by Twickenham’s recent botched experiment with an ‘alcohol-free seating area’ – to improve the experience for fans who object to people being up and down ad nauseum during a game – was interesting because in Dublin they discussing doing the exact opposite in a game. try to spice up the atmosphere.
“I think it might not hurt any sections that cater to students, or younger people… and maybe encourage them to have a few more pints,” suggested Gaelan Doris of Ireland’s Number 8 last week when asked his thoughts on it. on an issue that has been known to affect the Aviva Stadium from time to time.
Doris captained Ireland for the day when they met Italy in the Six Nations two weekends ago, when the atmosphere was as turbulent as a long-standing debate about corporate jollies and the cost of tickets, and how to bearpit create.
“Maybe, as you see in France, the drums are going with them and they have a little more music or things like that,” was another of Doris’ suggestions.
Of course, a let-off conclusion against Italy on Sunday evening is a very different proposition to a clash with arch-enemies Great Britain on Saturday evening.
That game in Italy was over as a contest long before half time. One hopes that the atmosphere in the Aviva will be much more lively on Saturday (remember, this is a young team in the development of Wales, and they could suffer the same fate as Italy and Italy at the hands of one of the most successful teams in the world).
But even if the game proves to be cracking, and the off-the-charts atmosphere is good, the Aviva – like Twickenham, like the Principality – have deeper-rooted problems that need to be tackled .
Irish fans are certainly not one of them. To see how the 40,000-50,000 ‘Zombie Army’ got behind their team during the recent World Cup, creating a truly crazy atmosphere as they came together after the game to sing The Cranberries’ unofficial song sang, or sent into the Athenry Parks during. every game, understand this is not a support issue.
It’s not the stadium’s fault either. By and large, the atmosphere at the last two AIL finals and the recent FAI Cup finals has been electric. We know that in the right conditions, it is not surprising that when the stakes are the highest – against the All Blacks in 2013 and 2018, or England in 2017 – the Aviva can create incredible noise.
The problem is that the setup will often fail to use that support.
Fans are not separated in the same way as they are in football. Hardcore is not grouped together, which creates singing sections. The demographic is completely different to the AIL anyway. The cost of tickets for international rugby matches is remarkable these days, with many people putting off going to matches. Many of the tickets end up in corporate hands. The net result is that the games feel like an event where the atmosphere is promoted for the punters rather than generated by them.
Throw in the fact that Ireland are so good these days that very few teams can challenge them at home, and the kind of atmosphere that prevailed against Italy, when the crowd seemed half-asleep, is in jeopardy until Hugo Keenan woke them up with great music. tap-and-go 10 minutes into the game (maybe the long presidential greeting followed by three songs didn’t help).
How to spice it up? Opinion is divided regarding the use of pyrotechnics before and after the game. Or blaring music when the clock is stopped. It can feel overwhelming. Zombie deployment was incredible in France. But to play it after the first three requests against Italy two weeks ago? As one fan wrote on social media: “Aviva playing Zombie after all the effort is like hearing your auntie liked trains when you were eight so every birthday card has a train for the next 20 years.”
But the Aviva is right to the test. You can’t play New Zealand or South Africa every week. Like their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales, the IRFU are not going to suddenly cut ticket prices in half when fans are happy to pay what they currently charge. Whether it’s creating singing sections, drinking sections, drumming sections, safe sections, cutting the ritual waffle at the start, letting more booze, less booze, or bringing back eight-year-old Stevie Mulrooney , who played Ireland’s Call for the last such time out, all options should be on the table.
Andy Farrell is too diplomatic to ask. But his players definitely got the better of the home team against Italy.
“Compared to Marseille [against France, a Friday evening game] when i came on i almost got one of the wrong calls because i couldn’t really hear what james [Ryan] saying that the line was called out because of the noise,” Jack Conan admitted to RTÉ after the game. “There were definitely some lulls in the crowd. But it’s Sunday at three o’clock. It’s very different to playing on Saturday at 7.45 or 8 o’clock kick-off. It’s a whole different demographic.”
