IRF Off: Connacht's fight for survival and the foundation myth of a rugby Identity

Date
2017-08-24Author
Cooke, Ruadhán
Ó Cofaigh, Éamon
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Cooke, Ruadhán, & Ó Cofaigh, Éamon. (2017). IRF Off: Connacht’s Fight for Survival and the Foundation Myth of a Rugby Identity. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 34(3-4), 201-216. doi: 10.1080/09523367.2017.1359162
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Abstract
Last of the four provincial branches to be formed in 1885, Connacht
has always been fourth among equals in the pecking order of
Irish rugby. In the late 1990s, spiralling costs associated with the
administration of a game that was no longer amateur prompted the
Irish Rugby Football Union to assess the viability of its constituent
parts and to implement radical cost-cutting strategies, resulting in
advanced plans to disband Connacht as a professional entity at the
end of the 2002/2003 season. The response to the threat of extinction
crystallized into an unprecedented movement of resistance which
mobilized the western rugby community, garnered support from
wider society and earned the backing of a number of senior political
figures, culminating in the now famous March on Lansdowne Road
in January 2003. By the end of the month, it was announced officially
that the IRFU would not proceed with its plans to disband Connacht.
This article will revisit the near-death experience of 2002/2003, analyse
the narrative and dynamics of the protest movement and consider
the broader and lasting significance of the successful campaign to
save Connacht Rugby, particularly in respect of regional identity and
collective identification.