AIL 25/26

I heard Nure clubhouse is being refurbished. Are they still playing at Lakelands & if so, where will hospitality be?

My heart bleed for those traditional senior sides who rigged th e rules in their favour for so long.

I'm sure shouts for rule changes will suddenly be heard around north Limerick.

Talk in Thomond is that Earls will be involved but I haven't heard anyone give a definite yes yet.

Results Today

Barnhall 47 Naas 22

Wanderers 33 Skerries 52

Enniscorthy conceded their game to Navan. Second week in a row Enniscorthy conceded, which is a very bad look.

In Ulster

Ballynahinch 62 Queens 0

Dungannon 5 Banbridge 26

Malone 17 Ballyclare 18

Clogher Valley 35 Ballymena 14

Belfast Harlequins 5 Rainey 19

In Connacht

Galwegian 31 Sligo 8

The latest decline in the club fortunes can be traced back to the ousting of the club chairman about 4 years ago.

Earls - Yes

Kilcoyne - No

I've heard no mention locally of Kilcoyne.

In modern times players on provincial contracts could only be signed for higher level teams.

In the past senior sides locked off senior through a membership system rather than promotion/relegation.

So little I have little sympathy when one has to now slug it out with the plebs.

Some great games this weekend

Marys Terenure is always a great occasion

Lansdowne Tarf should be another big game

The 1A and IB format has been around for about 15 or 16 years. There used to be 1A, 1B, Div 2 and Div 3. The change in format was nothing to do with Shannon who I think won the AIL the season before.

The AIL was reformatted again about 10 years ago adding extra teams and creating 5 divisions - 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, and 2C with less teams per division and with home and away games. Previously there was only home and away in Div 1.

Having been involved in club rugby since the 90s the current format I believe works very well and promotion/relegation adds massively to it. Originally there was just 2 divisions and this was expanded to 4. The AIL is a great product now imo.

20 years ago, clubs like Dungannon, Buccs, Dolphin, Belfast Harlequins and a few more were fighting it out in Div 1 and the fact that teams can go up and down divisions adds value where every game and result counts. A league with no promotion or relegation would be very boring and unlikely to draw crowds to games.

It appears that the IRFU wish to change the structure again (something that has been rumoured for a while) to create a semi-pro Div 1 (might be 1A and 1B) with regional divisions below that. This change was suggested for the 26/27 season if agreement on the format could be reached but more likely to start 27/28.

as u said was only a rumour…. but highly doubtful if u look at the past league tables. last season as D1 D2 D3 etc etc before it split to 1a 1b leagues was 08/09 season shannon finished 2nd from top that year behind con and i think beat con in the final if im not mistaken? then 09/10 year was the first year of the 1a 1b system and shannon were 1a that year

Wednesday

Leinster Cup Section B Old Wesley 19 Old Belvedere 38

Thursday

Leinster Cup Section B Lansdowne 23 Clontarf 17

To keep an AIL team financed consumes alot of money. 2c, 2b & 2b would be above 100k per season. 1b &1a atleast double that. Heard of a high profile coach 3 years ago getting 80k to coach a AIL team. For 1 season