The first division of the English league has produced two more coaching casualties this week: Bob Dwyer and Willie Anderson gone from Leicester and London Irish, respectively. Were their departures surprising? No, the rumblings had been about for a while. There will be a few more to come in the near future.
The circumstances under which Dwyer and Anderson lost their jobs bore all the hallmarks of what has long been happening in English soccer. We had all the platitudes from the owners about how good both Dwyer and Anderson are, but they were patently considered not to be good enough.
London Irish are no different from any other English club, it is not about an Irish identity, it is about business. Anderson succeeded the current England coach, Clive Woodward, at London Irish. Now Anderson is succeeded by a former England coach, Dick Best.
Best is a stated advocate of bringing in foreign players, as he demonstrated at Harlequins before he got the sack. His appointment is until the end of the season. Will he be there next season or will it be Bob Dwyer? I wonder how the Irish players at Sunbury will get along with Best. He is a man of resolute opinions who is not afraid to back up his beliefs with concrete actions.
Meanwhile, let us hope the lessons of what has happened at London Irish are not lost here and let us hope that what is happening in England generally is thoroughly absorbed in Ireland by all concerned. It is high time that the special position the London Irish club has enjoyed with the IRFU is terminated.
The manner in which so many members of the Ireland squad are under the control of English club owners, including London Irish, is disturbing. Ireland's dismal recent international record has caused many a finger to be pointed. Attempts to blame someone for our own failings is a notable Irish characteristic, but Irish rugby is a question of collective responsibility. As I have said before, the IRFU and the branches are easy enough targets. We should look across the channel to see at least some of the problems in relation to the Ireland team.
When the game went professional, the English clubs, taken over by businessmen, looked around the globe and brought in players from 14 countries. The difficulties that ensued have been immense, here and elsewhere.
In the first year of the European Cup, Leinster reached the semi-final and lost to Cardiff in a match that the province could well have won. Cardiff subsequently lost very narrowly to Toulouse in the final. That season, a dreadful decision by the referee cost Munster victory over Castres in France, and with it, a place in the semi-final.
What was significant about the inaugural European Cup was that the English clubs did not compete and, a very crucial issue that should now be borne in mind, very few of the Irish squad were based in England. Enter the English clubs last season, by which time the Irish player drain to England had reached quite a flow. Richard Wallace, Paul Wallace and Paddy Johns went to Saracens; Paul Burke and David Corkery to Bristol; David Humphreys, Niall Woods, Niall Hogan, Gabriel Fulcher, Kieron Dawson, Victor Costelloe, Malcolm O'Kelly, Jeremy Davidson and Ken O'Connell all went to London Irish. Jonathan Bell was at Northampton, where hooker Allan Clarke was also based, while Nick Popplewell had initially set the trend by moving from Wasps to Newcastle and became Ireland's first full-time professional player. Eddie Halvey had a brief stay with Saracens before returning last season to Shannon. Newcastle's Ross Nesdale's Irish ancestry was uncovered and he was brought into the squad - and he is a very good player - and Kevin Maggs was recruited from Bristol.
This season, Mark McCall moved from Dungannon to London Irish. David Erskine, meanwhile, was with Sale, Brian Cusack went to Bath. Darragh O'Mahony went to Moseley, an English second division club, last season, so too did Henry Hurley, as did Martin Ridge, who has subsequently returned to Old Belvedere. Ben Cronin and Brian Walsh went to Orrell this season.
Last season, despite assurances from some of the English clubs, many of those players were ruled out of the Irish provincial teams for the European Cup and London Irish, in particular, "distinguished" themselves by their attitude. And this despite the fact that many players were not with clubs competing in this competition.
This season, the vast majority of those players mentioned above, with the exceptions of Halvey and Costello, who returned to St Mary's College during the course of last season, were ruled out for the Irish provinces. Thirteen of the 17 players Ireland used against Scotland a fortnight ago were English-based.
There was a belief that the departures to England would make all those men better players, the evidence to support that is scarcely very convincing. Players such as O'Shea, Maggs, Corkery, Humphreys, Hogan, McCall, Fulcher, O'Kelly, and Dawson are playing with clubs in England that are being beaten week after week in the English League.
The game in England is in a constant state of controversy. Players are being put on the transfer list - witness Simon Mason at Richmond - with or without their consent - witness the fact that the Moseley club has just made 12 players redundant. Over half the English first division clubs and quite a few with the second division have been sacked or resigned within the last 18 months. These include the Ireland coach Brian Ashton.
That is English first division rugby and the men who control it also control the vast majority of the Ireland team. Bearing in mind all those facts, and they are facts not opinions, how in heaven's name can anyone here be happy with that situation? Some of the clubs in Ireland have suffered greatly by losing experienced players so few of whom have produced evidence that their moves have been in any way beneficial. How significant that Shannon, who did not lose a single player other than Halvey for a brief period, stand at the top of the first division of the AIB League.
Every possible effort must be made to get as many of those players as possible back to Irish domestic rugby and out of the seedy English scene. Every possible incentive must be given to keep our young and talented players at home. An amendment to the structure of the AIB League beyond the reduction of the first division from 14 to 12 clubs next season, must be at least a part of the process. It was truly heart warming to watch Garryowen and Shannon last Sunday. It was a tremendous match that proved just how valuable and good the league could really be if we could keep our players at home. I will return to the subject.
