Rugby supporters deserve better
All through last week, most of Europe froze. The temperature rose as one moved west, but on Saturday evening the temperature in the hours of darkness was forecast at -10C in Paris and its environs. Cool enough for anyone.
More than cool enough for the thousands of Irish rugby fans who had travelled to the Stade de France to see their country's team meet France in the Six Nations championship and who waited for the excitement of the match to warm them.
It never happened. Fifteen minutes before the match was due to begin, the referee called it off. He judged the frozen pitch unplayable.
The players were frustrated and astounded.
The fans were disgusted. Their tickets remain valid for the restaged event, but they have already spent a lot of money, in some cases as much as €1,000, on travel and accommodation. And for a variety of reasons they may be unable to return to Paris.
They deserve to know why the match was not called off earlier in the week, and whether this was related to the power of the television companies which provide so much funding and dictate so much to the rugby unions.
The GAA, an amateur organisation, treats spectators better.
