Peter Bills: McBride fears money ruining baa-baas' magic
So where now for the Barbarians, Ireland's conquerors in Limerick last weekend but a tribe looking increasingly threatened by the passage of time?
Once, they played in a style so spectacular that untold numbers took to their game, lured by the sheer joie de vivre, the style and elan of their approach, the bliss of their philosophy founded as it was on pleasure for both participants and those watching.
But 1973 is an awful long way back in anyone's life, and especially the Barbarians'. Life and sports have changed; values espoused decades back have declined. This month's games against England and Ireland have rather underlined the point. And one of this unique, invitation rugby club's most esteemed sons shook his head in sadness.
"It was awful watching the game against England, I turned it off long before the end," said the great Willie John McBride. "It was like watching Ballymena fifths, the level was so awful it was boring. Their players were dropping the ball, knocking it on -- it was farcical. But then the whole concept of the Barbarians has changed.
"I am an old man now but in my day the Barbarians were the cream of our rugby in the northern hemisphere with perhaps just one or two Frenchmen invited to join the team. But the thing is nonsense now, it is no longer the Barbarians. It's only about money."
McBride says he would far rather be positive but finds it hard, given the circumstances. He points to the fact that Twickenham was filled for the Guinness Premiership final for what he called "a cracking game". But he adds: "Then they get 41,000 to come back on the Sunday for that (Barbarians) rubbish. What else can you say but it is only about money?"
However else we may look upon this sad scene, it is hard to argue with one fact. Back in the 1960s or 70s, the pool of available world-class players from Ireland and Britain was more than sufficient to fill a Barbarians team. Occasionally, they would invite a world-renowned performer like the former All Black half-back Chris Laidlaw, while he was at Oxford. But Irish and British players proliferated.
Yet, when the Barbarians beat New Zealand last December, the All Blacks demeaned the fixture by choosing a second team. The Barbarians won 25-18 yet their starting line-up contained just one northern hemisphere player, Jamie Roberts. It was, in reality, a southern hemisphere Barbarians side.
That seems increasingly the case. If the Barbarians are faced with any serious opposition, they have to stuff their side with stars from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. The northern hemisphere's finest are virtually no longer available for or interested in Barbarians rugby.
McBride adds: "Maybe the present generation doesn't know the story of the Barbarians. But it was about playing rugby for a different reason and the concept was terrific. The touring teams used to love to play them; it was a different game, a different atmosphere.
"But today, I don't know where the Barbarians are going. The concept is definitely in trouble; it must be, partly because very few of our best players in this part of the world are ever available for them."
Judgement
Fergus Slattery, McBride's fellow Irishman who also played in that sport-defining game against the New Zealanders in 1973 at Cardiff, says he is not yet ready to don the black cap in passing judgment on this once revered club. Slattery wants to be positive, yet he too admits: "You would have to say the jury is out on the Barbarians.
"To try to find space in the commercial world of professional rugby now is extremely difficult. Why do the Barbarians need to keep bringing in so many French or southern hemisphere players?
"You have to assume it is because they can't get the really top players from the northern hemisphere.
"But that ... selection policy ... would be hard to justify on a regular basis."
It is unarguable that if the Barbarians all but disappear as a powerful, respected force within the game, rugby will be the loser. But Slattery is right: who wants to see players from Australia, New Zealand or South Africa constantly filling a Barbarians team?
Unless some way can be found to allow the likes of Brian O'Driscoll, Keith Earls, Tommy Bowe, Stephen Ferris, Lee Byrne, James Hook, Ryan Jones, Luke Fitzgerald and Tom Croft to play for the Barbarians from time to time, the concept may be doomed in this part of the world.
- Peter Bills
Irish Independent
