Rugby league in IrelandHistoryIn May 1934 Wigan beat Warrington 32-19 in an exhibition match in Dublin. Twenty years later, in May 1954, Warrington were again defeated by Halifax in both Belfast (34-15) and Dublin (23-11).
Several Irish rugby union players have crossed the Irish Sea to play in British Championship, most notably Irish forwards Robin Thompson, in the 1950s, and Ken Goodall a decade later.
The first club side to actually play in Ireland, Dublin Blues, were not formed until 1989. They consisted mostly of rugby union players who wanted to test themselves in the other code. The Blues competed against touring teams from Britain and surprised many of the touring sides with the quality of their play, scoring many memorable victories over British amateur opposition.
In early 1995 the Rugby Football League development arm financed the position of a Development Officer for Ireland, providing a boost to the development of the game. This laid the basis for the formation of the national Ireland side, which played its first ever game on St Patrick's Day 1995, in Washington DC, defeating the USA 24-22.
Competitive matches were established between teams in Leinster and Ulster: Schoolboy matches were played between Dublin and Belfast schools, Open Age Clubs competed against each other in the All-Ireland Challenge Cup. Teams included Belfast Wildcats and Bangor Vikings from Ulster.
Governing body and competitions
Main article: Rugby League Ireland
The governing body is Rugby League Ireland (RLI), though the Rugby Football League (whose remit covers the United Kingdom, and therefore partially overlaps with the RLI) provide funding and support for the game in Ireland.
Having experimented with a dual conference set up for several seasons, whereby teams from Munster and Leinster played in provincial conferences with the top teams going on to compete for the national title, the RLI changed to an All Ireland competition for the 2006 competition so as to guarantee more games for all teams and avoid repetition in the schedules as had been experienced in previous years, with Dublin based sides facing eath other as many as three times in the one season.
For 2007 the league has reverted to a conference style competition for fifteen teams, five in the top division, and ten in the second division, themeselves spit into two geographical conferences of five teams. One of these ten lower teams, Carlow Crusaders B, is from the same club as its namesake in the top division, so in total 15 teams will represent 14 clubs in the 2007 league.
The creation of a Rugby League club in the province of Ulster, the Portadown Panthers, has further increased the scope of the domestic competition and has led to hopes of the spread of the game in the north of the country. This left the western province of Connacht as the only unrepresented region of Ireland in the Rugby League Ireland competition.
Despite the creation of Portadown, early expectations of RLI success in Ulster were dampened when Portadown were severely beaten in their first and only game of the 2006 season by the North Dublin Eagles, 24-66. Portadown, apparently embarrassed after this defeat, left the remainder of Rugby League Ireland season, leving some other clubs in Ireland without games. However, Portadown did play in the 2008 elite league season but from 2009 will compete in the brand new Northern Ireland rugby league competition.
Hopes for a Connacht based Galway side appear to have been fulfilled, as the Galway Tribesmen have replaced the departing Waterford Vikings in the league for 2007.
Treaty City Titans won the 2009 Carnegie league defeating the Carlow Crusaders 33-26 in extra time.
Rugby tickets are available at yourticketmarket.com
Buy Ireland vs Scotland Rugby Tickets or Sell Ireland vs Scotland Rugby Tickets through YourTicketMarket.com. One stop tickets market to catch your favorite event tickets like Ireland vs Scotland Rugby tickets. Ireland vs Scotland Rugby tickets are Guaranteed, Fast and Secure!
