February 8th, 2013 
Rob 
Cill Dara RFC will put on a big show on Saturday for the All Ireland Final, have no doubt about that.
A great club with a long tradition of welcoming visiting clubs and their supporters to finals at all levels at the venue including the 2007 Towns Cup final between Navan and Skerries.
Yet we have to ask, is a provincial club’s ground the right venue for an All Ireland Cup final going forward?
For those of you who haven’t experienced a Towns Cup final at a provincial venue, have no doubt that the Leinster Branch’s system of using provincial club grounds to host each final is a fantastic one and usually works very well. Portarlington put on a fine show last year hosing over 3,000 supporters.
So the decision makers who needed to find a location for this year’s All Ireland final probably thought, “We have two Leinster teams in the final, why not create a Towns Cup feel to it all and pick a venue that is geographically neutral.”
Many will say that the Towns Cup is unique and a national competition is completely different, therefore attempting to replicate one in the other is pointless.
The All Ireland Junior Cup competition is on the verge of becoming a national treasure for Junior clubs after just seven years. It has slotted into the calendar very well and generates huge excitement within small clubs all around the country. The missing link, is a showpiece big day and venue to help ensure that all clubs continue to strive for success in it and which will help give it a unique selling point.
The English FA open up Wembley for the FA Vase and Trophy finals giving thousands of clubs the very small but very real opportunity of getting to play there, the GAA do the exact same thing with Junior and Intermediate All Ireland finals at all grades, the RFU in England use Twickenham for numerous grassroots yet since the redevolpment the Aviva Stadium has not been used in similar fashion.
It’s clear in many ways that the IRFU are fully behind this competition. This year’s president, Billy Glynn was in Kanturk last month for the semi finals, the coverage last year included a live online stream of the final with full commentary and they reportedly have strongly resisted all calls for reducing it in size or moving it in the calendar.
That’s all brilliant but the question has to be asked. Is all the above good work being undone when major venues are not considered for events like this?
Some closing questions.
- The Aviva Stadium is used the by the FAI for their national cup final why can’t the Ulster Bank Senior and Junior Cup finals be also considered?
- Thomond Park, Ravenhill, Musgrave Park and the RDS all hold major club and school games throughout the season, could they not be considered in future for Junior Cup finals?
- Tallaght Stadium is being used for Schools games this year. Is there any reason why it could it not be used for a final like this.?
By Rob Murphy
Posted in
Hi Rob,
Good article/question
I think there’s merit in both approaches. For a junior
Player it’s nice kudos to get to play in one of
The big grounds. Having said that when the game
Kicks off all that counts is the pitch and the action
On it. Nothing worse than a big ground like
Musgrave park in our case nearly empty for a big
Match. Our Junior Challenge Cup Final is on in
St Mary’s as you know – fine ground and a chance
For junior clubs to showcase their facilities.
If I had a choice I would go down the latter route
Better overall for atmosphere etc
Kieran Fitzgerald
Kanturk RFC
Your argument for hosting an All-Ireland Junior Cup final in the national stadium has merit. It also has a downside as Kieran points out, and that is the vast number of empty seats that would probably exist lending absolutely no atmosphere to the day, which in turn would deflate the show case event and that would be both unfair and disappointing on supporters, players and administrators.
I agree with you that having this years All-Ireland Junior Cup final in a Leinster club venue is probably not the correct decision, although Cill Dara RFC would probably disagree. Other options that you mentioned, such as the RDS, Musgrave Park, Thomand, The Sportsgrounds et al are good suggestions too. The same issue as using the Aviva could still remain, a lack of atmosphere.
Perhaps a possible solution would be to use a Senior club venue, as in a Division 1a/1b club. Examples: Dubarry Park, Athlone. Dooradoyle, Limerick. Old Belevedere, Dublin 4. Belfast Harlequins RFC, Antrim. There is a venue from each Provence. Each well capable of handling large crowds of 3,000+, the atmosphere created by the supporters would be electric and as an extra bonus, the visiting committee members from the Junior clubs could have a lunch with the committee members of the Senior club in question and it could become an opportunity for the Junior clubs to ask questions of the Senior club in terms of administration, facilities, logistics, infrastructure, under age development, etc..
The IRFU and/or the respective branches could provide a speaker on the day to cover a specific topic that would benefit all three clubs (host club and two competing clubs). That way, one club goes away with a trophy, but three clubs go away with valuable information that may help growth within the respective club and the host club has an opportunity to gain extra revenue.
In conclusion, the essence of my argument is prestige vs. practicality. The players don’t care, they are playing in an All-Ireland final regardless of location. But having this as a gala event in the Junior rugby calendar it needs to move forward onto bigger stages, but not too big and I am not being disconcerting to anyone by making that statement. Plus, the IRFU always look at the bottom line, the cost of opening the Aviva for a game vs. the gate receipts taken in wouldn’t add up, even if they wanted to do it purely as a good will gesture, it isn’t going to happen. Then again, you’ll never reach the moon if you don’t aim for the stars!
I think the players, clubs deserve their shot at playing in the big provincial ground.
The Munster youths u17/19 finals have been played in Thomond Park in recent years which was great
While it doesnt look great at times games on in big stadiums when there is not a huge crowd in attendance but that can be worked on for future years.
In the past every north munster underage final and many munster underage finals were played in Thomond Park but now none or very very few are. Thats a real shame.
The top grounds should not be just for the pro teams and schools cup finals.
Playing munster finals in Thomond, irish finals in the Aviva etc may be players one and only chance to run onto the same field that the pro players, that they see on television every week, play on.
In every other country its the norm to get to a final a play in a big stadium..
Twickenham and the Millenium Stadium regularly hold club finals so why cant be we do it in Ireland..
In Scotland they play off all the divisional finals in one day in Murrayfield, guaranteeing a big crowd and a bit of atmosphere