OPINION: That's entertainment? Why modern sport is a turn-off

By Shane Curran

Watching the Irish rugby team in action against England in the Six Nations recently, I was struck by the sight of our own Robbie Henshaw, one of the best centres in the world, wearing a scrum cap.

It's no wonder Robbie was wearing one, because his role in the team appears to have become that of a battering ram - someone whose function is to drive right through the opposition.

And it seems to me that this reliance on brute force rather than style or craft is an issue not just for rugby but for many other sports too.

The Irish team has been getting plenty of plaudits for the victory against England, but the win was not one I could get excited about. I have great admiration for rugby players, but the game itself has become a terrible bore. 

These days the big sporting occasions - whether we're talking about rugby, soccer, hurling, or Gaelic football - are all offering less and less in terms of entertainment value.

Winning, or at least avoiding defeat, has become everything. What's lost is the quality of the game and the enjoyment of the supporters.

When I look at rugby today and compare it to when I was in my teens, or 20s, or 30s, there is no comparison. Where are the players, the likes of a Brian O'Driscoll or Tony Ward, with the ability to produce a moment of inspiration and get the crowd off their seat?

The current Irish team has often struggled to win away from home, aside from the odd challenge match like the win over New Zealand in America.

In rugby the coach controls the game, and it baffles me that Joe Schmidt is up there on such a pedestal among rugby people. Over the course of the Six Nations tournament the English coach, Eddie Jones, impressed me a lot more with his approach, despite the fact that his team was ultimately stopped from winning the Grand Slam (though they did win the Six Nations title) by the defensive tactics of the Irish.

Someone like Pat Lam at Connacht might not win every game but at least his approach is true to the principles of the game.

Gaelic football, I'm sorry to say, is now just rugby with a round ball. On St Patrick's Day, we had Dr Crokes (Kerry) beating Slaughtneil (Derry), by 1-9 to 1-7, in the All-Ireland club football final in Croke Park.

A stupid retaliation by a Slaughtneil player resulted in a sending off and might have cost his team the game. Kerry is a county renowned for the quality of the Gaelic footballers it produces, but I thought Dr Crokes were very poor.

The last 15 minutes of this final was like a soccer match when one team is three-nil or four-nil up. It was just a case of hold onto the ball, hold onto the ball, pass it backwards. It was terrible to watch.

I know people were talking about how nice it was to see Colm Cooper - 'the Gooch' - win his first All Ireland club medal. Of course he is a great player on his day, but I worry about how many Gooches we are going to see coming through the ranks in the years to come.

There are people who say hurling is the best field game in the world, but they don't even promote it properly in this country and, as a result, there are a handful of counties capable of playing the sport at the highest level.

In soccer, Chelsea are running away with the English Premier League and it's atrocious to watch. How many truly top-quality players are there in the Premier League? Are there any?

What I see in the league is a whole lot of mediocrity disguised as talent. Spectators, myself included, can often tell which way a match is going to go before it happens.

The way players are coached instils them with a fear of losing, and that affects everything. Gone are the days of the street footballers. It's no accident that the best soccer players in the world are from South America, where they came up from poor backgrounds and had no other option but to express themselves through their play.

The ironic thing about teams in various codes that go out with a negative or defensive gameplan is that they often end up losing the game anyway! They bore the crowd and frequently go home with nothing to show for it. It's a lose-lose scenario.

As far as I'm concerned, the Ireland-England contest that really mattered this month was not the one in the Six Nations but the one at Cheltenham.

And in the Sport of Kings, Ireland came out with a resounding 19-9 victory, in terms of winners.

Maybe we should all stick with the horses. At least we can be sure that they won't be coached into a corner and told to only use three of their legs, rather than four!