CHRIS KIRWAN SAYS: Spare a thought for fans marching to the tune of the TV companies (From South Wales Argus)

CHRIS KIRWAN SAYS: Spare a thought for fans marching to the tune of the TV companies

9:20am Thursday 21st February 2013 in Sport

SATURDAY is a feast of rugby for the armchair fan but spare a thought for those that watch the sport in the flesh in Dublin and Leicester.

At 6.30am the Hurricanes host the Blues in the Super 15 followed by the Reds versus the Waratahs. Then comes a three-hour break to stretch the legs or earn some brownie points before the Six Nations takes centre stage.

For those that aren’t sick of it all there is then the chance for those in Ireland to watch Leinster against the Scarlets while those in the United Kingdom can switch on Leicester versus Saracens.

But, while those of us in the warm are rewarded, those that face a trip out into the cold are punished.

The games at the Royal Dublin Society and Welford Roads are encounters that will have ramifications in the RaboDirect Pro12 and Aviva Premiership playoff positions.

They should be being played in front of packed houses regardless of taking place in the international period.

Yet those with young families or those that travel by public transport or those that simply don’t want to get back home at well past 10pm on a Saturday night will be joining those of us watching on the small screen.

The fans make the spectacle but their protests fall on deaf ears amid the din of cash registers, but then that’s nothing new as TV keeps calling the shots.