Gerry Thornley: Are the Munster faithful beginning to lose the faith?

It’s a strange state of affairs when what appears to be the most alarmingly low attendance of the United Rugby Championship this season also happens to be the competition’s highest crowd of the campaign to date. Maybe that could only happen to Munster.

Of course, the official attendance for last Saturday’s derby against Leinster, which was given as 20,657, undoubtedly included absentee season ticket holders, of whom there are 6,000 in total. While many of us there felt the number of spectators at Thomond Park was a good deal less, Munster themselves believe there were 18,000-19,000 in actual attendance.

Whatever about all of that, the official attendance eclipsed the 19,419 for Leinster’s URC seasonal opener against the Bulls at the Aviva Stadium, even if that looked a more credible figure, as well as the 19,000-plus at Loftus Versfeld for last Saturday’s Bulls-Ulster match, which was swelled by ticket prices of €1.55.

At face value, last Saturday’s less-than-full attendance at their citadel looks quite alarming, specifically for Munster themselves and potentially also for this fixture, the competition and maybe even the provincial end-of-season run-in.

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After all, the sides hadn’t met since last May, and the last time that crowds were permitted for a Munster-Leinster derby was for the Christmas meeting in Thomond Park in December 2019. Then, as with all previous Thomond Park derbies between the two, there had been a 26,267 capacity. Saturday at 7pm on a pleasant spring evening also looked tailormade for a bigger attendance than was the case.

The annual meeting in Thomond Park over the festive period is a particularly popular date, with so many expats home for Christmas

Furthermore, time was when Munster-Leinster was the best-attended non-international fixture in the world, attracting as it did a then club record attendance of 80,000-plus to Croke Park for the 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final, and regular capacity crowds at the old and new Lansdowne Road as well as Thomond Park and the RDS.

Different answers

If you asked 12 different people at the game last Saturday night why the attendance appeared to be relatively low, you had a dozen different answers. Most probably, if you asked 20 different people you’d have had 20 different answers.

For starters, when this fixture was originally scheduled for St Stephen’s Day last December, it had long since been a sell-out. The annual meeting in Thomond Park over the festive period is a particularly popular date, with so many expats home for Christmas and eager to avail of potentially their only opportunity to see Munster in a given year.

Last Saturday’s revised date, which was when Leinster were scheduled to host Munster at the Aviva Stadium, was only agreed upon in late February. This is significant. Any of the provinces will say that the longer they have to market and sell a game, the bigger the take-up of tickets.

Perhaps the most overriding factor is that, in contrast to previous years, the game was on terrestrial television, and specifically on RTÉ. That obviously gives interested supporters the opportunity to watch for free at home or with friends in the pub.

Furthermore, the Thomond Park clash (kick-off 7pm) also clashed with the all-Munster Division One Allianz Hurling League final between Waterford and Cork in Thurles (throw-in 7.15pm) which, in addition, was also on terrestrial TV, namely TG4.

The option of terrestrial television is all the more pertinent in the midst of the post-pandemic economic times we live in, and specifically the sharp increase in fuel prices over the last two years.

Distance

This factor is particularly pertinent given the distance some Munster supporters are obliged to travel to attend games at Thomond Park. Munster are different from the other provinces. The majority of season ticket holders are from outside Limerick. For those from west Cork, who might be inclined to support the Coombes and Wycherley brothers et al, it is virtually a six-hour round trip to Thomond Park, which is all the less appealing for a 7pm kick-off.

And while a 7pm Saturday night kick-off might be more appealing for Limerick-based supporters, you’d have to wonder if the relative absence of Limerick-reared players – only Conor Murray and Keith Earls of last Saturday’s match-day 23 fell into this category – has become a factor at all.

A bigger factor may have been Covid, with one former player saying that about six of his mates could not attend the game as they had tested positive

In any case, Munster have been making entreaties to RTÉ for fewer night-time kick-offs, having only had one mid-afternoon kick-off this season.

The amount of Communions and Confirmations last Saturday has also been cited as a factor, and, judging by the parties in Matt the Threshers, that may have been a factor as well.

A bigger factor may have been Covid, with one former player saying that about six of his mates could not attend the game as they had tested positive.

The Munster hierarchy remain content with the attendance, noting that the last time this fixture was scheduled outside the festive period, in October 2013, the official attendance was 20,646. They also maintain that there was not an undue level of fatalism among their supporters about their prospects against Leinster, despite them winning 10 of the previous dozen encounters.

Nevertheless, after a trophy-less decade, you have to wonder if the faithful are, well, losing faith, particularly when it comes to meetings with their near and not so dear all-conquering neighbours.

Talking to three former players before kick-off, none were remotely optimistic about the chances of Munster ending their sequence of six League defeats in a row against Leinster, particularly after the teams were announced the day before.

Munster-Leinster fatigue

And, after a surfeit of six meetings during lockdowns, might there also be an element of Munster-Leinster fatigue?

A couple of diehard members of clubs in Munster also cite an increasing disconnect between them and the province.

The Euro second leg against Exeter next Saturday week will tell a tale. Ticket sales had been slow, but had ramped up to 16,000 as of Monday, and season tickets do not apply for Champions Cup games.

But, bearing in mind the slow take-off for Munster in particular when the All-Ireland has been coming to a conclusion in September, disconcertingly the URC runs into late June for the first time ever, and this in a year when the All-Ireland Championships have been brought forward to finish in July. Never before have the rugby season and the All-Ireland Championships overlapped to this extent.

Then throw in, as it were, that Limerick have a great hurling team right now, and last Saturday’s reduced attendance may well be a portent of things to come – and perhaps not just for Munster.

[ gthornley@irishtimes.com ]