Irish Rugby Football Union
The Irish Rugby Football Union , short IRFU , Irish Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann , is the national sports association for rugby union of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland . The headquarters are on Lansdowne Road in Dublin , the home games are played in the Aviva Stadium of the joint Irish national team . In addition, other stadiums are owned by the IRFU ( Ravenhill Stadium in Belfast and Thomond Park in Limerick ), which are rented to various clubs.
There are around 86,500 licensed players on the island of Ireland . The clubs are divided into four provincial associations: 19 in Connacht , 71 in Leinster , 59 in Munster and 56 in Ulster . Each regional association provides a team that is represented in the professional Pro12 and takes part in the European cup competitions. These are Connacht Rugby , Leinster Rugby , Munster Rugby and Ulster Rugby . In addition, rugby is played at 246 schools, 107 in Ulster, 75 in Leinster, 41 in Munster and 23 in Connacht.
history
Originally there were two associations, both of which were founded in 1874. The Irish Football Union was responsible for the clubs in Leinster, Munster and parts of Ulster, the Northern Football Union of Ireland in the Belfast region. Both associations merged in 1879 to form the IRFU and provincial associations were formed in Leinster, Munster and Ulster. The Connacht Provincial Association was added in 1886.
After the political division of the island into the Republic of Ireland or initially the Irish Free State and Northern Ireland, which still belongs to the United Kingdom , the IRFU decided that it would continue to be responsible for all 32 Irish counties. This resulted in players from two countries joining the national team.
In order to maintain the unity of the Irish rugby union and the relations between north and south, the IRFU bought new land in the Belfast district of Ravenhill in 1923. The last international match in Belfast for over fifty years took place on February 24, 1954. Since the stadium on Lansdowne Road was closed for renovation work, another international match between the Irish national team and Italy was played in Belfast in August 2007.
In the 1880s, the four provincial associations held cup competitions for the first time. Although these are still held today, they are no longer of great importance today. The main reasons are the introduction of the All-Ireland League of the top fifty club teams in 1990 and the introduction of the professional Celtic League in 2001.
Web links
- Website of the IRFU (English)