Darcy puts the brakes on the Munster Rollercoaster.
One thing the Munster game did prove on Saturday is that their so called mercurial players are not in fact near as good as they are held up to be. I suppose the reason Munster's players are revered so much is because nobody in Munster actually knows anything about Rugby, myself included. Up until about 5 minutes ago it was a minority sport played by a few affluent schools in Cork, Limerick and a couple of boarding schools around the province.
Then all of a sudden, people had Munster flags flying out their arses and all these people whose previously involvement in sport would just about have been to snag tickets for an All-Ireland final were now dyed-in-the-wool Munster Til I Die rugby supporters. It would have been funny if it wasn't so galling. Let's face it, any sport you can start playing at 18 and go on to become your country's most capped player, can't really be considered particularly skillful or challenging.
If you go to the gym often enough, you might well end up playing for Ireland. This hasn't stopped thousands of Irish people declaring their unabated commitment to the cause of Munster rugby. Yet for all the hype and all their apparent awesomeness, they went out pretty tamely against Leinster. This begs a number of questions. Can they only win in Thomand Park or are they just not as good as everyone thinks they are?
The latter is certainly true. As I said, until very recently rugby like Sunderland FC didn't receive a whole lot of coverage around these parts. When Munster and Leinster played about 10 years ago, there were only 150 people in attendance. That figure was up to 82,500 on Saturday. You do the maths. I would venture that of that record attendance, only a tiny proportion had ever played the game therefore I would think that the analysis (hype and hysteria) of Munster supporters is fundamentally flawed. Luckily for Leinster, the Munster players bought into it as did the Lions coach when he selected his panel.
The nonsense of the Lions selection is another story but I will ask the question: who cares about a selection of British players going to South Africa to play a few friendly games? The fact that Ireland got 14 players on a panel of 36 (and I am right in saying only 15 can play, why not just select all the players) either shows the weakness of the squad or the game in other countries. Even Keith Earls got selected without playing a single minute of the six nations. I think the dude might have been better off sticking with established internationals though rugby fans will probably still tell me that he had a better game than Gordon D'Arcy on Saturday.
The rise of the Munster brand has been phenomenal and they can only be admired at how they have gone from being utterly irrelevant except to a few old boys in boardrooms to being the most revered (though no longer feared) outfit in the country. No doubt the Munsterians will be crying into their Lattes for a couple of days before getting swept away in the next fad to hit the country. Oh wait, hang on, I can see it on the horizon. There it is. Of course. It's the Lion's Tour to South Africa.
I can't wait....for them to take another beating out there.
3 comments:
Kieran stick with writing to what you know! As for your comments on Munster not been as good as people think well they won two Heineken cups. Winning the the 2006 and 2008 knockout games away from Thomond Park.Let us not forget that Munster have got to the knock out stages for the last twelve years in Europe(Better record than man utd in soccer for the same period and they are raved as the greatest club in the world). And with regard to your comment on the lions coach picking two many Munster players. He as proved himself as a top coach for the last 30 years.And your final insult about the "bull" hayes does not even deserve a response!They had one bad game last week. That why we watch sport every week is for upsets. Munster are not as baad as they looked last week and not as good as they were in the quarters.
Here here Kieran, someone has finally spoken out against the tyranny that is munster rugby. The fact that so many women are part of this surreal omnipresent bull sh*t, when we all know they nothing about sport, speaks volumes about this phoney munster show.
First of all the neglect and subsequent decline of Limerick hurling has been partly caused by the cheer-leading brigade deciding that Munster rugby is what's fashionable. Secondly the article had great praise for the franchise that is Munster Rugby and it is a testament to those in charge at the IRFU that they have been able to conjure such a successful brand in such a short period of time.
It has even been said by traditional rugby people I've spoken to that the game has been hijacked by these SUV driving career break civil service mother types who have played such a huge role in elevating the game to it's current heights in the province.
I'm sure the players are fine, they do their best etc. and the decline of Limerick hurling is more to do with indifference at County Board level than the rise of Munster, I just find it incredible that support for a minority sport has blossomed to such an extent to the detriment of other sports. It leads me to one conclusion...Munster supporters know nothing about rugby and are more interested in their day out than the intricacies of the game.
That is fair enough, just don't expect me to buy into the hype plus I'm quite certain that I speak for a large but silent number of people because criticism of Munster is just not acceptable, is it?
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