AIB League 2010/11.

[bgmusic]

BAO, Some of the teams you mention will be nowhere near AIL Div 1,when the IRFU review concludes in 2010. We will end up with a ten club AIL,six teams will go,and There will be 4 Munster clubs,Garryowen,Shannon,UL Bohs and Cork Con,3 from Leinster, Clontarf, Blackrock,and St.Marys or Old Belvedere,who are putting big bucks into this project,2 from Ulster,Belfast Harlequins and ballymena,and Galwegians.Div 2 and 3,may be disbanded,and the rest of the clubs will go back to playing at provincial league level level.In Leinster,the 3 clubs will become satelites of Leinster rugby,each will be asked (told) to take on board 6/7 academy players,and 6/7 professionals with Leinster squad numbers 23 to 40.These 3 clubs will effectively become semi professional teams.These 14/15 players will become that clubs first xv for the 2010/11 season.One may ask what becomes of that clubs squad from the previous season,they will end up struggling for a place on the bench,and when this dawns on club members,there will be much discussion about the club ethos,and some clubs may decide this is all too much for them,and may decide to forego Div.1,and go back to provincial leagues.In that doomsday situation,Leinster rugby may decide to form 3 new clubs,Dublin North,Dublin South,and Dublin West. Discuss. Mods,can this be moved to domestic rugby titled AIL 2010/11.

[msp]

Anyone provide a link to the question being answered here?

[CRAZYDAVE]

BAO, Some of the teams you mention will be nowhere near AIL Div 1,when the IRFU review concludes in 2010. We will end up with a ten club AIL,six teams will go,and There will be 4 Munster clubs,Garryowen,Shannon,UL Bohs and Cork Con,3 from Leinster, Clontarf, Blackrock,and St.Marys or Old Belvedere,who are putting big bucks into this project,2 from Ulster,Belfast Harlequins and ballymena,and Galwegians.Div 2 and 3,may be disbanded,and the rest of the clubs will go back to playing at provincial league level level.In Leinster,the 3 clubs will become satelites of Leinster rugby,each will be asked (told) to take on board 6/7 academy players,and 6/7 professionals with Leinster squad numbers 23 to 40.These 3 clubs will effectively become semi professional teams.These 14/15 players will become that clubs first xv for the 2010/11 season.One may ask what becomes of that clubs squad from the previous season,they will end up struggling for a place on the bench,and when this dawns on club members,there will be much discussion about the club ethos,and some clubs may decide this is all too much for them,and may decide to forego Div.1,and go back to provincial leagues.In that doomsday situation,Leinster rugby may decide to form 3 new clubs,Dublin North,Dublin South,and Dublin West. Discuss. Mods,can this be moved to domestic rugby titled AIL 2010/11.

If it remains "club" structured, I can guess which one in Leinster will be shafted

[msp]

Of course , the only thing we seem to be is a conyeyor belt for Clontarf at the moment (and to a lesser extent the other Dublin clubs), lost another one to 'tarf this year. Next year should be interesting !

[simonno6]

can somebody outline what this is about?

[bgmusic]

Its about what may happen to the AIL when the IRFU conclude their review of the club game at the end of the 2010 season.Given that the clubs didnt play ball with the union last time,some opinion is that this time the IRFU may impose their solution(a ten club Div.1),and back to provincial leagues for the other clubs on cost grounds.

[groundhog]

can somebody outline what this is about?

The current AIL structure is up for review in 2010, it will change and bgmusic is putting forward a hypothetical scenario of what the change could entail and is looking for discussion on it. What he proposes has been muted for a while and is probably the logical way forward but the clubs will be against so some compromise will be reached, probably a 2 division AIL.

Bgmusic, will there be promotion/relegation to/from this new AIL league?

[bgmusic]

Groundhog, If its a one division only AIL,I would see a no relegation for 2 seasons to bed it down.The worry might be Galwegians(Connacht B),not being good enough,and having to be replaced by a munster or leinster club.

[groundhog]

Do the IRFU not need the support of the clubs, just can't see them supporting only 1 Division with no relegation. Also Ulster will find it hard to settle for 2 clubs and there's no way UL Bohs will be in there.

[bgmusic]

Ok, the fourth munster would be dolphin or UL Bohs(sixth and seventh in Div 1 last season).There are only 2 ulster clubs in Div.1 presently,my mistake putting Belfast Harlequins in,(now in Div 2).Two is all Ulster deserve on recent form,both Ballymena and dungannon flirted with relegation last season.

[groundhog]

Two is all Ulster deserve on recent form,both Ballymena and dungannon flirted with relegation last season.

I'm not arguing with that, there will be political side to the representation hence clubs like Ul or UCD will lose out and Ulster will insist on a 3 minimum.

[silly punt]

Two is all Ulster deserve on recent form,both Ballymena and dungannon flirted with relegation last season.

I'm not arguing with that, there will be political side to the representation hence clubs like Ul or UCD will lose out and Ulster will insist on a 3 minimum.

This won't happen, the clubs have to vote & agree to this (it would be like turkeys voting for christmas). I would see this as a long term goal for the IRFU, as a compromise I would think that the AIL will have 2 divisions from 2010. A 10 team first division playing home & away, a 16 team second division under the current format & the remaining 22 teams going back to the provincial leagues. The senior clubs have already blocked previuos attempts to change the format & will do so again.The only way for the IRFU is to divide & conquer.

I have heard that the sponsors are not very happy with the current format or the exposure they are receiving, so the clubs hands may be forced if they threaten to pull out.

[bgmusic]

Silly Punt,Re.your point about club objections,they resisted last time.This time the irfu will play hardball,all the irfu and branches need is the club name, the ground,and the jersey.the players will be largely provided by provinces(and paid for).If the 10 clubs dont like this,it would be open to the irfu and branches to form 10 regional entities((Cork a,Cork b,Limerick a, Limerick b,Dublin north,south and west ,Ulster Town,Ulster country and Galway Bay? They can then fill up these regions with academy and pros from the provinces and top up inviting the best of the amateur players to fill out the squads.Yes, this could get very nasty,but is imperative that the gap in standard between HEC,Magners,and the rest of the game is narrowed.

[BlueArmyOriginal]

BAO, Some of the teams you mention will be nowhere near AIL Div 1,when the IRFU review concludes in 2010. We will end up with a ten club AIL,six teams will go,and There will be 4 Munster clubs,Garryowen,Shannon,UL Bohs and Cork Con,3 from Leinster, Clontarf, Blackrock,and St.Marys or Old Belvedere,who are putting big bucks into this project,2 from Ulster,Belfast Harlequins and ballymena,and Galwegians.Div 2 and 3,may be disbanded,and the rest of the clubs will go back to playing at provincial league level level.In Leinster,the 3 clubs will become satelites of Leinster rugby,each will be asked (told) to take on board 6/7 academy players,and 6/7 professionals with Leinster squad numbers 23 to 40.These 3 clubs will effectively become semi professional teams.These 14/15 players will become that clubs first xv for the 2010/11 season.One may ask what becomes of that clubs squad from the previous season,they will end up struggling for a place on the bench,and when this dawns on club members,there will be much discussion about the club ethos,and some clubs may decide this is all too much for them,and may decide to forego Div.1,and go back to provincial leagues.In that doomsday situation,Leinster rugby may decide to form 3 new clubs,Dublin North,Dublin South,and Dublin West. Discuss. Mods,can this be moved to domestic rugby titled AIL 2010/11.

Interesting to hear bg, my example was a pretty hypothetical one based on providing a semi-pro team to as many areas of the country as possible, the clubs I used were more based on where the clubs were than viable examples. From my understanding, does this mean that the options open to the Union are to either take 12 teams from the AIL Div1 and turn them into semi-pro outfits or to create 12 new teams based in different parts of the country?

Either way here(if I've gotten it right and feel free to correct me if not) there will be another layer inserted into the Irish system wihich I think is a good thing. Personally I think the creation of new teams would be the better option, it'd mean far less upheaval in the club game(no opportunity for politiking in deciding who goes semi-pro and thus no bitter tastes afterwards) and would bridge the gap between the clubs and provinces better which is what the aim of this whole issue being discussed is. Thing is money talks and the first option looks on the face of it to be the cheaper option.

[d angry kid]

Some v. interesting formats for the AIL being outlined here but have changes not been suggested before and simply not entertained?? What are the chances of the IRFU actually implementing them without the support of the clubs in the lower divisions who would surely be opposed?

If however they were to occur, it would surely serve to greatly enhance the image of club rugby in the country at the moment. A 1/2 division AIL should attract alot more interest and generate alot more hype than it does in it's current format as it would be alot more prestigious. As for the provisional leagues- having the opportunity to play against the likes of Wesley, City of Derry, Bruff, etc would only bring a higher standard and as a result a much more interesting competition.