Sir, – Rugby football has never had such a widespread appeal as it has today and I am at a loss to understand why.
I played in the Jack Kyle era and today’s game bears little resemblance to the game as it was then.
I watched the Ireland- France match on Saturday last and although there were a few exciting moments, in general I found it boring.
The sight of grossly over-developed human flesh wearing one colour, colliding with a similar bunch in another colour and, having gained or lost a metre or two, repeating the process, had no appeal for me.
Readers' letters (Mary Dundon and Rory O'Carroll, February 17th) and articles by your sports writers Brian O'Connor and Keith Duggan share my concern at the direction the game has taken. It was always a tough sport but is now a positively dangerous one.
The decline in rugby as a spectacle; the increasing injuries (some serious); the concern of parents of the danger to their offspring and the physical condition of the participants when their playing days are over, will lead to a downward trend in the game’s popularity.
When money and sport are combined the inevitable result is a distortion of the sports original purity. – Yours, etc, ROBERT BATES Delgany, Co Wicklow.