ONE OF THE most enjoyable aspects of being a sports fan is the cyclical nature of it. No matter how bad things get, you know eventually they’ll improve.
Sometimes all it takes is one signing, one try or one goal to change the whole course of a season, and that’s what keeps you hooked. A good cup run or a charge up the league table is one thing but to transform a whole generation, to fundamentally change a club, a country or a sport, takes something special.
In the late 1980s Manchester United fans had no real reason to believe success was just around the corner, in spite of the Busby era. They had appointed a series of unconvincing managers, rivals Liverpool were the best run club in Europe and they’d gone so long without a league or European Cup that their history was becoming irrelevant.
Then, a number of things happened in a short space of time. Alex Ferguson was appointed manager, the Class of ’92 emerged and the Premier League TV money meant that success was rewarded like never before. The result was the most sustained period of success any English club had ever seen.
There was a similarly bleak outlook facing Irish rugby in the mid 1990s. Historically we were the least successful country in the championship and in that decade we remained true to that tradition.
The game had gone professional, but along with the Scottish union, the IRFU were the ones most scared of change and fought the hardest to keep the game amateur. It was essentially a minority sport that, besides the Five Nations, was never shown on television.
A few seemingly unconnected events at that time have since taken on greater significance. The Heineken Cup was born, the IRFU opted for central contracts and the Irish football team was about to go into temporary decline. The biggest factor by far though was the group of players that emerged.
Not only were they hugely talented, they were also strong-willed to the point of being obsessive. Ronan O’Gara, Paul O’Connell, Anthony Foley, Donncha O’Callaghan, Peter Stringer, Brian O’Driscoll, Gordon Darcy, Leo Cullen, Denis Hickie, Shane Jennings, Shane Horgan, among others, all not only wanted to be great players, they also wanted to change the culture of provincial and Irish rugby.
It would be a rare thing to have one such man in a sport, but to have ten or fifteen is beyond explanation. We are now almost twenty years into it, and it feels normal, but Irish rugby is in the middle of an extended golden age (competing for Six Nations championships, winning Heineken Cups, and a constant flow of new talent coming from the underage sides) and unlike football it’s been done without the help of a global surge in the game, a huge TV deal or an oligarch pumping in cash.
When you look at rugby worldwide, no other country, besides maybe Argentina, have taken such huge strides. It isn’t just the results on the field either, its the way we are viewed by other nations. Besides the very occasional thumping from New Zealand, every team knows Ireland will be tough to beat.
We attract the top coaches from abroad, the best Southern Hemisphere players want to move here, and we usually play a nice style of rugby. After a dip for a season or two, the mood for this championship is upbeat.
We expected to win in Twickenham, the fans will demand a handsome points margin against Italy and we’ve appointed ourselves favourites to beat France in Paris.
The country has got used to the idea of competing with the world’s best teams, home and away. As we focus in on a possible second championship in five years, and grumble quietly about a missed opportunity to bag a Grand Slam, it’s worth reflecting that we are, in relative terms, enjoying our Alex Ferguson era.
Hopefully this one won’t end when the manager leaves.
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I have to disagree profoundly with the general thrust of this article. Leinster have won 3 Heineken Cups in the last 5 yrs and that is an outstanding achievement. There is nothing else ‘golden’ to cherish, in my view. It’s now 6 yrs since Munster won the Heineken cup and 15 since Ulster’s sole victory. 5 years have passed since the Grand Slam. Several top quality players mentioned in the piece but as a generation they underachieved. It’s also worth noting that we have yet to get past the quarter final of a World Cup.
You’re 100% correct John.
It’s been said that the rugby mens team gets off a lot lighter compared to other sports, and our ‘golden generation’ if you look at it in the cold light, have really only one one major trophy and under performed at two WCs.
This sort of back slapping, at a stage when we’ve had two great wins, two ‘heroic losses’ to NZ and England and one washout against Oz is really unnecessary.
With the players we have, we should be looking to be more than ‘tough to beat’. This type of attitude would never be seen in NZ.
Have to agree, only one championship in the professional era is a poor return as we all know for the players which we had and have. This next two weeks is crucial for Irish rugby in terms of keeping interest in the sport high. In terms of a world cup semi final is pretty likely this time if we can top the group we should should get Argentina in the quarter finals and hopefully we should be able to beat them.
Guessing none of ye remember Irish rugby from about ’87 on through the 90′s…. We were absolutely rubbish with the odd great player…. What we’re going through now is light years away from those days… Was a huge pity that a great player like Keith Wood missed out on the good days – at least he had the Lions in ’97…
That’s a little unfair on ulster. Leinster did beat them in the final of the HC. It’s quiet impressive that two of our four teams made the final. Overall though, I agree with you.
It seems to be a recurring trend for people to say ‘ah, I was there in the bad old days’.
Absolutely, we’ve had some tough times, but we’ve also had sporadic success internationally with a much more limited set up (85 and 91).
When you talk of the ‘good days’ of now, what’s that in reference to? The highest level we’ve got to is a WC QF where we were spanked by Wales. We had our worst 6 Nations in years last year and at international level we’re perennial under achievers.
Saying ‘ah shur look how far we’ve some’ is self serving drivel.
We tend to like the underdog status, when in reality we should be focusing on constantly beating the SH teams rather than sporadic heroic losses.
For anyone looking for a real insight into a ‘golden era’, take a look at Legacy by James Kerr, great look at the All Blacks.
You seem to take the current setup for granted. Irish rugby despite being the weakest union then has made the transition to professionalism better than anyone else.
We have fantastic academy system producing a stream of European club rugby level players. That is why people are happy. We have built the structures and professional ethos and the results will follow. Golden generations of players come and go but good organization and management lasts.
Ireland has gone through the worst financial crisis in it’s history and the IRFU hasn’t ended up in debt.
No, I’m absolutely not taking it for granted, we’ve got an incredible set-up.
However, what my posts and the article specifically relates to is a ‘golden generation’ for the men’s senior team.
My point is I disagree with this relentlessly positivity and ‘give it a lash Jack’ attitude, when, if you look at it with clear eyes, we’ve constantly underperformed at international level.
Now that we’re used to ‘competing’ with SH teams at home (don’t think you can say that about our away results mind), we should be looking for more, not backslapping because of a few good results. Let’s remember that this ‘golden generation’ lost to Italy last year for example, and focus on the steely attitude that the great English side of 03, or the current AB side had.
Maintaining this ‘ah shur aren’t we great’ idea won’t help us be more successful, and I’d imagine it’s something Schmidt is trying to move away from.
The default argument of ‘well remember the mid 90s when we were terrible’ just doesn’t wash with me, we should be evolving not smiling over near misses.
Clearly you lot are golden era fans or else have just forgotten how sh1te we actually were. We’ve made huge leaps in terms of numbers playing the game, popularity of the sport, sucess of our teams at all levels. To the poster comparing our reactions to loses with the ABs reactions, the ABs are the best in the world, by quite a margin, have been for a long time. of course their standards are alot higher. It will take time for us to reach and maintain such a level of excellence and considering where we began we’re getting there. This doesn’t happen overnight despite what ye think
You are spot on, James. On the topic of THAT game against the all blacks, it still haunts me to this day. I have never watched the highlights and never will. Sport can be a cruel cruel mistress at times.
The amateur game is suffering SImon, it would be hard to join a club nowadays that has a thirds team or even a seconds for that matter. Unless we address the sheer physicality of the modern game , we will end up with rugby version of American football , which will amount to a very small player pool.
We won’t ever reach the level of the ABs, nobody will. The difference isn’t skills, or innately powerful pacific-island dna; what sets the ABs apart from everybody – even the Boks – is their mentality. And it’s not just about the ABs as a team, as they’re more than that; they are the embodiment of a nation, like no other sports team on earth. We can develop their skills, and match them for power, and one day – perhaps with this current squad under JS, next time they come knocking in Dublin – we will beat them. But the difference is that, while we as fans were hopeful, nay (over) confident of a win in London, New Zealand – as a nation – expect their team to win every game. Their players have an expectation mixed with a morbid fear and shame of letting down the jersey. When we do eventually beat the ABs, whose players will be remembered more, and for what reason? That crushing weight of the fear of defeat is what separates them from the rest. We may reach All-Black-esque levels on the field, but not in terms of association of national identity. That this website would feature an article on a ‘golden age’, with only one 6N title and no further than a RWC QF to show at the highest level only highlights the difference in mentality.
Well said Scaldbag! We are in a golden era, but it’s a golden era for the professional game (btw it’s not 20 years old, golden era started the day we beat Scotland with 5 new caps).
The club game is in dire need of some attention, we have Craig Ronaldson, Robin Copeland and Martin Moore coming through in a strong AIL competition in the last few year but with no media exposure or excitement.
J3, J4 comps are a thing of the past outside of Dublin unfortunately.
The next 20 years will be telling with 6″5, 17st centres playing for England, NFL maybe coming to Europe quicker than you think!!
to borrow a phrase from 1 of our true great sportsmen, it’s like praising the postman for delivering your letters, I for 1 am fed up of all this lets pat ourselfs on d back shite, aren’t we great, look at how bad we were, so what, we should b transferring our dominance at provincial level to the international set up, in my opinion we are underachieving, at last we have d right man in charge to unify us in d green jersey in my opinion, let’s c what d next few years hold in store, exiting times for Irish rugby
Look at the difference between Rugby and Football in Ireland over the last 20 years.
Rugby a game essentially few people played or watched has massively increased it’s support base and increased the size and spread of it’s playing numbers. There are a bunch of decent quality stadiums RDS, Thomond park, Ravenhill, Musgrave Park the IRFU has little debt and well managed finances. We have arguably some of the best rugby academies in the world and 4 highly competitive provinces with 3 of them in group stage of the Heinken cup this year. We have dominated European club rugby over the last half decade and have Irish coaches like Bernard Jackman plying their trade abroad.
Rugby has done extremely well on the whole despite a few crushing disappointments.
4 in the group stage, connachts heroics in Toulouse ?
*knockout stages
Leo Cullen changed nothing in Irish rugby especially in the 90s
Cullen and Jennings changed a lot about Leinster when they returned to the club from Leicester which i’d imagine is what is being referred to.
What have they won? One title? Heineken Cups won with foreign players don’t count.
As I posted before ireland have won just two games less than England and France in the six nations since 2000 (45 wins from 70 games for Ireland as opposed to 47 from 70 for the other two) yet during that time France have won five titles, England four while Ireland have won only one. Wales, with only 37 victories in 70 games have four titles.
So what we actually have, according to the stats, is a so called golden generation that has failed to win the ones that matter. The New Zealand game put the seal on that.
There’s no golden era, just talented players who have only once got the job done when the chips were down.
Ireland have only won the grandslam once but we’ve one the competition on a few more occasions
*won
Believe Ireland has 2 grand slam titles
Since 2000? When the current golden era is generally regarded as having begun?
No they haven’t.
Not since 2000 but in their history
Just for the record:
4 nations grand slams or triple crowns (1882-1908 – France didn’t join until 1909)
Eng 3
Wal 5
Scot 5
Ire 2
5 nations grand slams (1908-1999)
Eng 11
Wal 8
Fra 6
Sco 3
Ire 1
6 nations grand slams (post 2000)
Eng 1 (total 15)
Wal 3 (total 16)
Fra 6 (total 9)
Scot 0 (total 8)
Ire 1 (total 4)
Ita 0 (total 0)
4, 5 and 6 nations grand slams
Wal 16
Eng 15
Fra 9
Sco 8
Ire 4
Ita 0
No team has won the HC cup with more home grown players than Munster and Leinster.
To say they don’t count is foolish.
Irish rugby has dominated the the European club scene over the last 10 years not even the French with all their money can compete.
Ulster in 1999 had more home players than those teams to be fair.
What are you smoking?
FYI Toulon won the HEC starting 3 French players last season. Leinster won the season before starting 12. Irish sides have a very high proportion of local talent compared to other clubs, particularly other successful clubs.
Article headline would have made scence 4/5/6 years ago. How long until someone posts a comment regarding performance against all blacks? Was a once off. Golden age of irish rugby was between 08 and the grand slam.
The rugby Ireland played in 2007 was easily the best rugby we’ve ever played. For the period 2004-2007 we were just unfortunate to be competing with a French side that were absolutely top class. We may have won the GS in 09, but the rugby we played that year wasn’t a patch on some of the EOS years.
Going beyond the 6 Nations though, Ireland have a pretty good record against SH sides all things considered. Compare it to the Welsh record for example. Leinster and Munster have been central teams in the HEC for the last 10 years and Ulster over the last 2 years have really started to come to the fore as well. We’ve dominated the Pro12 for years too and become fairly used to seeing our sides winning games.
Support for the sport has grown massively in the last decade too. This is thanks to the performances and the results of the last 10-15 years. Look at provincial attendances in Ireland compared to Wales, Scotland or even England. When you put that into perspective (compared to Irish rugby in the 90s) we’ve gone through a hugely successful period lately. Even if our national performances from the last few years has been patchy at best.
What’s more we’re starting to see a squad depth that we’ve probably never had before. We have a bench that can make an impact and not just be used for injury cover with a good number of younger players coming through and showing serious potential.
While the article does to a degree gloss over certain issues the general jist of it is one of optimism in the current state of Irish rugby. And that’s something I’d wholly agree with.
France will cut this Irish team in half.Wonder will “Dorce” and “Bod” go through the rest of the tournament without scoring a try? Wouldn’t surprise me as they offer the same amount of penetration as a pair of turtles. “World class” Indeed
Yeah, cos tries scored is the only method of judging performance. Which is why POC is not even remotely decent.
Utter tripe. Grow up.
If barstooling fans and casual observers counted as growth then we could legitimately claim that the current generation underarchieved. Playing numbers is what counts.
In terms of actual playing numbers we are still miles away from the numbers of several of our competitors such as England and France.
And anyone spouting the ”I wouldn’t see NZ settling for this” line would do well to remember the long tradition and national sport status of Rugby there, whereas in Ireland it’s long been well down the pecking order on an overall basis.
Have to disagree with the article.Laughed at the part where he says ‘We have appointed ourselves favourites to beat France’ .We have one win in Paris in 40 years ffs!
I can recall excellent Irish sides in the 70s and 80s, just as good as our current lot.
Didn’t Alex Ferguson win stuff?
I think Ireland are doing pretty well considering we’ve 150,000 registered players compared to for example England who have 2.5million. So we may haven’t won since 2009. But we haven’t won the wooden spoon title every year like what was the norm 15years ago.
Ireland and New Zealand have approximately the same population – in the rugby world, that where the similarities end!
Rugby is a crap sport for, created to cater for those with very little talent in any other code.
Couldn’t get picked for the social rugby then????
How bored are you that you are spending your time commenting on articles about things that don’t interest you?
Irish rugby has improved in Ireland because there are limited opportunities to be fully professional sports athletes/footballers.
Hopefully this one won’t end when the manager leaves”…….The IRFU need a provincial coach recruitment policy that goes after the most successful innovative coaches in the Southern Hemisphere.
“Premier League TV money meant that success was rewarded like never before”, when the English and French clubs get their premier league/ cup will the provinces become like the Wales regions, feeder teams.
If the IRFU cannot position the Irish regions in the “new european order” will the IRFU become a nursery for the new Anglo/French competition?
Optimism yes, innovation in terms of development and tactics not so much.
Having read a lot of drivvle, this gets my vote as most sense in one post.
two pieces of silverware in 7 years…….golden age alright
Ireland and New Zealand may have a similar population, in New Zealand, Rugby is the number one sport by a considerable distance, in Ireland it is one of four main sports so our sporting talent is diluted amongst the four games. If one asked a young person in NZ what they would like to be when they ” grow up” the answer is invariably an “All Black”.
1 out of 15 not great an average team would have won 2.5 out of 15
Interestingly mayo regarded as failures over the same period finished 2nd out of 32 teams on 4 occasions average football team would be expected to make top two less than 1 times