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The Lions are little more than a slick corporate franchise

Gone is the epic nature of the Lions tours that were a challenge of spirit and endurance as much as playing rugby

The passing of time has stripped away many of the things that made Lions' tours unique. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
The passing of time has stripped away many of the things that made Lions' tours unique. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho
Johnny Watterson's picture
Johnny Watterson
Fri Oct 25 2024 - 06:00

There is a page on the British and Irish Lions website that rewinds time back to 130 years ago when the first team hit foreign shores.

The trip required players to spend 249 nights away from home, took 46 days by boat to arrive in New Zealand with stops in Tenerife, Cape Town and Hobart and had on board “300 stoats and weasels to control the rabbit population”.

Observing the law of unintentional consequences, the predators in the ship’s hold would have a catastrophic impact on the country’s indigenous wildlife. How the Lions helped destroy an ecosystem, that’s another story.

There were two Scottish players, a Welsh player and an Irishman, first-class cricketer and fullback Arthur Paul, on the journey. The rest of the 22-man squad that set sail from Plymouth on the SS Kaikoura on March 10th were from England. They finally docked in Port Chalmers in Otago Bay before playing Otago in the first match at the Caledonian Ground, Dunedin on April 28th.

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The pioneers of 1888 went on to play 53 games, including Australian Rules and cricket, over 21 weeks across Australia and New Zealand.

By any measure the schedule was epic, typical of 19th century British enterprise and its sense of unquenchable exceptionalism. It was also a way of reminding the colonies of who held the whip hand, a sporting tour that brought gentlemen amateurs and the English game to the frontiers of the empire. But it also tapped into the heart of rugby.

In contrast, earlier this month the Lions announced details of a new professional player agreement which will see those selected for the 2025 tour to Australia benefit from a profit share model for the first time. A portion of the post-tour profits will be distributed among the players.

The Dublin-based company from which the Lions operate reportedly made €9.6 million in profit during the Covid-affected tour of South Africa in 2021, with the previous tour to New Zealand yielding €9.3 million.

In addition, players will have a say in scheduling and preparation and will be provided with personally tailored, high-quality digital content daily during the tour, as well as post-tour content for use on their own personal social media channels.

Ken Scotland of the Lions crosses the line, but loses the ball at the critical moment, resulting in his try being disallowed, during a match against the New Zealand Maoris in 1959. Lions eventually won 12-6. Photograph: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Ken Scotland of the Lions crosses the line, but loses the ball at the critical moment, resulting in his try being disallowed, during a match against the New Zealand Maoris in 1959. Lions eventually won 12-6. Photograph: Central Press/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

There are a few points to be made. Obviously, fans enjoy the Lions games, especially the Test matches and it’s a hugely successful brand. But it is far from what it started out in substance, style or content.

What began as something resembling a kind of ennobling Victorian folly, a chase across the globe for those that could afford it, has become a rugby cash cow, a franchise that clings to its long history, but with the passing of time has cast away many of the things that made it unique. It is unrecognisable from its derring-do beginnings.

More blue-chip and modern chrome and less mystique, the relative strengths of nations have also dramatically changed.

That poses a question for Irish players in whether they believe a place on the Lions squad is a step up or a step down from playing with Ireland, who are again ranked the number one team in the world. Cue deep, outraged groans from World Cup winners South Africa. England are fifth, Scotland seventh and Wales 11th in the world.

The idea, expressed many times over the years, is that selection for the Lions is the pinnacle of a rugby career. However, if Irish players are stepping into another team to play three times against the 10th ranked team in the world, Australia, the word pinnacle begins to do a lot of heavy lifting.

There is also the relevance question and whether the concept has become just another rugby tour with a high novelty factor, an anachronism playing against the same three colonial resorts in an increasingly modern game that will become even more streamlined after 2026 with the new world rugby calendar.

Still, as sure as fans will order full Irish breakfasts in their locals, watching the morning Test matches on big screens, the summer Tour will strike another success for the franchise. The rugby may not be very good given Australia’s decline but clinging to The Lions’ storied history nicely reheats the old sense of brotherhood and adventure.

The question is when we strip away the fabled voyages, the stoats and weasels, the unknown destinies, potential diseases and the understated element of danger that made the early tours seem like an Ernest Shackleton voyage, and replace it with 37 players and 35 nights in a five-star hotel, is it really an interrogation of mind and spirit?

The original Lions used to be, in part, an idea about challenge. Now it’s a brilliantly marketed for profit company owned by the four unions with IMG as its worldwide licensing agent and many commercial partners. Nothing wrong with that but how emotionally invested can you really be?

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