Sneer all you want, Lions will roar on...
Quaint concept attracts derision but you can’t argue with numbers
OF all the numbers used to justify the Lions, the most important applied to Eden Park.
New Zealand’s Auckland fortification holds almost 50,000 people, and over half that figure for the third Test were Lions fans. Some estimated the total for touring support at well in excess of 25,000.
That, and not results on the playing field, explains why Lions tours will continue.
Much as it exasperates some, the idea of four countries pooling their players to establish one team holds enormous appeal. These fans are willing to spend thousands of pounds and euro in support of a side that only plays for a handful of weeks every four years.
This is ridiculous to its critics, but remains a fact nonetheless. Millions are made in profits for the constituent federations while a Lions tour is an important source of income for New Zealand, Australia and South Africa on their turn.
Commercially it is a phenomenon but that is only because of the support it attracts.
Without fans, teams and sports cannot function with much relevance or success. That may appear an obvious point, but the straitened circumstances of Bray Wanderers remind us it is a fact still overlooked.
The preposterous tone sounded by Sky Sports in covering this tour has put many off, and that is understandable.
Decent analysis by Stephen Ferris and occasionally Sean Fitzpatrick is undermined by the noisy contributions of the ridiculous Scott Quinnell, but setting their analysis in general to hyperbolic has ruined the enjoyment of some.
Overwrought coverage by the exclusive broadcaster is not, though, justification for dismissing a tradition with rich roots.
The first Lions tour was in 1888, the inspiration of a man called Alfred Shaw. He is also celebrated for bowling the first ball in Test cricket, a detail that will probably not sway the rump of critics whose objections are grounded in tired old anti-Englishness.
And that is certainly the source of some of the animus targeting the Lions, with ancient insecurities coming loose any time an English commentator inadvertently forgets the second part of the British and Irish Lions designation.
This constituency is also angered by the team kit, which is composed of the colours of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales. Red dominates, with green reduced to a fringe role along the top of the socks. It is an eloquent statement of the marginal place of Ireland in the consciousness of a colonial bully; or maybe it’s a simple design feature that shouldn’t give life to old prejudices.
In 1891, three years after the maiden tour took in Australia and New Zealand, the Lions travelled to South Africa and this has since been celebrated as the first Test series.
Given it is 126 years ago, details are fragmentary and the sport then, let alone measuring the legitimacy of the tour or its status as an international series, bears little comparison to the modern day.
The same can be said, of course, of Gaelic games: Commercials of Limerick are celebrated as the first All-Ireland football champions, winning a 21-a-side match against Young Irelands of Louth in 1887, in an age when clubs represented their counties.
Criticism that the Lions as an artificial construct is undermined by a century and a quarter of tradition, and it is curious some would argue that legitimacy in sport beyond national boundaries is only conferred on countries.
This is a failure of imagination, and presumes the interest and passion of people can only be channelled through native allegiances.
This is it a time when international soccer is struggling against the consuming power of clubs, proof that supporters do not need to feel loyalty to a flag in order to cheer on players.
Steve Hansen would not be an obvious advocate for the Lions, but he gave an eloquent insight into what the team means to less heralded players in the host country.
‘When you think about the young players that played in Whangarei and the Maori boys, the Highlanders, the Chiefs, the Crusaders, most of those kids won’t get the opportunity to play against that quality of player,’ he told the Daily Telegraph on Friday.
‘If they manage to beat them, they’ll have great stories to tell. The concept is something that’s got to stay, for the sake of rugby.’
The New Zealand coach needn’t worry. Money will guarantee that the Lions will be back in New Zealand in 2029. But this is more than a story of rapacious modern sport wringing plenty out of nothing.
The Lions thrive because of the interest of the public. Without that, no team survives.