LIMERICK, Ireland. Editor-in-Chief of the new ruby blog, The Popular Side (http://popularsiderugby.blogspot.com)
The Popular Side will feature commentary and opinion in the game and promises to deliver the in-depth analysis that mainstream papers and TV broadcasters seem to be steering clear of. "The broadcasters must think air-time is very expensive as the amount of analysis and discussion about rugby in the build up to prominent games is just lacking" says one of the writers, who has been connected to Irish rugby "since birth".
"Rugby fans, and Limerick fans in particular, eat and breathe rugby. There just isn't enough discussion and information in the national media. That's why blogging has become such a powerful player in people's lives - we can get real information from real experts instead of reading the whims of career reporters" concurs another staff writer, also anonymously.
The anonymous writers association behind the blog feel that the anonymity will create a sense of intrigue and will shield them from the imminent backlash from the traditional media as it takes off. "The traditional media isn't satisfying the demand. Its too slow. By the time a paper is printed, it's out of date. If they were satisfying demand, blogging wouldn't have taken off. There is plenty of space for bloggers and media to live together but we've seen the big media in Dublin attack bloggers there, like some kind of immuno-defence mechanism" says the Technology Manager for the blog.
The The new Rugby blog goes live in January 2009. We hope you enjoy it as much as we have writing about it.
