IRFU reveals latest plans to restructure All-Ireland League

THE All-Ireland League (AIL) has been no stranger to structural tweaks down the years and the IRFU announced the latest set of alterations yesterday, which will come into play at the beginning of the 2011/12 season.

Under the new agreement, the number of senior clubs is to be increased from 48 to 52, rolling substitutions are to be introduced on a trial basis and new regulations will come into place governing contracted provincial players.

The announcement follows a consultation process began in October 2009 and the latest structures will remain in place for five seasons in the hope of providing an air of badly-needed stability to the competition.

The new All-Ireland structure will include:

• A Division One consisting of two sections of 10 teams each playing home and away (known as 1A & 1B). Promotion and relegation between 1A and 1B would be one automatic and one decided by play-off.

• A Division Two consisting of two sections (to be referred to as 2A & 2B) of 16 teams each playing 15 games. Promotion and relegation between 2A and 2B would be two automatic and one by play-off.

• Promotion and relegation between Division 1B and 2A would be automatic two up and two down.

• The present qualifying league structure (provincial junior league winners; round-robin competition) would be maintained, including the promotion and relegation system to 2B.

• The team which finishes top of their respective division will be deemed the divisional league champions, and the winners of Division 1A will be deemed AIL champions.

The possibility of play-offs being reintroduced at some point for Division 1A has not been ruled out.

A desire to grow competitiveness and demonstrate what officials termed ‘the burgeoning strength in Irish domestic rugby since the inception of the All-Ireland League’ has resulted in the establishment of four new senior clubs.

This will mean that each of the provincial champions from next season will automatically gain senior club status.

An emphasis for the new structure will also be a move towards playing more Friday night games to ensure that, in as much as is possible, the AIL season does not come into direct competition with the provincial games.

The issue of fully contracted players participating in the league has also been addressed to create a more level playing field and to ensure that the league continues to develop young players in a competitive environment.

The new regulations will see contracted players playing in Division 1 only with a reduction from three to two in the number of fully-contracted players who may be included in the matchday squads per team per match.

Only one of these can be a forward. Also, fully contracted foreign players will not be entitled to play in the league as the role of the competition is to develop indigenous players, not to develop overseas players.

However, contracted development and academy players will still be able to play in all divisions of the league without any restrictions.

“These structures are built upon the successful first year that we have seen in the new first division format in this season’s league where the competition between clubs on a home and away basis has really lifted the standards,” said the IRFU’s domestic game chairman, Stephen Hilditch, in a statement.

The introduction of rolling substitutions will, naturally, create significant reaction and is aimed at improving player welfare and safety.

“This is designed to ensure that teams will no longer be under pressure to keep players on the field through fatigue or injury,” said Scott Walker, IRFU domestic rugby manager.

“Welfare of clubs’ players was upmost in the mind of the review group and this new measure is aimed at addressing this issue.”