Hi guys,
Utterly fantastic pod. For a man about to turn 32 it’s a great Segway into middle age. I can happily stop scouring Spotify for music I think makes me seem cool and instead happily enjoy the well educated opinions/great subjective, emotional rants of Ugo and Chris whilst I walk my dog!
If you allow me, I’m going to use this space to chuck my 5 pence in about the Bilbao Finals.
As a Welshman living in Madrid, a few weeks ago, I got a bit frustrated at Ugo’s appraisal of awarding of the Bilbao Finals. Having booked my accommodation, admittedly in a guys spare room, and travelled easily on bus from Madrid - Bilbao, I felt it was unfair to suggest the locals were fleecing the incoming tourists was unfair.
Sadly, upon arrival, my mind was changed.
I’ve lived, and played rugby, in Spain for 5 years, and no one was more excited than me to see our great sport brought here.
But, after hearing all the anecdotes from fellow fans about camping in a school, taking a 10 hour bus from Toulouse and paying 40€ for a 10 min cab ride, I think EPRC have got this one wrong.
I love the idea of attempting to grow the game worldwide, but only in places where they can guarantee a spectacular event. Last night I saw a tepid ‘30,000’ watch the Blues beat Gloucester in one of the games of the season. Unfortunately, the girl taking selfies and the lads behind me desperately trying to start a Mexican wave didn’t agree.
Last year over 50000 saw Georgia lose to Romania. Spain average around 8-10 thousand per Home game. The interest simply isn’t here to fulfil a huge European weekend of rugby. Nor the infrastructure. Why they didn’t choose a better connected city like Madrid or Barcelona, I don’t know.
My overriding feeling, sadly, is that due to the lack of flights, hotels and ease of access, many rugby fans from England, Ireland, wales and France have missed out.
Sorry to put a negative spin on what usually is a great, upbeat podcast, but as I said, I’m entering middle age, and moaning is what I plan to do from now on.
If I’m lucky enough to have any of this read out, please feel free to cut and paste the ramble as you see fit.
Keep up the striking work guys.
Idris from Madrid.
