Forget the Naysayers: this Irish Team is a Source of National Pride.
By Sports Editor Jack Kelly
On October 14, the Irish Men’s rugby team's 17 game winning streak came to an end as they were knocked out of the Rugby World Cup by eventual runners-up, New Zealand. This run of wins included a Grand Slam; a victorious test series on New Zealand soil; and beating back-to-back World Cup winners, South Africa, twice in a 12-month period. In addition, Andy Farrell’s team were number one in the world from July 2022 to October 2023. During this run, the team embodied togetherness, resilience, while also uniting the nation at home and abroad. In sum, this was a period of outstanding consistency, quality, and success.
Yet, if you were to scroll through X, formerly Twitter, on the night of Ireland’s loss to New Zealand, you would be forgiven for mistaking this team for being the source of all Irish shame, such was the vitriol demonstrated by those basking in another quarter final exit for our Men’s rugby team. On this night, the keyboard cynics played their greatest hits such as “they’re a shower of bottlers” and “have a cry for the posh boys.”
This is exemplified by the journalist Ewan MacKenna who offered a scathing assessment of the current team following their loss to New Zealand: “They are pampered, choking, spoiled losers with zero guts. I warned that for years to abuse. Thankfully they don’t represent me.”
Granted, Irish rugby’s World Cup failings should obviously not be exempt from criticism; it is an abysmal record. To put it bluntly, the Irish team has lost all eight of the Rugby World Cup quarter finals the team has played in. What is more, the contrast with New Zealand's record of eight wins in nine quarter final appearances is incredibly striking. However, what is the psychology that leads so many to happily toast to their own national team losing? Where does this subculture of anti-Irish rugby emanate from? If it is simply due to their lack of success on the world stage, then surely the same negative sentiment would also be expressed towards our Men’s soccer team. Are we now a nation of type A personalities?
It is possible to argue that the raison d’etre for most of the anti-rugby camp is the dislike for the rugby “goys” satirised expertly by Paul Howard through his character Ross O’Carroll-Kelly. The socio-economically advantaged, “nepo” babies whose life trajectory is as follows: born into generational wealth in a leafy, south Dublin suburb with a rugby ball in one hand and daddies’ property portfolio in the other. In the minds of many, they are privately educated, privileged, and play rugby. Many rugby haters would agree with this characterisation of the rugby “goy” and would probably add that they cannot support a team that is built on such elitism. That would be fair if it applied to this current crop. But it does not, hence it seems that this attitude is somewhat outdated.
In an interview with Off The Ball during the Rugby World Cup, current La Rochelle Head Coach and former Irish Out-half, Ronan O’Gara detailed how the current Irish Men’s rugby team “is very appealing to the normal Joe soap, because they can see a team that is genuine, normal, that represents the working class people of Ireland as opposed to just the elite private schools.”
It can be put forward that this Irish team represents a wide variety of backgrounds and by extension is diverse. The team is made up of a player from South Hill, West Cork, Northern Protestants, a farmer from Wexford, a number of new nationals from New Zealand and Australia along with several players from fee paying schools. Likewise, the Head Coach, Andy Farrell is an Englishman of Irish descent who grew up in a working-class environment in Wigan. Thus, it appears that rejoicing in the current Irish national team losing is not anti-establishment in a way that it possibly once was; you are not the Sex Pistols, now you are just patting your cynicism on the back. Yet, this is overlooked in favour of abuse.
This sort of criticism is indicative of the attacks directed at the national rugby team. In short, characterising the Irish rugby team as the elites can be viewed as a form of populism that deliberately discounts the diversity of the current squad. Moreover, on a human level, this is a group of relatively young men playing one of the most physical sports on the planet in the hope of bringing success to Ireland. Do they really deserve this level of hate because of some prejudged notions about their background? Or is this simply misdirected anger?
Interestingly, MacKenna alludes to another popular strand of commentary aimed at Irish rugby; they are chokers. Some past losses in the quarter final have been through poor performances but this World Cup showing is not a damning indictment of this group and it certainly does not make them chokers, especially when context or nuance is applied. This is illustrated by the fact that rugby is by far the most popular sport in New Zealand while it is the fourth most played sport in Ireland. Significantly, New Zealand have won three Rugby World Cups. It was a painful loss, but losing to New Zealand in a knockout game is not “choking.”
Additionally, Ireland was the only team to beat South Africa at this World Cup. As of 2019, South Africa had 635,288 people playing rugby therefore it is quite illuminating to juxtapose this figure with Ireland’s participation figure of 196,000; the chasm is stark. Likewise, Ireland have won four of the last ten Six Nations Championships against nations such as France and England who boast far larger paying populations. This crop of players is not only the most diverse Irish rugby team on record, but they are also consistently competing at a level no other Irish team has before. This points to the idea that the criticisms that are repeatedly thrown in the team’s direction are now nothing other than antiquated tropes that aim to divide.
Nevertheless, the scenes from the Rugby World Cup did not necessarily paint a picture of a nation divided. In fact, the green invasion of Paris was a source of pride for the Irish team with close to 60,000 fans descending on the Stade de France for the final group clash with Scotland.
In the wake of the game against Scotland, Andy Farrell remarked on the importance of the support his team receive: “We got a bit of stick, didn't we, for walking around against South Africa, but we walk round and thank the fans after every game. It's the least we can do when they turn up in their thousands like they've done. We play for them, we talk about it every week.”
Furthermore, this support for the Irish team was not confined to the “City of Light” with Virgin Media recording the highest viewership in its history with an average of 1.378 million people tuning in for the quarter final against New Zealand.
So, where does this leave the subculture of naysayers? Maybe some do not need a reason to hate the Irish rugby team, which is fine, but the issue is with the folk who take pleasure in watching those who play for and support the Irish national team collectively suffering in defeat. How can they explain their joy of the agony of their compatriots?
Perhaps not since Italia ’90, has an Irish team and its public ever felt quite so one and there are parallels between both squads. In addition, they were both successful, diverse teams with deep connections with their fanbase and a man from the north of England as their leader. They captivated a nation and elevated their respective sports on the island of Ireland. In short, both teams represent all that is great about Ireland: passion, camaraderie, and unity amongst other things.
To conclude, Ewan MacKenna said that this Ireland team “don’t represent” him. Building on, one could extend this ideal to those who also vocalise their joy in watching the Irish team lose. But maybe that is a good thing, because anyone who expresses delight in watching their country fail is the antithesis of the togetherness engrained in this Irish team. Andy Farrell’s squad exhibit traits that make the people of Ireland truly proud to be Irish. Conversely, the naysayers do not.
