Six Nations 2014 (3 Viewers)

[hermie]

The image is poor but what I like about the above video is that it's not selectively hand-picking one-off incidents, it's comparing two World Cup finals in separate sports.

Watching football is like watching paint dry for me these days. Still like playing it but prefer playing rugby.

Oh and I wouldn't be overly optimistic that we'll be England. Stuart Lancaster hasn't lost to Ireland since he's come in. His teams play a style of rugby we hate to come up against. Not that they're especially good but just that they'll be better equipped to nullify our current gameplan than Wales were.

 

[hermie]

Everyone who goes to or even watches football has kicked a ball around at least once in their life. 90% of the people that I know who watch rugby have never actually played it in any shape or form, and wouldn't want to either. Of course you'll have your core, but in the grand scheme of things the connection to the game is not the same.
(and I actually did play rugby for two years. It's a fucking HORRIBLE game. Whoever said it's for all shapes and sizes is just wrong. It's for a certain type of masochist only).

Bullshit. I've played both for years and I've gotten way more cheap shots playing soccer (and actually more serious injuries) from the thugs who play the game. I'm a small guy and get beaten up playing rugby on a regular basis but it's usually fair. Growing up a punk in my early teens prepared me well for it.

 

[Jerry Twig]

Bullshit. I've played both for years and I've gotten way more cheap shots playing soccer (and actually more serious injuries) from the thugs who play the game. I'm a small guy and get beaten up playing rugby on a regular basis but it's usually fair. Growing up a punk in my early teens prepared me well for it.

Ah bullshit yourself. I played both too and football was generally fine. You were probably just rubbish at it.

 

[Unknown Convict]

I wouldn't be overly optimistic that we'll be England. Stuart Lancaster hasn't lost to Ireland since he's come in. His teams play a style of rugby we hate to come up against. Not that they're especially good but just that they'll be better equipped to nullify our current gameplan than Wales were.

but the great thing about ireland (and leinster before) under schmidt is that there appears to be no set game plan. he picks the team and tactics to suit each game. there could be a few selection surprises for the next game but it's getting hard to see who he might drop.

win this, beat italy in dublin, then face off against an average french team in paris for a grand slam.

 

[nlgbbbblth]

It's a class thing.

as in

Rugby's biggest critics come from middle class dudes who don't like being middle class.

The oppressed working classes don't really give a fuck.

It was the same in Socialist Worker back in the 1990s - the bulk of the membership were educated middle class people who thought they knew what was best for the downtrodden masses. Their paper even aped The Sun in terms of style and layout. Big mistake.

 

[Jerry Twig]

Haha! And by extension do your self-oppressed middle class watch football because they want to be down with the proletariat?

 

[nlgbbbblth]

It's a double-edged sword; certainly some do.

Does anybody remember the Annabels murder thread? Hag made a great point about the baying hordes [yiz are all middle class and posh yourselves].

 

[washingcattle]

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What's your point ?

Going down and staying down is a tactic. On average footballers cover about 10K per match mostly in short sprints staying down gives everyone a breather and breaks up the game.

That world cup final was fascinating stuff by the way. Tactically and technically it was superb, Pirlo and Zidane were at the top of game and both were brilliant.

 

[washingcattle]

It's a class thing.

Yup as in ....

the thugs who play the game.

Fucking typical, yet more rugby fan bullshit, looking down your nose at us football fans.

First we're all ballerinas then thugs then animals or terrorists it's always the fucking same with you lot.

Just say what you really mean you think you're better than the working class.

 

[тхеодоре кацзынски]

 

[washingcattle]

 

[hermie]

Ah bullshit yourself. I played both too and football was generally fine. You were probably just rubbish at it.

I meant bullshit in terms of a game for all shapes and sizes. I don't see how you can argue otherwise. Lanky people in the 2nd row for the lineout, fatties in the front row. More athletic types in the backrow. Small, quick lads at scrum-half and on the wings, unless you play a kick-chase type strategy in which case more lanky lads out wide. Again depending on how you want to play the game you can have big, boshy types in the centre or smaller, quicker fellas. I can think of very few other games where the lard arses are as important as the really athletic specimens.

 

[hermie]

What's your point ?

Going down and staying down is a tactic. On average footballers cover about 10K per match mostly in short sprints staying down gives everyone a breather and breaks up the game.

That world cup final was fascinating stuff by the way. Tactically and technically it was superb, Pirlo and Zidane were at the top of game and both were brilliant.

My point is that it destroys the game as a spectacle, as the majority of the audience don't enjoy diving or that kind of play-acting. Certainly does for me.

 

[hermie]

Yup as in ....

Fucking typical, yet more rugby fan bullshit, looking down your nose at us football fans.

First we're all ballerinas then thugs then animals or terrorists it's always the fucking same with you lot.

Just say what you really mean you think you're better than the working class.

Haha, I don't know where you think I'm from but I play out in Leixlip and would play as many teams with thick Dub accents from working class areas (Tallaght, Palmerston, Clondalkin) than I would D4/6 teams (Terenure, Mary's, Monkstown).

Where I grew up (Lucan) soccer/GAA was pretty much forced upon you and you were considered a bit of a bender if you played rugby. Which was a shame because I'd be much better at it now if I had some experience of it at a younger age.

I have been on the receiving end of more cheap shots playing soccer (the thugs was thrown in as bait ) than rugby even though the latter is far more physical.

I think the ref is respected more in rugby. You have a pint with the opposition after the game even if there was a bit of niggle during it.

Most of all, particularly as a spectator, I really like how the better team on the day invariably wins in rugby. It's very hard to fluke a victory and that aspect really appeals to me personally.

 

[Jerry Twig]

It's funny how soccer and the GAA are being lumped together as the enemy of rugby. I grew up in deep GAA territory and playing soccer marked you out as some sort of traitor. The good hurlers weren't even allowed to play to play soccer. I loved hurling, but hated the GAA.

 

[washingcattle]

My point is that it destroys the game as a spectacle, as the majority of the audience don't enjoy diving or that kind of play-acting. Certainly does for me.

The vast majority of supporters understand what's going on and only get offended by it when their opposition are 1-0 up and playing down the clock. When it's their ;lads doing it they couldn't give two fucks. Anyway it's not about spectacle or the nuetral or whatever it's a game about winning. I never really watch football as a neutral because without that emotional connection it makes the game .... eh.... a game. Fuck that. If you're fully invested in it it's much much more than a game and every aspect of it, from the pagentry and the pomp and the play acting to the actual skill is important and worthy of an emotional reaction to it.

Jesus I'm getting teary eyed and a boner just talking about it. I fucking love football lads. I'm gonna have a cry wank and look at some statistics.

Haha, I don't know where you think I'm from but I play out in Leixlip and would play as many teams with thick Dub accents from working class areas (Tallaght, Palmerston, Clondalkin) than I would D4/6 teams (Terenure, Mary's, Monkstown).

Where I grew up (Lucan) soccer/GAA was pretty much forced upon you and you were considered a bit of a bender if you played rugby. Which was a shame because I'd be much better at it now if I had some experience of it at a younger age.

I have been on the receiving end of more cheap shots playing soccer (the thugs was thrown in as bait ) than rugby even though the latter is far more physical.

I think the ref is respected more in rugby. You have a pint with the opposition after the game even if there was a bit of niggle during it.

Most of all, particularly as a spectator, I really like how the better team on the day invariably wins in rugby. It's very hard to fluke a victory and that aspect really appeals to me personally.

Every reason you just gave there is exactly why Rugby and the upper classes are linked. It frustrates upper class types when the best, the richest and the fairest don't win.


For the rest of us it represents a form of hope in sport that we can only pray exists in life.

Why hate the ref ? because 9 times out of 10 he's a cop or a school teacher to boot.

 

[hermie]

It's funny how soccer and the GAA are being lumped together as the enemy of rugby. I grew up in deep GAA territory and playing soccer marked you out as some sort of traitor. The good hurlers weren't even allowed to play to play soccer. I loved hurling, but hated the GAA.

I'm not lumping them together, they were just the acceptable sports in my area growing up. All others were viewed as sort of outsider sports for misfits.

 

[hermie]

The vast majority of supporters understand what's going on and only get offended by it when their opposition are 1-0 up and playing down the clock. When it's their ;lads doing it they couldn't give two fucks. Anyway it's not about spectacle or the nuetral or whatever it's a game about winning. I never really watch football as a neutral because without that emotional connection it makes the game .... eh.... a game. Fuck that. If you're fully invested in it it's much much more than a game and every aspect of it, from the pagentry and the pomp and the play acting to the actual skill is important and worthy of an emotional reaction to it.

Jesus I'm getting teary eyed and a boner just talking about it. I fucking love football lads. I'm gonna have a cry wank and look at some statistics.

Fair enough if the illegalities become part of the intrigue. Playing the ref is part of any sport where humans officiate. But diving doesn't appeal to me personally in any way, shape or form. And it turns a lot of neutrals off the game.

Every reason you just gave there is exactly why Rugby and the upper classes are linked. It frustrates upper class types when the best, the richest and the fairest don't win.


For the rest of us it represents a form of hope in sport that we can only pray exists in life.

Why hate the ref ? because 9 times out of 10 he's a cop or a school teacher to boot.

Haha, maybe so. Maybe there's something in the glory of a team like Greece winning the Euros that appeals to the downtrodden. But I see nothing in a shit team, playing negative football, jamming a few wins and collecting a trophy. Rugby is much more like tennis or track and field sports in this regard. There's no hiding from the superior function and intensity of one team against another. Teams that play the game with a mastery that in rare moments can approach perfection (e.g. New Zealand) never have to really exist of the same plane as their inferiors (say Italy). Of course beauty isn't the goal of professional sport but it's a happy accident that a team who play with the fluidity and the kinetic grace of the All Blacks can enjoy deserved success. And they'll remain on their perch until, like Nadal to Federer in tennis, a real contender comes along to knock them off.

That old-fashioned challenges (Test matches) actually mean something in terms of a competition. Or that a tournament like the World Cup is still the pinnacle of achievement in rugby all follow on from this and give it far greater appeal. For me...

 

[nlgbbbblth]

In my school gaelic football and hurling were king.
Soccer was hated, rugby distrusted.

Handball was great.

 

[rettucs]

In my school gaelic football and hurling were king.
Soccer was hated, rugby distrusted.

Handball was great.

Gaelic football
Soccer
Hurling

in that order in my school. But thats reflective of the times. Lip service was paid to hurling in general in clubs and schools, so no difference in ours.

The thing about soccer was that, though everyone was probably into it, there were only a handful of lads who played it seriously and the school soccer team was never great really.

They had their first rugby team about 15 years after I left and it lasted for about 2 years. It was all the gah lads playing it for the crack.