kermis wrote:

Decadence wrote: Rumours abound that Leinster have lodged a complaint with the Pro12 regarding the amount of Connacht fans who were in a position to chant at the Leinster team bus when it arrived at Murrayfield. No details or confirmation as such.

Hahahaha that's hilarious!
Especially when the SRU actually had barriers in place which they never usually do so the crowd was controlled.

Seriously, this is possibly the funniest thing I've read all day!

I just have a picture in my head now of a bunch of Leinster officials sitting around in shock
'This can't have happened, we can't have lost, not to Connacht'
'There must be some reason..'
'Intimidation. You heard them, singing at us like that.'

The Leinster players and coaching staff gave Connacht credit for just being better in the final, they don't deserve to be associated with such pettiness.

Decadence wrote: Rumours abound that Leinster have lodged a complaint with the Pro12 regarding the amount of Connacht fans who were in a position to chant at the Leinster team bus when it arrived at Murrayfield. No details or confirmation as such.

Hahahaha that's hilarious!
Especially when the SRU actually had barriers in place which they never usually do so the crowd was controlled.

Seriously, this is possibly the funniest thing I've read all day!

This smacks of sour grapes but I'd guess that it's the Blazers who are upset at the change in the old order and now see us as a very real and genuine threat. It's their attempt to put us back in our box.
Couldn't see that Leo Cullen, his coaches or the players are behind this, I'm sure they've had genuinely hostile receptions in their careers, not the festival atmosphere that last Saturday was.

yup, heard about this but hoped wasn't true, something about "intimidation" and it being "orchestrated by the Pro12" for the fans to congregate..
Pathetic really- Leinster just had "Fields of Athenry" sang at them by Connacht fans as Leinster fans chanted "Leinster"- was absolutely electric, and was no hostility involved.
Leo Cullen in his pre-game interview even complimented the atmosphere as teams arrived

I hope the Pro12 go public with the complaint (if it is true that is)

This is true apparently. Had it from one of the management team at the homecoming.

Decadence wrote: Rumours abound that Leinster have lodged a complaint with the Pro12 regarding the amount of Connacht fans who were in a position to chant at the Leinster team bus when it arrived at Murrayfield. No details or confirmation as such.

For crying out load, what a joke if it's true. Anyone who bought a ticket could be there,the fact that our supporters outnumbered theirs isn't the basis for any sort of complaint. You would think they'd be better off putting their energy into something constructive like planning for next season!

Rumours abound that Leinster have lodged a complaint with the Pro12 regarding the amount of Connacht fans who were in a position to chant at the Leinster team bus when it arrived at Murrayfield. No details or confirmation as such.

mikey wrote: the so called
" intimidation" felt by Leinster officials.

What's this now?

On our last ,and until last week historical,outing to Thomand we had fair support,but only in the very low hundreds.Prior to that very few would travel except for the regular faithful,and we'd be put to shame when the Reds came to visit us.Our support base was so small you'd be a while looking for a green jersey in the crowd.However having been privileged to witness the unforgettable scenes and passion at the West Stand in Murrayfield last weekend,and the so called
" intimidation" felt by Leinster officials, I can only now begin to relish the opportunity to travel with a Green Army; we now have thousands of new recruits to our battalions and they will I hope bring to Thomand what the Red Army had done so well for years traveling to us and beyond.We would look on in envy and dream for such support for our team...well its arrived,and I still can not quite belive it.
We'll rock the foundations of Thomand !! I can't wait.

connachta wrote:

Decadence wrote:

connachta wrote: If we don't want to be considered as the poor relation of Irish rugby anymore...

...we should rely on one of the more established (not richer atm) provinces lending us their stadium?? :huh:

That makes absolutely no sense to me, and realistically there's no way we'd come close to filling it, for any game.

Lending for ONE SEASON, waiting for our new facilities
And I'm really confident it can be filled, at least 20k, with some curious Limerick inhabitants too.
Look at the queue for Glasgow semi, it could be bigger for Toulouse or Sarries. We've got to realise we will have a different fan-base now, look at Murrayfield travelling support. 100 miles is a smaller deal than 12 hour trip by ferry and bus.

How many people do you think we'll bring to the Munster away game next season?

pinky wrote: In fairness connachta isn't alone in the Thomond Park camp as Craggy Island William suggested it at the presentation (which prompted the reply mahick referred to).

The impact on business wouldn't be as bad as people are suggesting, I suspect as, like away games in Thomond, most people would day trip it and have their pints in Connacht.

Of course our home quarter final will be played in Thomond as the Sportsground doesn't meet EPCR regulations.

Thank you to agree on those points.
Quarter-final... Another dream to come true?

Decadence wrote:

connachta wrote: If we don't want to be considered as the poor relation of Irish rugby anymore...

...we should rely on one of the more established (not richer atm) provinces lending us their stadium?? :huh:

That makes absolutely no sense to me, and realistically there's no way we'd come close to filling it, for any game.

Lending for ONE SEASON, waiting for our new facilities
And I'm really confident it can be filled, at least 20k, with some curious Limerick inhabitants too.
Look at the queue for Glasgow semi, it could be bigger for Toulouse or Sarries. We've got to realise we will have a different fan-base now, look at Murrayfield travelling support. 100 miles is a smaller deal than 12 hour trip by ferry and bus.

In fairness connachta isn't alone in the Thomond Park camp as Craggy Island William suggested it at the presentation (which prompted the reply mahick referred to). It should be noted that it will go down as the least popular thing anyone from Craggy Island ever said since that unfortunate mix-up with Ted and the Chinese, and was greeted with audible booing, hissing and I do believe even a certain element of gnashing of teeth.

The impact on business wouldn't be as bad as people are suggesting, I suspect as, like away games in Thomond, most people would day trip it and have their pints in Connacht. But the concession of home advantage, psychological impact of moving it out of the province, negativity created in north Connacht and the plain fact that we wouldn't come close to selling it out, would make it a non-runner.
I would say even if we could sell unlimited tickets in the Sportsground, 15k is probably about our limit at the moment. There were tickets to be had on the day for the semi-final. Any move away would reduce that number, not increase it. I wouldn't expect too many Munster fans to pay in to shout for us considering their own team will be playing there the weekend after.

Of course our home quarter final will be played in Thomond as the Sportsground doesn't meet EPCR regulations.

At the Connacht meeting in Nui Willie was asked would we be moving for the big games- He said No-they wouldn't be home games then..
Rock on Willie

connachta wrote: If we don't want to be considered as the poor relation of Irish rugby anymore...

...we should rely on one of the more established (not richer atm) provinces lending us their stadium?? :huh:

That makes absolutely no sense to me, and realistically there's no way we'd come close to filling it, for any game.

The night in Galway when Toulouse first visited was described by one bar manager as being like the busiest New Year's ever. The bars restaurants and other companies in Galway kept the show going funding wise in the bad times and are still doing their bit in the good.

Taking business of that order and giving it to Limerick - and that's what moving a big game to Thomond amounts to - would be an unforgivable slap in the face to the business community in the west.

Note the Connacht took on board an "unnecessary" expense in flying in and out of Knock for the final, aware that PR and long-term strategy trump match-by-match bean counting.

In Connachta's defence moving the semi to Limerick was floated in the media and not denied by Ruane as an option, but so were other complete non runners like McHale Park. These should be seen in the context of putting political pressure on clueless city councillors, who are currently hell bent on moving us to a site which is several metres below Galway Bay, not as viable options.

Next time someone mentions moving a Connacht game to Thomond, ask them if Munster, who are financially in more dire straits thsn anyone, should move the Maori game to Lansdowne?