Online Petition: IRFU Save The Heineken Cup

[2EMEREP]

Evening all, it seems to me that the only voice that hasn't been heard in this whole sorry affair is the voice of the supporters. With that in mind, I have started this petition so people can let the IRFU know that we do not want them to give in to the wideboys and spivs running French and English rugby. It's got a few dozen signatures already and many more are needed. Please sign and let as many of your friends know by sharing the link on your Facebook page and on Twitter. Thanks everyone for your time.

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/i ... ineken-cup

[Peg Leg]

Done, thanks.

[artaneboy]

Done.

[John23]

Done

[dingodublin]

Done

[2EMEREP]

Great stuff lads, thanks very much. It's been brought to my attention that one or two people are a bit offended by the mention of Munster fans in the second paragraph. As a Munster fan myself, I don't see it, but does it bother anyone? It would be a pity if provincial rivalries put a stop to us letting our voice be heard, so if the general consensus is that it offends, I'm more than willing to change it or add to it to make it balanced.

[suisse]

Done.

[2EMEREP]

Morning all. Just checked the page, over 210 signatures so far, ticking over very nicely now. We may not have much time to make our voices heard, so make sure you pop over and sign if you haven't already, it will only take a couple of minutes. To those who have already signed, thank you, and be sure to spread the wotd to everyone you know who is a rugby fan.

[2EMEREP]

Just an update about how the petition works, lads. The Unions received an email from the website informing them that the petition was started. They then have a chance to actively monitor the petition. If they do so, they can see pretty much the same thing I see when I sign in, your name and location. That's all that can be seen, no email addresses, ip addresses, home addresses, facebook profiles, anything like that. If they choose not to actively monitor, they will still receive emails every 50 or so signatures to keep them informed. These emails are generic and basically say, "Hey, 50 more people have signed up. What are you going to do?" Then they get the chance to actively monitor again. So I pick up two things from this. Firstly, more signatures is better, that's obvious. But more signatures and faster, that means more frequent emails and harder to ignore. So if everyone can get a few people to sign, whether they be casual rugby supporters or even if they hate the "egg-chasing". Every name is important. Thanks again to everyone for all your help with this. Oh, and if there are any Italian or French speakers out there, please give me a pm, I would like to have a short passage translated to put up on Rugby.it and any French supporters fora. Cheers.

[AwayTheWell]

Sorry to be a cynic on what is a very well intentioned petition.
Firstly, wouldn't publically stating on a public forum to get people who don't care much about rugby to sign the petition likely to dilute how seriously the IRFU would take such a survey if they were to find out. Also, you will just need to be wary of joke names/locations being included. Seen many a petition that became too easy to sign have plenty of Roy Keane's or Bertie Aherne's on them.
Also, a very high frequency of email updates, I would imagine could see the IRFU to effectively consign it to a spam folder, if it were at around 50 signatures. Maybe 500 or so would be more appropriate.
Finally, I believe the IRFU is firmly committed to continuing with a European Cup (no matter who the sponsor would be). If such a petition were to be taken seriously, the only course of action I could see them taking is to dilute their negotiating hand and give more ground to other parties, which to me, isn't what most people on these fora appear to want.

[2EMEREP]

Sorry to be a cynic on what is a very well intentioned petition.
Firstly, wouldn't publically stating on a public forum to get people who don't care much about rugby to sign the petition likely to dilute how seriously the IRFU would take such a survey if they were to find out. Also, you will just need to be wary of joke names/locations being included. Seen many a petition that became too easy to sign have plenty of Roy Keane's or Bertie Aherne's on them.
Also, a very high frequency of email updates, I would imagine could see the IRFU to effectively consign it to a spam folder, if it were at around 50 signatures. Maybe 500 or so would be more appropriate.
Finally, I believe the IRFU is firmly committed to continuing with a European Cup (no matter who the sponsor would be). If such a petition were to be taken seriously, the only course of action I could see them taking is to dilute their negotiating hand and give more ground to other parties, which to me, isn't what most people on these fora appear to want.

No problem, you're not being cynical, you're giving your honest opinion and that's always a good thing.
I was thinking more of people who don't necessarily like rugby but equally don't like the thought of a small group of businessmen running the whole show the way they see fit. That usually leads to lads lining their own pockets and everyone else be damned. This petition site doesn't allow joke names, duplicate signatures or any of that. There'e been a few times that I've logged on to see ten or fifteen signatures disappear before my eyes.

The 50 number I just picked out of the air. All it says on the site is that they are informed periodically, I was just using 50 as an example. I should have made that more clear, I apologise. I would trust them that they know their limits though. They seem to be pretty switched on with advice and stuff.

The truth of the matter is that we have no idea what the IRFU or any of the unions are thinking. The volte-face performed by RRW a couple of weeks ago is proof of that. The petition is to let them know that we don't want control of competition handed over to PRL/LNR and that we will still support the union and the clubs if they decide to continue in the Heineken. I don't know if that dilutes their hand, I would think that the more people you have telling you to stay the course would help rather than hinder them.

[rooster]

None of the Unions want to hand control to the PRL/LNR competition or any other for that matter, the RFU and FFR are adamant it won't be allowed so that leaves it easy for the rest to follow anyway and just because it does not hit headline press does not make any difference to their combined resolve to keep any European competition under Union control.

[2EMEREP]

None of the Unions want to hand control to the PRL/LNR competition or any other for that matter, the RFU and FFR are adamant it won't be allowed so that leaves it easy for the rest to follow anyway and just because it does not hit headline press does not make any difference to their combined resolve to keep any European competition under Union control.

I really hope you are right, but I think the RFU are playing a very cynical game, charming both sides to meet it's own ends. I honestly think it's only a matter of time before the RFU gives it's blessing to PRL/LNR and we could be in real trouble then. The IRB have been toothless in all this. They could have stepped in at the very beginning and crushed the RCC but they have dithered and doddered and given credence to the split. This has given the PRL/LNR Axis legitimacy and the media has run with it.

450 signatures now. Averaging about 20 an hour at this stage.

[rooster]

None of the Unions want to hand control to the PRL/LNR competition or any other for that matter, the RFU and FFR are adamant it won't be allowed so that leaves it easy for the rest to follow anyway and just because it does not hit headline press does not make any difference to their combined resolve to keep any European competition under Union control.

I really hope you are right, but I think the RFU are playing a very cynical game, charming both sides to meet it's own ends. I honestly think it's only a matter of time before the RFU gives it's blessing to PRL/LNR and we could be in real trouble then. The IRB have been toothless in all this. They could have stepped in at the very beginning and crushed the RCC but they have dithered and doddered and given credence to the split. This has given the PRL/LNR Axis legitimacy and the media has run with it.

450 signatures now. Averaging about 20 an hour at this stage.

RFU won't crack on this as they know they are finished if they do, no cynical game being played by them either, the only ones playing games are PRL and we all know what people who play with themselves are called !

[2EMEREP]

None of the Unions want to hand control to the PRL/LNR competition or any other for that matter, the RFU and FFR are adamant it won't be allowed so that leaves it easy for the rest to follow anyway and just because it does not hit headline press does not make any difference to their combined resolve to keep any European competition under Union control.

I really hope you are right, but I think the RFU are playing a very cynical game, charming both sides to meet it's own ends. I honestly think it's only a matter of time before the RFU gives it's blessing to PRL/LNR and we could be in real trouble then. The IRB have been toothless in all this. They could have stepped in at the very beginning and crushed the RCC but they have dithered and doddered and given credence to the split. This has given the PRL/LNR Axis legitimacy and the media has run with it.

450 signatures now. Averaging about 20 an hour at this stage.

RFU won't crack on this as they know they are finished if they do, no cynical game being played by them either, the only ones playing games are PRL and we all know what people who play with themselves are called !

Haha. Tennis players?

It all depends on how much pressure the UK media put on them. There has been a propaganda campaign going on in the British media that is shameful in it's bias. ESPNScrum and the BBC to name but two of the leading culprits. The "Opinion" pieces every time a statement is made by the Pro12 unions or ERC have been scathing. Let's not forget that ESPN are FoxSports biggest rivals in the US and so they have a vested interest in seeing BT get the TV rights. The BBC also do not like the fact that SKY have the power in the UK when it comes to sports and so, also would like to see SKY squirm. That's not even getting into the ownership of the national papers in England. Let's just say that many of the PRL names pop up when you do a search of media stakeholders.

[2EMEREP]

That's 500 lads. I'm absolutely over the moon. It's a rush to see so many people passionate about it and that's the truth. Well done to everyone on here who has signed, it's great to see so many of your names up there. Brilliant. And now the Italians have arrived!

[2EMEREP]

Morning all, 50 more signatures over night. I'm sure everyone is tired and looking forward to the weekend after a long week, but hopefully a big push over the weekend will bring us close to a thousand before Monday. Keep sharing the link and letting people know, I have to say the response has been 99 percent positive so far, very little wumming and trolling. Thanks again for everyone's patience and commitment.

[2EMEREP]

Please take a few moments to visit and like the page of a like-minded gentleman who has kindly elected to share the petition to his very popular Facebook page 'Save The Heineken Cup'. Thanks very much, Mac.

https://www.facebook.com/saveeuropeanrugby

[2EMEREP]

OK, Twitter account is now up and running. I'm not used to Twitter, so excuse any problems.

https://twitter.com/SaveTheHCup

[Ruckedtobits]

Laudable as the idea is, I don't believe that the IRFU have any power to respond to spectators wishes in this area. Now if you could get players to sign up to this petition, that would send a real message to the PRL and LNR.

The FFR, SRU, WRU IRF & the IRFU have played this reasonably well in the past month. The guys throwing their trolls out of the pram are the PRL. They would have to react to player power if it could be shown that the players in England want to keep playing European Competitions