Being a Rugby League fan in Ireland

The Emerald Isle is hardly a hotbed of RL

Ireland is a charming place in the eyes of many. Whether you go to the North or the South you are often greeted with a warm welcome, a cup of tea and a smile. The weather might be awful but they make up for it with roaring fires and piping hot roast dinners.
Unfortunately after a pretty exhaustive search (a quick glance) to find a partner from Widnes I had to concede that I would need to look further afield. It was during my University years that I met my wife almost 7 years ago. As we got more serious it was decided that it would be most sensible for us to set up life near her home, the Northern Irish border in County Tyrone. For me personally, this was not a huge deal. I'm not a homebody and I have lived away from home before without getting particularly homesick. However, for most people that knew me one question repeatedly came up.

How are you going to cope without Rugby League?

For anybody that knows me, they know that my greatest passion is Rugby League. It usually doesn't take much of a leap for people to realise that Rugby League isn't played to a great extent in Ireland. I say great extent because most knowledgeable RL fans are aware that the game is played in Ireland, just not in as nearly big a way as the north of England. So really I was left with a few options. 

Giving up Rugby League 

No chance, like giving up breathing or beer. 

Getting involved in Irish Rugby League 

This would of course seem the most obvious route for a fan to take. After all, I left England being involved with an amateur club so it would make sense to get involved with an amateur club in Ireland. The RL scene is pretty small over here and the clubs aren't clubs in the same sense but this is of course not a problem. The bigger issue is the location. Whilst Ulster and Ireland has a small league of teams, I couldn't be further from a team. The clubs themselves tend to be centred around Dublin and Belfast and the closest team to myself is comfortably over an hour away. Whilst I may make a visit during the season, the season is painfully short and the distance makes it impractical. I once made contact with the RLI about the possibility of a team around Derry/Londonderry they mistook my interest for a declaration that I was willing to start my own club! Erm not quite yet I'm afraid. I admire the sort of people that can do this but unfortunately I'm not one.  

Getting Involved in a Different Sport

Many people that move away from a RL hotbed are often reluctantly drawn towards other sports. The most obvious example being Rugby Union. Whether we like to admit it or not the games are similar enough to get enjoyment out of both. Trying my hand at Rugby Union could be classed as a consolation prize. Whilst the profile of Rugby Union is good over here on TV and popular amongst people that you meet, the actual number of clubs is quite small especially in the area I am in. For instance I live in a town approximately half the size of Widnes but it has just 1 Rugby Union club and this is small. So Union is smaller where I am now than it is in Widnes, a RL hotbed. Although I haven't actively looked, I have never seen Rugby being played over here, either officially or casually. If I have children over here I wouldn't be averse to taking them to the local Union club (with a view to their being a high profile switch in later life). Touch Rugby is apparently big in Ireland and this being similar to Touch RL I enquired about it, but it doesn't seem to be particularly concrete and quite informal. 

Following Rugby League From Afar

This is the option I have currently been left with and to be honest I haven't found it that bad. Whilst I haven't met a fan in person over here, the internet makes things a lot easier to still follow the game and as a result I haven't found it that different to being in Widnes. Twitter and the Rugby League forums such as TotalRL.com ensures that it is still easy to talk about RL albeit in a different way. The only thing really missing if face to face discussion about RL, so it's not all bad. Sky Sports is of course a great help and I'm not sure how easy it would be living somewhere where you could not watch RL. I also suspect that in the past many had to largely give up their love for Rugby League due to lack of availability. 

It is of course poignant tonight that the Super League season starts and whilst I will obviously be envious of those attending Widnes' first game, I will still be pretty comfortable in front of the stove and with the TV up loud. The only difference from watching at home is that I'll have my phone in my hand, texting or tweeting away. 

So in summary, it's probably not as hard as you would expect being a RL fan in a distant land. It just takes a bit of adjustment and positivity. The reality is that I haven't had to give RL up so I should be grateful for that and take the opportunity I have now. Plus it will mean those times that I can get home to watch a game will be all the more special.