The All-Ireland League (AIL), known for sponsorship reasons as the Ulster Bank All-Ireland League, is the national league system for the 50 senior rugby union clubs in Ireland, covering both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The league was inaugurated in the 1990-91 season.
The league is the second highest level of rugby union in Ireland, as professional teams representing the four provinces of Ireland play in the Pro14.
Division 1 sides are allowed to field only two professional players in their matchday sides, and only one may be a forward. Professional players may not participate in Division 2 matches. Foreign professional players may not play in the League.
Video All-Ireland League (rugby union)
Competition format
The league is currently divided into five divisions of ten teams each, with teams playing each other twice (once at home and once away). At the end of the season, the top four teams in Division 1A play off semi-finals and a final for the championship and the bottom team in Divisions 1A is replaced by the top team in Division 1B, with the second-bottom team entering a promotion/relegation play-off with the second-placed team in 1B. The bottom two teams in 1B, 2A and 2B are relegated and replaced by the top two teams from Divisions 2A, 2B and 2C respectively.
The two teams finishing bottom of Division 2C are relegated to the relevant provincial league, and replaced by the two teams finishing top of a "round robin" tournament between the four provincial league winners. The four provincial junior leagues are the Connacht Junior League, the Leinster League, the Munster Junior League and the Ulster Qualifying League.
Maps All-Ireland League (rugby union)
History
The All-Ireland League (AIL) was introduced in the 1990-91 season with two divisions after almost five years of discussion and consultation with clubs, Division 1 with 9 clubs and Division 2 with 10 clubs. The All-Ireland League was expanded to four divisions in 1993/94, with small variations in the numbers of teams per division in subsequent seasons. In season 2000-01 the All-Ireland League was restructured to three divisions, each with 16 teams. In 2004 the IRFU proposed scrapping the All-Ireland League and reintroducing a provincial league system in 2005-06 which would act as qualifiers for a curtailed three division AIL structure in the second half of the season, but this model did not receive the support of clubs or rugby pundits. In 2007 the IRFU agreed that the structure of the All-Ireland League would remain as three divisions with 16 clubs each for seasons 2008/09 and 2009/10. In Season 2009-10 Division 1 was split into 1A and 1B with eight teams in each as a trial and then continued in season 2010-11. In season 2011-12 Division 1A and 1B had 10 clubs each and Divisions 2 and 3 were reformatted as Divisions 2A and 2B with 16 clubs in each division.
Previous winners
+ From season 1990-91 through 1996-97, the team placing top of Division 1 was crowned AIL League Champion
? From season 1997-98, playoffs were introduced which was contested by the top four teams in Division 1 for the title of AIL League Champion; in the semi-finals the top placed team played the 4th placed team and the 2nd placed team the 3rd placed team
§ The title in 2013-14 was decided on final league position; there were no play-offs.
Club statistics
The All-Ireland League has been dominated by teams from Limerick (Shannon, Garryowen, and Young Munster) who have won 13 out of 23 titles. Teams from Munster have won 17 out of 23.
Teams
Divisions for the 2017-18 season.
Sponsorship
The All-Ireland League was not sponsored in the initial season, but was sponsored for six years by Insurance Corporation of Ireland. The League was sponsored by Allied Irish Banks from 1998 to 2010. Ulster Bank has sponsored the league since 2010.
See also
- All-Ireland Cup
- Pro14
References
External links
- Official results service
Source of article : Wikipedia
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