Is it right to embrace rugby as our new national sport?

Over the last few years, I've come to respect Niall Francis' writing. I don't always agree with him, but he's had a few interesting pieces that I've genuinely enjoyed reading.

With that said, his most recent article in the Sunday Independent - The people are embracing rugby as our new national sport - and rightly so - was a return to the type of writing that used to make me turn the page as soon as I read his name on the byline.

Right from the opening line - "Is it too easy to pen an 'aren't we great' article the week after collecting a Grand Slam?" I really did fear the worst. I did wonder that if this was too easy, why didn't he write something else?

To be fair, the first half of the article contains some fair points - rising TV ratings and attendances at games point to an increased interest, but still far from the "the nations' game". According to the 2015 Irish Sports Monitor ERSI report, rugby has six times less participation than soccer, and more than half as much as gaelic football. I had to read the sentence "He[Dylan Hartley] has a bigger rap sheet than Jay-Z." several times, and it still didn't make sense, is he saying the England captain has been found guilty of more crimes than the rap mogul? Frankly, I'm more surprised he knows who Jay-Z is than anything else.

The number of women who watch rugby union in this country is incredible. The number of women in the Aviva on match day. The number who travel. Their knowledge and ability to speak authoritatively is impressive. Mná na hÉireann find the game attractive and entertaining. The social aspect is good too.

I wonder if he knows they can vote now too? In seriousness, even without the events of this week, this is patronising in the extreme.

Strange that a 'minority' sport in this country can command a television audience in excess of 1.3 million.

I watch the FAI struggle with their player supply. Some obscure 20-somethings born in England of Irish parents playing fitfully and inconsistently for second division clubs. Jack Grealish of Aston Villa and Liam Kelly of Reading. Why are the FAI battling with the FA for the loyalty of these boys if they want to play for England? Nobody on this island knows who they are. A majority of our soccer team live and play for English championship sides. A minority play for Premier League sides - a tiny minority decent Premier League sides.

I've often wondered what audience some of the sports with higher participation rates would get if they were televised. Hi Ryle! Maybe Francis should ask around the Independent's office about Liam Kelly, they've been writing about him since November 2013 - Liam Kelly's wondergoal from the halfway line! If nothing else, he might have learned that the FAI aren't "battling with the FA" for Jack Grealish, his international allegiance was decided two years ago. Another lesson waiting to be learned was that six of the team that started against Turkey (note - a majority) play in the Premier League, and half of those (Coleman, Long and Hendrick) are currently in the top ten. Decent.

I look at hurling, which is a great game to watch, but for the last 50 years Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary have won practically every All-Ireland. Hurling is a parochial sport, what are the other 29 counties doing when these counties are strutting their stuff? How pleasing is it for the rest of the country when Kilkenny win another All-Ireland? How inclusive a sport is it that no more than seven counties in total can ever hope to win an All-Ireland? What percentage of the population is that? Can we say right now that hurling is the people's game on this island? I don't think so.

Turns out that 14 of the last 50 All Ireland Hurling titles (28%) have not been won by the trinity he mentions there. It must come as a great disappointment ot Francis that current champions Galway are not one of Kilkenny, Cork and Tipperary. Coincidentally seven is the same number of schools that have won the Leinster senior cup since the dawn of the new millennium - and one of those (Blackrock) has won the title more times than every other winner combined. How pleasing is it to the rest of the schools when Neill's alma mater lift the title once again?

Ireland, given the talent at their disposal, do remarkably well in the round-ball game. Gritty and competitive but just truly awful to watch. The match against Turkey on Friday night was only a friendly. Who watched? Who cared? I am as patriotic as the next guy when it comes to interest in any team wearing green. The extent of my interest though is tuning in after the final whistle to listen to Eamon Dunphy and Liam Brady. Soccer is a world sport but we cannot compete with any of the top sides and we never win anything, nor are we likely to either.

I wonder how many will watch and care about the upcoming rugby summer tour to Australia? Francis should have listened to the next patriot wearing green, he might have learned that neither Dunphy nor Brady provided the post match analysis after the recent friendly against Turkey. In recent years, Martin O'Neill's side have defeated World Champions, and number one ranked side, Germany at Aviva stadium 1-0. Top side Italy were also beaten 1-0 in Euro 2016 - the latter result meaning that the Republic of Ireland are one of only three sides to beat Italy in both the World Cup and European Championships. As recently as October, Euro 2016 semi finalists Wales were put to the sword, in their own backyard no less. Finally, the Republic of Ireland are the current (and probably permanent) Nations Cup champions.

I look around and see what is happening and I see what the kids are interested in, I see the national interest, I see the television figures, I see the sell-out crowds and the evidence of the sustained and broad appeal and it suggests strongly to me that rugby suits the Irish psyche and its attraction and success have more than just caught the imagination. We are now following suit with New Zealand in welcoming it as our national game.

New Zealand's last home rugby international of 2017 drew a crowd of 30,021 to watch the All Blacks trounce South Africa 57-0 in September. Their soccer equivalents added 7,000 to that figure for a 0-0 draw against Peru two months later. We might want to have a word with the locals about what their national game is.

Further reading, some of Francis' columns I have enjoyed reading
Obsession with weights not such a hip fashion
What do we consider an acceptable price to be paid in later life for traumas we put our bodies through?