SO ALL THE Irish provinces have left to fight for this season is the Rabo Pro title.
Along with the hurling and football leagues, this must be the only competition in the world where interest wanes as it nears its conclusion.
The Celtic League is only relevant when it is framed around preparation for the Heineken Cup, and so too the Allianz Leagues are only ever looked on as a way to blood young players, work on systems and get fit for the Championship.
Players and managers proclaim the league’s importance, and the Rabo Pro final is always a great occasion, but over the course of a season the supporters are the real arbiters, and in both attendance levels and atmosphere, there is no comparison between the two competitions.
Hurling and football fans can rightly say tradition is why the Championship dominates, but in rugby the league is only five years older than the Heineken Cup, which itself was small-time in the early years. Why then has the Celtic League, if anything, gone backwards in the last few years?
Since its inception in 2001, it has been a tough competition for fans to grab a hold of, partially because the name keeps changing with the sponsor. It’s fine to call your competition after a brand, provided they are in it for the long term, à la Heineken. The next deal they cut has to be for a longer period. At the moment Turkish Airlines are expected to take over, who have long-term sponsorship deals with both Manchester United and Barcelona.
The format has also changed constantly over the years and teams have come and gone at a rapid rate. The Border Reivers and the Celtic Warriors no longer exist and Italian side Aironi only lasted two seasons. South African sides were once reportedly close to joining up, as were London Welsh, and this season the Italians again threatened to pull out. It feels as though the competition is in a constant state of flux.
(Aironi lasted just two seasons in the RaboDirect PRO12)
The fact that so many Welsh and Irish stars get rested for long periods is arguably the most damaging aspect of all. Even the Irish interpro games have been diluted in recent times with coaches occasionally accepting defeat away from home in order to target their home games. It’s not as if they have any choice, they’re just following IRFU player management protocols, but the message sent to fans is ‘if we lose this game, it’s not the end of the world’.
There are other issues such as the refereeing (which Pat Lam, Rob Penney, Michael Cheika and other coaches have all correctly pointed out is holding the league back), the poor quality of the Italian teams, and Edinburgh playing in an empty Murrayfield, but they’re all rectifiable over the medium term, if the will is there.
What’s more worrying is the Welsh provinces are now at their lowest ebb since they were formed over 10 years ago. Ulster, Leinster and Munster thrive in spite of the league, not because of it and Edinburgh are an irrelevance these days. That leaves Glasgow and Connacht as the only two clubs that have grown their fan base and standards, which isn’t a great endorsement.
On Friday, Ulster welcome Leinster to a sold-out Ravenhill. This match will be Heineken Cup standard and the Ulster fans, as ever, will make lots of noise. In a strange way though, the Welsh and Irish interpro games are still more important as standalone fixtures, as opposed to because they’re part of the league.
The English club owners and many of their pundits believe the new European Cup format can only improve the Celtic League. The teams at the bottom will theoretically be forced to up their game, which assumes they haven’t really been trying up to now? The more likely scenario is the sides that consistently fail to qualify for Europe will lose fan numbers and possibly play less attractive rugby, as the pressure to survive forces them into short-term solutions, on and off the field of play.
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Yes Mark o leary, Irish players really struggle in the Heino. That’s why an Irish team has won 4 of the last 6 / 5 of the last 8 (not including this year)
The hope here (certainly from a fan’s perspective) is that the upheaval in the league next season will have a positive effect.
The new Not Heineken Cup, with its “clearly” defined *ahem* qualification criteria & reduced numbers, should have the effect of making the league more competitive as teams will no longer be nominated by their union, as had been the case. This, of course, depends largely on a change in attitude from the Welsh regions who, barring Ospreys, lose interest around Christmas when it becomes clear they aren’t in with a shout & are happy to sit in mid table, safe in the knowledge that Europe beckons next year.
Also, the broadcast deal with Sky will hopefully have a positive impact on the quality of play, as it has with the Championship in England (see the recent Rotherham-Bedford game as an example). Players play bigger on a bigger stage, which TG4, S4C & BBC Alba just don’t offer.
There is massive room for improvement, especially in the officiating, which is amateurish at times, but the core product is not as terrible as it could be (and has been in the past) and there should be optimism that developments off the field can have a positive effect on it
..but what if were happy with what we already have..
TLDR
It about time someone grabbed this league by the scruff and sorted it out,I think paddy power would make a great long term sponsor and bring some imagination and humor to advertising the league,Irish teams dominating recently with second string teams time for the irfu to scrap player welfare,our players are the most mollycoddled and pampered in Europe and still struggle in the heino let the big names play more often.
Paddy Power, the crowd that think it’s ok to make money off the back of a woman’s murder? While I agree with you that the league needs a long-term sponsor, I really hope it’s not them.
Best of luck to Niall Ronan on his forced retirement he was one of the good ones thanks for the good memories Niall.
Must be a FF !!
Completely disagree with this article. Over the past few years we’ve seen the rise of teams like Glasgow, Ospreys, Scarlets and to lesser extent the dragons who have made some big signings for next year like Lee Byrne, anyway with all the above teams regularly beating their irish counterparts I fail to see how the competition has regressed in the past few years when it used to be a Munster or Leinster maybe Osprey shoe in.
The competetion has gone has gone backwards because the average irish rugby supporter is a bandwagon jumping glory hunter who is only interested in the big heinekin cup games and before any of the usual numpties who come on here making excuses regarding the cost and travelling involved to attend rabo games just look at the 10000 self proclaimed best fans in the world who managed to travel to the south of france last weekend.That is all
Self proclaimed? I think you will find the ERC gave us an award buddy for best supporters in Europe. Just because you started watching rugby around 2008/2009, back in your box.
i hope they didn’t present said award at a rabo game as there would have been no one there to recieve it.
Sorry but as a die hard Leinster fan I have to say the Munster fans made the HC the great competition it is/was and even I’d give them the title of best fans in rugby.
As for the league it’s not the 3 Irish teams fault we have progressed while others just are not as good as us.
Glasgow have proved a club with good people can turn it arround.
Ha ha having 3000/4000 kids at a Rabo in the RDS is nothing to be bragging about kid. I was going to Munster matches in the 90s and there were thousand there, went to a Leinster v Leicester Hcup match in donnybrook maybe 1997 about 400 people supporting Leinster. I take it you weren’t there, wearing Leinster gear wasn’t as cool then. You missed a great game. Yours dearly a rugby fan xx
Well done jonny. Were u not there when munster beat the ABs aswel? Please tell us about it
Well done jonny. Were u not there when munster beat the ABs aswel? Please tell us all about it
Funny the number ofpeople that claim to be supporter of an Irish province back in the 80/90s… Stadium were empty but apparently thousands went to the games
you attended munster rugby games in the 90s Johnny?if so will you say hello from me to the other two lads that used to go as well and if that dog that used to go with ye is still alive will you give him a pat on the head too.
@PCon @yoman calm down children don’t get so defensive, with the usual our team is better then yours. Hope to see ye at the Pro12 final in a couple of wks @Thomond of course
That’s right Paulie 1st game I ever went to was Munster v Australia at Musgrave in ’92 I think they said about 5000 were there, went to a Combined province v SA about 97 about another 5000, Shaggy that’s Shane Horgan incase your only a supporter in the last 2 years made is debut
Johnny Im not supporting Leinster or Munster. Im not trying to figure out who has the biggest support either. Im just saying that years ago just a few went to rugby games thats all. Best supporters my a*se. Vast majority started to follow them once they became victorious. Glory hunters are in every sport. How many French will claim to support Brive or Pau? How many Irish supports Aston villa or QPR.
Sheahan you are as boring as you are repetitive . Change the record – Yawn Yawn – you must have shag all to do in Waterford !
Didn’t Aironi go bust?
The attitude of those who “own” the Welsh regions are a major part of the Rabo problem. Most of us of an age here will remember you would be lucky to get more than a couple of thousand at interpro matches before the professional era but even if the numbers are not great there are still a hell of a lot more people at all the league matches than before. The Welsh regions need to be looking at what Connacht have done let alone the big 3 to increase their audiences and attendance. Edinburgh are moving as well I think? Sky should help with the marketing, but a big brand sponsor would also help. Rabo were never really into it. But is there any word of a new title sponsor?
If the PRL big wigs – the lads that created this new European set up – had done a proper job with the three tiered system they could have helped with big matches throughout the season.
If only teams finishing in 5th-10th in the pro leagues qualified for a 16 team Challenge Cup the bottom teams would have to fight to avoid playing on the 3rd team tournament with the Romanian/Georgian teams and those promoted in the Premiership and Top14. They would also have some silverware to play for in a proper 3rd tier tournament. As it is the 3rd tournament is a joke which appears to be planned to fail.
Now that Cornwall has been recognised as having a Celtic heritage by the UK government.Should the Unions invite a representative team into the Rabo?
Maybe call them the Cornish Pirates and base them in Penzance?
Their average attendances have been more than Zebre?
The rabo has been treated by the provinces & IRFU as a training facility for HC and international games. This accounts for the recent Irish success (domestic & international), the failing of the rabo as a meaningful completion and the contributed to the eventual demise if the the HC itself. It’s no surprise that the French & English clubs (and on the quiet the international set ups) wanted the deal changed
Yup
This league needs a serious shake up & we have to play our part by letting teams play star players more often. But given the serious fan apathy in Wales the poor quality of the Italian teams its very hard to see it improving in the short term. From what I’ve seen the welsh fans simply don’t want their teams in the P12. There is do much in fighting there it’s hard to see things improving any time soon. We treat the league with outright contempt albeit for the greater good of the national team. Another problem is The lack of away support but this can’t be solved easily due to the geographic spread. TV coverage is at best average with games on different stations at different times. Some games are on Sundays at 2:30…. Sky might help for those that have it. But how much will sky put into it now that they have the T14 to cover? Anyhow the unions involved need to bang their heads together to get this league working right. I’m not sure they have it in them.