A whole new ball game for AIL
THERE is a certain irony in a week where the seemingly endless talks about Northern Ireland’s political future crawled another few inches further forward that the AIB All-Ireland league remains entrenched in a never-ending debate about its future.
While the North’s politicos wrestle back and forth over the many issues which ensnare them, equally so the 48 senior Irish rugby clubs remain at odds about the most productive
manner in which to move the club game — and its premier competition — forward to a point where it retains its position as the so-called ‘third tier’ of the sport here, after the international and inter-pro structures.
And, at a time when there appears a real threat of the club game being turned into a dreaded ‘fourth tier’ behind a newly-developed interpro ‘A’ structure and losing further credibility, there is a vivid feeling of desperation among the great majority of those senior clubs.
With proposed reform from the All-Ireland Senior Rugby Clubs Association (AISRCA) greeted with considered support in some quarters (the upper echelons) and complete rejection in others (the lower orders), the way forward for club rugby here is no nearer any collective agreement.
The AISRCA proposed — and in doing so trenchantly recognised the threat (if that’s what it could be called) posed by the new interprovincial A structure — that the current set-up of the three divisions be overhauled by the reduction of the number of clubs in Division One to 10 (from 16), while Divisions Two and Three would have their ranks swelled to 19 each (also from 16).
The so-called ‘elite’ clubs maintain that a reduction in the number of Division One clubs will ultimately be for the overall betterment of the international and inter-pro game, firstly by enhancing all those ‘A’ interpro players and, secondly by freeing others up to play elsewhere in the league.
On the other hand, the lower orders maintain that their rivals are simply feathering their own nests and couldn’t give a toss about the rest of the clubs.
It is a situation fraught with factionalism and while the Division Two and Three clubs met last week, nothing was forthcoming from them by way of forward movement and, similarly, there was no white smoke either from a meeting of the IRFU with the AISRCA this week.
The Division Two and Three collective has been somewhat stymied by a caucus meeting of their Munster members last month which rejected out of hand the AISRCA proposals for a revamp of the league structure. While IRFU president Peter Boyle wrote to each senior club to reiterate the union stance that the club game remained firmly as the third tier of the game here, there are inherent suspicions among many clubs that the rugby bosses aren’t bothered about them.
However, as one insider said this week, change probably remains inevitable and while “it will most certainly not happen in the morning”, it will happen.
Another close to all this background rucking and mauling maintains that while “the entrenchment of the clubs in the lower divisions is not necessarily productive”, their position is understandable, tempered as it is by the fear that their already tenuous financial situations will be further undermined by a more arduous match schedule.
However, there are those who feel that if the union itself were to take a more hardline and less democratic view, things could move quickly.
Or, they maintain, if Eddie O’Sullivan and the provincial coaches were to lay down the law in terms of “what is best for Irish rugby”, the need for change might be underlined.
“Hopefully, the need for change will ultimately be recognised and sensible and reasoned discussion will come up with a formula acceptable to everyone,” one club source said, adding: “But the fear is that ‘haves’ will prosper as usual, while the ‘have-nots’ will struggle and, in a worst-case scenario, ultimately fail.”
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