Here’s an interesting quote from the Irish Times, about the IRFU, the high-profile organisation that administers rugby in Ireland:

According to their own accounts, the governing body [of Irish rugby] spent €459,413, €719,032 and €561,279 on their website over the years 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05, for a grand total of €1,739,724 over the three years.

A glance at the IRFU website is enough to make any conscientious web professional weep. Where, exactly, did all the money go?

It certainly didn’t go on graphic design, which might have been designed by a student in 1994. It didn’t go on a dedicated web editor, as indicated by the masses of out-of-date content. And there is no hard-working functionality that might have eaten up a development budget, except for the online store which is farmed out to a third party. Even accounting for the four provincial websites (Munster and Leinster, etc), which follow the same low-tech, low-quality formula, it’s hard to see where such a budget went.

If it only cost €17,000, the IRFU website would still be a disgrace. At over 100 times that amount, it is scandalous.

One suspects that somebody somewhere has sold the unwitting blazers of Lansdowne Road a very lucrative dummy. Let’s hope they’re more judicious with their cash when it comes to spending €365m on their new HQ.