Conference tallis::celt

1573.0. "Rugby!" by XSTACY::JLUNDON (http://xagony.ilo.dec.com/~jlundon :-)) Thu May 09 1996 13:45

Since I'm a Limerick man (no joke!) and a former classmate of the guy
who typed this in I thought I'd put it in here. 

                          James.

++

Posted: rec.sport.rugby.union,soc.culture.irish
From: [email protected] 

++

Here's that Mick Doyle article as promised, copied without permission
from the Sunday Independant. 

Limerick supremacy maintained by 'game of the people'
-----------------------------------------------------

Con did it for Cork the first year ... and then Limerick took charge.
Garryowen, Young Munster, Garryowen, Shannon and, once again, Shannon.

Officially the Insurance Corporation All Ireland Ireland League, in
reality the Limerick City Championship. And yesterday at Dooradoyle
you could see why, as pride and passion, the bedrocks of the game in a
city tht lives its rugby, were so much in evidence. Munsters were
something else. 

Yesterday said much about Limerick rugby and where the power base has
moved. Garryowen from Limerick playing Young Munsters from Limerick
for the AIL Division One title; Shannon from Limerick awaiting the
outcome in Cork; Old Crescent from Limerick enjoying it all, knowing
they would be mixing with the big boys next season. 

And so questions have to be asked. Why isn't there one similarly
decent team in Galway? Why do Leinster clubs, all of them, fail the
litmus test when they come to Limerick? Why is Cork Constitution the
only club that can take on a Limerick team with an assumption of
parity? Apart from Ballymena and Dungannon, why isn't there another
really competitive club in Ulster? In Ulster's case it is interesting
to note that Gaelic Football is at its zenith while rugby has sadly
declined. 

It is also interesting to reflect that schools rugby in Leinster is as
strong as ever while Irish schoolboys and under 21s have enjoyed
monumental success. Where do these superb players disappear when they
join senior clubs? 

Why? Why? Why? 

It is a disquieting thought for the sport to realise that if all four
Limerick teams had a home game on the same day, there would still be
more supporters at each game than at any other clash in the metropolis
... or anywhere else for that matter. Can you envisage an All Ireland
League without Garryowen, Shannon, Young Munster, Constitution and now
Old Crescent? Apart from St.Mary's, what other Dublin side could
realistically and consistently compete with a Limerick club? 

I must admit that I don't have the answers despite having played for
Garryowen, Cork Con, Dolphin and Munster as well as Leinster whom I
coached from 1979 - 1984. I still find it difficult to rationalise the
phenomenal and proprietorial grip which Limerick has on the AIL. 

At the inception of the league, it was anticipated that Ulster rugby
would prevail and that Limerick clubs would have a problem because of
the perceived lack of serious back play. It was true then that
Limerick clubs were more renowned for the strength and ferocity of
their forwards, with Thomond Park the torture-chamber and graveyard
for visitors. 

It is also a fact that until recently, Munster senior teams were not
hitting the right buttons. The province, of course, is perennially a
victim of itself with Cork and Limerick often seemingly putting
themselves before the province. 

When the League became reality Limerick's top three clubs and Cork Con
took up the challenge. Back play in Limerick took on a new dimension
and it is now fair to say that each Limerick team is a more balanced
fifteen-man side, capable of playing tight or open rugby, than most,
if not all, Irish clubs. 

It is a reasonable assumption that there are too many senior clubs in
Ulster and Leinster - and that many of these clubs will be forced to
merge, or disappear from the map in the forseeable future. 

While rugby in the rest of Ireland is a middle class game, in general,
Limerick has a classless game; it is a game of Limerick City's men and
women. You will see more women and more early teenage boys at say
Thomond Park than anywhere else. I have found myself being surrounded
by kids of various ages after games while trying to write a report and
being plied with questions about their teams, their favourite players
and the rest including "Hey mister, who did you play for?". 

The supporters in Limerick are different. It being their game, rugby
is forever on the agenda, always the first, middle and last
conversation piece. There is no crowd more knowledgeable about every
phase of the game, more supportive of their team. The Limerick
supporter will, as quickly as any member of his team, find out the
frailities of the opposition and exploit them vocally and persistently
for the afternoon. Faint hearted visitors get no quarter, apart from
the standing boo. 

Gutsy play and good rugby receive appropiate recognition and approval,
as did St. Mary's last weekend. In this most competitive of cities,
competitiveness counts; no game is over until it's over, as has been
epitomised by Garryowen even this season. Lazarus had to be a Limerick
man - or at least his mother was from the city. 

Their appreciation of the game's basic points is more acute. The
ability to assess a player and deactivate mythology is a pastime in
which men, women and the younger generation excel. I find a rare
honesty in Limerick and an objectivity about their own particular
team, once you get past the almost overwhelming support, which is
refreshing. The approach of the clubs to the professional game is
matched by that of its supporters. 

It wasn't always so, mind you. I remember well when Garryowen was my
first senior club in 1958/59, travelling from Castleisland twice
weekly to training sessions, a round trip of 100 miles and no
expenses, to find about five more hardy souls like Brian 'Bof'
O'Farrell, Tom Nesdale, Tom Coffey, Tim McGrath and Johnny Reid, for
example, had turned up - and damn few others. The joke in Limerick at
the time was that if there was a heavy frost overnight Garryowen
couldn't field a team. 

It wasn't really until the 70s that Garryowen - and later Shannon -
began to stir themselves and become the darlings of the Dublin media.
Uncle Ned almost became a Limerick man while suddenly Karl Johnston,
"Wan of our own", became fashionable and sought-after. Sean Diffley
clocked up so much mileage expenses that his Editor asked him to move
to Limerick. 

The introduction of overseas coaches and key players, like Brent
Anderson for Garryowen, lifted the awareness and honed and directed
the professionalism that is now part and parcel of every Limerick
club. Nairn McEwan was the first outside coach to have a serious
impact in Limerick and is regarded as the best. 

The acute rivalry is, of course, a huge spur in a smallish city where
everybody virtually knows everybody else. The AIL woke up Limerick.
From the sleepy town of the 60s when some forlorn American described
it as "the only graveyard he ever visited that had buses running
through it". Limerick bestirred itself and their clubs, noted and
famed and feared on their home grounds, girded their loins, organised
their sponsors and developed their teams to travel all over Ireland to
conquer. 

The class distinction of elsewhere doesn't exist. As Joe Lynch
described it to me long ago: "Rugby in Cork, boy, is very class
conscious. The Con scout says to the Pres school leaver, 'join Con and
we'll make you a bank manager'; the Dolphin man says - 'join Dolphin
and we'll make you a bank manager at least'; and the Well's realist
says, 'join de 'Well boy, and you'll have your blood on every f...king
ground in Ireland." Those days have gone, almost, as a new equality
sweeps this land. 

Unlike anywhere else, rugby in Limerick is about communities. Every
player, no matter how exalted he may become in the game, knows exactly
what door, in which street and from what area he came - and never
forgets it. The bonds that exist between players and clubs are almost
unbreakable, describing succintly the unity of purpose and the common
will of teams and supporters. 

Matches against any Limerick team, home or away, are never an equal
contest. It is never a case of 15 against 15; you must also play
against the supporters. Anybody who was at Lansdowne Road last April
when Young Munster had to put 30 points clear on Lansdowne to remain
in Division 1 will ever forgot the unitary purpose and intent that
bonded the team on the pitch with the supporters on the terraces as
each spurred the other on to a greater effort. Munsters naturally
scored their points and, in the process, destroyed Lansdowne. 

Crescent, both the college and the club, had for so long been the
nursery to the other three clubs. Mungret, Munchin's, Glenstal and
Rockwell contributed their share also. Now Crescent join the big
league and, in retaining its players, will certainly pressurise Young
Munster, Shannon and Garryown. Can you guess the response? 

Does it strike you as odd that Dublin, with over one million people
and about 30 to 40 rugby-playing schools, cannot produce even one
consistently good team. It is almost incomprehensible. No doubt a lack
of real philosophy is partly the answer; another part is probably lack
of interest. Gaelic football and soccer are the average Dublin man's
sport and it is the average Dublin man who goes to games. 

Overall, it is obvious that rugby in Ireland is really going nowhere.
It has declined seriously in Ulster and Connaught at senior level at
least. The IRFU, while good administrators of cash and accounts, have
failed the game; they have not developed the correct senior structure
as the game is almost ceasing to be relevant to more and more people. 

In a recent survey of ticket allocations in Rugby World the IRFU
refused to say how many tickets were provided for corporate
entertainment. Now does that answer your questions - or some of them?
Rugby is the Limerick man's game - like it used to be in Wales. This
is reflected nowhere else in Ireland; until it is and until the IRFU
realise why it is so in Limerick, the game will continue to fall
behind as a public sport. With the new professionalism luring many of
our top players across the pond, surely the IRFU will need to consult
with the clubs about what they, the IRFU, should be doing. 

It was fitting that the final act of this year's league was played in
Limerick and decided by the three Limerick clubs who hve taken on
all-comers and won. The fella who said "it is not the winning, but the
taking part" would be run out of every club in Limerick. As a Kerryman
I'm proud to be "neutral" for Garryowen - but well done Shannon. Up
Limerick! You're a lady with a difference. 

    wot ? sich a long waffle about limerick rugby and notta word about dat
    tug Clohessy? 

    
    ..Doen't surprise me at all that Limerick city is the 'home' of Rugby...
    They get good training kicking each others heads in or that of any 
    unforthunate visitor...
    
    hear they are good at fencing as well....
    

    All in all, a good article by Doyler.  Limerick rugby has always been
    very physical, but it is only since the emergence of the All Ireland
    League that they have started to dominate.  Is it because it is a
    'class-less" sport?  Is it tradition?  Is it because the AIL gave the
    appropriate stage to let their natural competitiveness surface and
    overcome?  Either way, I don't know if I would want to play rugby
    there.  If you play rugby in Limerick, you do so for a reason: because
    you are from there or you want to test yourself in a cauldren.  If you
    want a bit of gas, be near Lesson Street, and socialize (not just
    drink), Dublin is still the place to play.  The standard is also very
    good, but Limerick, to give them their due and not to begrudge, are
    dominating the league at the moment.   It will to be interestign to see
    if Limerick rugby continues to dominate as players such as Eddie Halvey,
    Anthony Foley and others leave for England.  Professionalism has helped
    Limerick rugby up to now, but it may not continue to do so.
    
    Regards, Ken Hanly 

    Well, I finally made a match at Lansdowne Road, just in time to see
    England hammer Ireland 46-6. We had a few beers afterwards!
    
    Cheers, Laurie.