.
The travel is still a problem, especially at the end of the season. Having last minute changes of venue of 13,000km within a week or two is nuts.

Your point on FTA is a really good one. I think it's idiotic of the English Premiership that it's only on paid TV. The short term money they're making is at the cost of the longer term health of the game, something the IRFU seem to understand.

 

[nelly sham]

Yeah the RFU need to make some of the other weekend games available on FTA. Similar to how the EFL have started.

The highlights show that ITV or Channel 5 have is actually decent

 

[How bad boy]

Yeah the RFU need to male some of the other weekend games available on FTA. Similar to how the EFL have started.

The highlights show that ITV or Channel 5 have is actually decent

Highlights packages are great, but I doubt they're much good for making new converts.

Errah, I think the premiership has a lot of major structural flaws that they're doing nothing to address. As an example, the clubs are getting to be as unevenly distributed as Rugby League, 7 out of the 10 clubs are basically in a line between Exeter and Leicester.

Having only 2 clubs serving the entire south east of England where the majority of the population actually lives is ridiculous. They're making the situation worse with their fucking about with promotion and relegation.

It's where the IRFU again has done well, especially maintaining Connacht through the hard times.

Also having the clubs privately owned has been a disaster.

Fundamentally, the IRFU lucked into a great starting position for Irish rugby, but have generally played it well since.

 

[Handy Run]

It's where the IRFU again has done well, especially maintaining Connacht through the hard times.

Very much against their will. Remember they wanted to cut them adrift.

 

[How bad boy]

Very much against their will. Remember they wanted to cut them adrift.

But they did eventually make the right decision in fairness.

The difference in the English system is that Wasps, London Irish and Worcester are now dead, whether or not people protest against it...

 

[nelly sham]

Worcester are back, baby!

Sold out for their first home game.
Let's see how that goes.