This article reflects on the evolution of Irish rugby, particularly its transition from a sport with long breaks and casual professionalism to a highly competitive and demanding environment. The author draws upon personal experiences from his early days in the sport, highlighting the challenges and adjustments players faced in embracing the demands of a professional career.
Irish player management system was designed 20 years, when I was playing, and hasn’t evolved much since then. The Christmas holiday interprovincial series is a relatively new part of the festive calendar. My first taste of seasonal rugby was in 2004, a full five seasons into my professional career. We had a home match against Ulster where we squeezed a 9-8 win before losing to Munster in Musgrave Park on New Year’s Day.
Up to that point there were long breaks in the provincial calendar with the All-Ireland League taking up the slack. As the Celtic League grew in stature so did the fixture list, with derby matches an easy sell to fans as well as an opportunity for the national coach to see all the frontline players going toe-to-toe ahead of the Six Nations. There was great energy around these games, but professional rugby was still largely finding its feet in Ireland. It was still deemed a sacrifice to give up Christmas or travel to away matches when everyone else was enjoying themselves. There was still some learning required for players about what being professional meant, something that today’s generation take for granted. I had a head start on most of my team-mates in this regard, as I had my make-or-break moment just after the 1999 World Cup where a friend and team-mate said something to me during a feedback session organised by Matt Williams. He explained that I needed to understand that being a professional was more than just getting paid, it was about the decisions I made in and around the rugby environment and when nobody was watching, away from our peer group. At that time, what I was doing would have been classified as counterproductive. But the message landed and slowly over time I embraced the idea that you are what you do every day
RUGBY PROFESSIONALISM IRELAND CHRISTMAS SERIES EVOLUTION
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