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    #26
    Come on Ireland!

    There are a reasonable number of Americans who play golf on public courses (I used to be one of them), but nowhere near enough to justify network coverage of just about every PGA tournament (including classics like the John Deere Open) and a dedicated cable channel that shows nothing but golf.

    Of course here, we have a dedicated cable channel for sailing, for much the same reason.

    The Italian advertising community has been trying mightily to make rugby into the "team sport for people with loads of disposable income" for several years, but is having difficulty gaining traction (in part because they keep losing).

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      #27
      Come on Ireland!

      to be fair, you probably have dedicated cable channels for knitting and dog walking in the US.

      Given that rugby for generations was the badge of castle catholic educational exclusivity, the rise of rugby in Ireland is very closely linked to the rise of income of an aspirational middle class, and the advertising driven media saturation mentioned above.

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        #28
        Come on Ireland!

        AIATL - Knock yourself out.

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          #29
          Come on Ireland!

          the popularity of rugby in ireland seems closely indexed to property prices. the absolute high water mark was represented by shane horgan's telescopically outstretched arm at twickenham in 2006. the demolition of that sad england team at croker in 2007 seemed like a big deal at the time, but in retrospect we can see it as the final explosive burst of light from a star that's already dead. now people can see the fundamentals were weak all along, our success - limited as it was - was due to the confluence of an unusually gifted group of players and favourable international conditions. moreover the corporate hype that has surrounded the team and the sport has begun to sicken us. rugby is over here for at least a generation.

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            #30
            Come on Ireland!

            Earls, Kearney, Bowe, Keatley, O'Leary, Luke Fitz, Buckley, Healy, Heaslip, Jennings, Ferris, ...

            The fundamentals of the economy are strong.

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              #31
              Come on Ireland!

              Toro's going to buy Bank of Ireland . . .

              There might in fact be a knitting channel by now, but they actually get people to pay an extra subscription fee for the Golf Channel, which is really quite remarkable.

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                #32
                Come on Ireland!

                it's possible to overstate the number of rugby players in limerick over the years. saying that it was a popular game in a hyper depressed town of about 30,000 people doesn't really change anything. It's like if clonmel now was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to play petanque.

                I wonder how many of the munster army have ever actually played rugby. I'd say a good bit less than half.

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                  #33
                  Come on Ireland!

                  It just burns you up that Denis Leamy is from Cahir, doesn't it?

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                    #34
                    Come on Ireland!

                    Whenever I see the name Leamy I hear that fecker Ryle Nugent's voice.

                    The match ball is being delivered by helicotper.

                    To think we take the piss out of the BBC for never shutting up about 1966.

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                      #35
                      Come on Ireland!

                      It's actually a rather more entertaining match than the one at Croke Park on the weekend.

                      Munster 16 New Zealand 13 after 47 minutes.

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                        #36
                        Come on Ireland!

                        All Black winger lets other All Black winger score, thus preventing history being made (again) but keeping his mates.

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                          #37
                          Come on Ireland!

                          saying dennis leamy is from cahir is about as accurate as saying you're from bray. I notice as well that he chose rugby because it is apparently easier to get in the irish underage international teams, than it is to get in the tipperary hurling minors.

                          I also notice that he went to rockwell. There's no-one like the holy ghost fathers to provide mediocre, expensive, exclusive education to the children of the professional and strong farming classes, all topped off with a sporting ethos based on playing with the right shaped ball. I don't know how they square this with their missionary work with some of the poorest, most fucked up people on earth.

                          The reason that predominantly working class limerick being a rugby stronghold has traditionally mattered little to class profile rugby is because traditionally the more accurate term for a working class limerick person above the age of 20 was 'londoner' or 'new yorker'.

                          thank christ new zealand won. they is still every chance that someone will write a play about this game.

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                            #38
                            Come on Ireland!

                            That G-d for that.

                            Toro wouldn't have shut up for months . .

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                              #39
                              Come on Ireland!

                              i dunno about that. toro is a leinster fan. he also supports liverpool. from that point of view, munster winning tonight would have been like man united winning the next eight european cups in a row.

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                                #40
                                Come on Ireland!

                                it would have been like man utd beating brazil. it could happen.

                                it just doesn't have the same upset factor as the 1978 team when four of the munster players are all-blacks themselves.

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                                  #41
                                  Come on Ireland!

                                  And I am the Life wrote:
                                  it's possible to overstate the number of rugby players in limerick over the years. saying that it was a popular game in a hyper depressed town of about 30,000 people doesn't really change anything
                                  Have they really just opened a new stadium for 26,000? I take it all back, you Munster boys are cute.

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                                    #42
                                    Come on Ireland!

                                    from what I can make out leinster are more like spurs or west ham back in the day, and if munster are man utd, then toro would be the sort of fan who would be pleased that man utd winning the European cup has raised the profile of the whole league.

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                                      #43
                                      Come on Ireland!

                                      ursus, it was a great game, and they were very hard done by, but I'm delighted by the result. Munster are a great side, I usually like to see them do well if Leinster can't. But not against the All-Blacks. My liking is grudging, owing to the unbearably irritating supporters, with their aggressively smug, hectoring, self-mythologising LIGINDS! nonsense. As Bryan says, the '78 ABs game is harped on about in a way which makes the English public seem cynical and detached about 1966. Had they won again, there are many people who would never have shut up about it, but I wouldn't have been one of them. I would ahve likely gone into hiding.

                                      AIATL - if any of your premises were accurate, it would be like that, yes. But since they aren't, it isn't.

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