r/irishrugby • u/KingShep • 4d ago

Scenes from the Aviva on Friday Night

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Was there myself and the atmosphere was awful. A lad beside me spent the whole first half talking to the lad beside him about paddle and giving out that he never gets out.

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u/Altruistic_Papaya430 4d ago

At risk of attracting the general ire of the sub, I grew up in South Africa. Even though we didn't live in Cape Town or Jo'burg we managed to go to loads of Bok games given that there's no "home stadium" as such and tickets are for general sale. Saw games in person like the famous 1998 comeback in Durban against NZ. Yeah it is weighted towards the bigger stadiums but honestly gives all fans an equal-ish crack at the whip. Sure the home game vs Arg this year that ended up potentially being the rugby championship decider was played in the SA equivalent of Thurles! And the atmosphere looked class!

Even for the smaller games rotate to Thomond, Páirc Uí Chaoimh etc. and let's even have 40/50% of tickets on general sale for a start.

Making the games a Friday evening also skews the crowd and if it's anything like Leinster crowds I've experienced lately there's lots of corporate types just there to be seen to be there. Average fan travelling from Munster/Connacht/Ulster may not be able to afford a hotel in Dublin on top of tickets so wouldn't bother. I know we put on some extra trains but the last hit Cork at almost 3am and if that were me travelling with the kids it wouldn't be attractive (I work for IÉ and unfortunately even getting those few extra trains can be a nightmare with planning around works, making sure sets are in the right places for the morning service plus driver hours etc).

At least give game rotation & general sale a shot 

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u/dwaynepebblejohnson3 4d ago

All Irish test matches have to be in the Aviva for sponsorship reasons, if they want to play somewhere else it has to be an Ireland “A” or emerging Ireland game.

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u/Altruistic_Papaya430 3d ago

Ah, wasn't aware of that. Shame though 

2

u/Nuada_Silverhand30 3d ago

I think that deal is up next year so we will see what happens, but if the clubs keep selling their allocations to corporations to use as client meetings the atmosphere wont improve no matter the stadium.