Probably came up before, but why do Munster sing....

Good question Wallflower. The problem is that they don't know the answer themselves. Very embarrassing as you say.

Probably cos all the Dub4 heads who follow Munster don't know The Banks!

Irish rugby always was an embarrassment.....rubbish national team.....and then had to pack club teams to compete in the Heineken cup.....

Not often I agree with Paulie but in this case I do, when Munster got to their first final against Biarritz you might as well have just given Munster the green jersey of Ireland, what was/is a club competition suddenly became another opportunity for the the small downtrodden nation of Ireland to parade its often nauseous displays of overt nationalism, most of the 75,000 crowd were made up of band wagoners from all the various provinces, a little pocket of Biarritz fans travelled to the game supporting their club, but the Irish came in their droves supporting their NATION.

All you have to do is look at the way OTT reaction to an Irish lady boxer winning an Olympic gold medal, probably the shortest price favourite in the whole Olympic games yet our reaction as a nation was as if Katie was just plucked off the street and thrown into the ring and told box, she was a stonewall certainty!.

Ole ole ole ole.....ole ole...

munster got to two finals before the Biarritz final.
Ye sound bitter lads with a bit of an inferiority complex.
Once the game went professional, the Irish game had to adopt.  Similar to Scottish and Welsh, the Irish provinces were identified as the correct size and profile to enter the European club competitions. If you compare like with like, there are still less populations feeder clubs and senior rugby players in Irish provinces than there are against Premier clubs in France and England.  The Irish provinces continue to over perform against clubs in France and England with far greater player pools and financial muscle.  Dont let those facts get in the way of your bitterness.

Good post by The Jolly.

Not really my game but some avid Munster fans near me and to counteract Silvergreasers argument they hate Leinster despite living less than ten miles from that border.

The Heineken Cup is an Irish success story and must be the best bit of sponsorship of recent times.

Sad they are trying to get rid of it.

I'm not bitter towards Munster at all.

I was merely commenting on the song which the fans have adopted which has nothing to do with Munster at all.

... agree with db1974, nothing to do with bitterness - don't really care.

Just commenting on the fact that it's a bit of a ridiculous song for Munster.....and it's a pity as well.

As I said, my suspicion is that it was just a carry on from the "Celtic onto Galway onto Irish Soccer onto Irish Rugby" line - and when Munster (like Leinster, Ulster, and now latterly Connacht) got a whole bunch of new supporters, given Rugby's increasing popularity, the "newbies" just started singing and chanting wherever song they knew.

Not a fan of the song anyway (bit of a dirge), but that's not the point - it would be far better or more appropriate they did something unique....pretty sure the old-timers and original hardcore support would agree.

The thing is between all the songs of Limerick, Cork, Clare (in particular), Tipperary, Kerry and  Waterford - they would have sh*tloads of songs to choose from and build into their support - and create something Munster-ish!

(Must confess I cringe a bit at our "ole, ole", "never beat the Irish" brigade... the "fields" is nearly as bad, but not quite).

the jolly.....what are ya on about.....irish provinces were identified as the correct size.....identified by who....the poxxy paddies.....that's who.....id say the people in clubs like Bath Saracens Leicester and Northampton hardly thought that.....
Typical paddy thing.....we are not worth a fukk at rugby.....but we'd like to play in this Heineken cup....what will we do....pack a few teams and off we go....
Similar to the soccer.....not worth a sausage at that either.....ok we will get a few English and anybody at all really to declare under some stupid rule....and then its ole ole ole.....and you'll never beat the irish.....you'll never beat the irish my whole..... townsend lawrenson cascarino Houghton Aldridge morris.....and a whole host of others.....ffs there were more non irish playing with them prikks than Irish ....and its still the same today...... walters Whelan mcgeady Wilson reid.....plus many many others....
id be less ashamed to be irish if they just played the people they should......same as the rugby.....theres nothing wrong with saying we aren't worth a fukk.....

You are quite mistaken, Paulie.

Several if not all of the defacto English/Welsh traditional 'club' sides are to all intents and purposes effectively provincial set-ups, with unofficial catchment areas and local feeder clubs/schools.

Take say the great 'club' side of Bath.  They would see Somerset,Dorset & Wiltshire as catchment areas. Players who play for Bath would first have to be be nominated by their schools, clubs, county coaches or scouted by Bath staff.  You don't just rock up with a bag over you shoulder as you would at say an Irish 'club'.

Ozy......that is not a valid likeness in all fairness.....the big clubs in Ireland 20 years ago would be the likes of Garryowen....Cork Con....Young Munster to name but a few.....those teams would have had players of smaller clubs from outside the cities.....for example if you were any good at rugby and you lived in croom....well then you left them and went into Garryowen.....the same way Bath got players from the teams you mentioned.....
But in the Heineken cup....the irish have pooled their best clubs to form munster and leinster.....teams with rivalries going back decades like Garryowen and young munster have lost their identities.....their best players play with each other nowadays......
What would the Irish say if.....Bath Saracens London Irish and a few others amalgamated and called themselves Southern England.....

Paulie, 

You cannot equate a player going from from Croom to Garryowen with a player going from a feeder club to Bath.  The correct comparison is a player going from Garryowen to Munster.  That is the level Engish 'club' sides were and are at, i.e Provincial Level.

As such, it was clear that top Irish clubs could not compete with English 'clubs' and the correct representatives from Ireland were the Provincial sides.  And to begin with they were very uncompeditive indeed.

It is a huge shame of course that the Irish club game is increasingly irrelevant.  A victim of the professinal era.


This graph will give you an idea ofhow limited playing numbers are in Ireland;

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-yeSN53py7PI/TmXJ4UMiD1I/AAAAAAAAAgs/54kHw_zo9AY/s1600/IRB+Player+Numbers.jpg

Ozy....I know what you are saying....but if irish clubs couldn't compete in a club competition then tough tomatoes I say.....why the need to move the goalposts to fit in paddy....I don't care what anybody says....I don't see how a team like Northampton is on a level playing field with the conglomerate that is Munster......

paulie did u go to school at all..the population of greater manchester is bigger than the whole of ireland..just something to think about re playing numbers etc.im not really a rugby man(gaa and racing)and agree with you totally re the soccer granny rule but ozy is totally right on the rugby

Paulie!

It's NOT A CLUB COMPETITION.  That's my whole point.  Bath or Northampton or whoever are not CLUB sides.

Bath and Northampton and the likes are clubs.....unlike Munster they have their own identities.....and more importantly their own ground......These English and French clubs play at the top level in club competition in their own countries.....Munster and leinster don't as they are not clubs......

Bath and Northampton and the likes are clubs.....unlike Munster they have their own identities.....and more importantly their own ground......These English and French clubs play at the top level in club competition in their own countries.....Munster and leinster don't as they are not clubs......

Irish teams have a fraction of the budgets that the French clubs have (on average €5/6M v €20+M) so a "club" like Toulon (with 3 starting native French players v Cardiff) can obviously buy success if their owner really wants to. 

Same thing cant happen in Ireland, so a whole load of c rap is sometimes spoken about the Irish teams not being the equivalent of the other teams (sorry "clubs") in the competition just because they don't represent one city. Rugby went fully professional in 1995, not in 2013/4.