Ireland's Minister for Communications has caused uproar among rugby’s heavy hitters over his free-to-air plans, writes the Irish Times' Johnny Watterson.
"Three CEOs, [the IRFU's Philip] Browne, the ERC’s Derek McGrath and the Six Nations CEO, John Feehan, flanked by the four horsemen of the apocalypse, the provincial CEOs, settled along the wall like generals in a war cabinet. Granite faced. Tight lipped. Language biblical. This was rugby battle prepared for the first time in 15 years.
"Browne outlined the threat of Minister Ryan on the horizon. Free-to-air rugby and the dismantling with the stroke of a pen a body of IRFU work globally admired.
"Minister Ryan’s green foot print, we were told, would be the biggest of any politician, the one that crushed the professional game in Ireland. For 43 minutes the sound and the fury belted out around Stephen’s Green and at the heart of it a figure of €12 million, the IRFU’s calculated annual loss."
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